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7 Reasons to Use a Birth Control App

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7 Reasons to Use a Birth Control App

A birth control app or fertility tracking app can be a helpful addition to your usual methods of birth control. For those who are trying to naturally prevent pregnancy, these apps can be particularly useful. When you know that you’re likely to be fertile, you can either choose to abstain from sexual intercourse during those days or use alternative prevention methods, such as withdrawal or condoms.

Depending on the app, you can expect up to 93% accuracy, which is comparable to using a contraceptive pill. In contrast, male condoms are only 87% effective. However, the app you choose will have a lot to do with this, since some only guesstimate based on the date of your last period. For more accuracy, look for apps that incorporate other data, such as body temperature or symptom management.

Still wondering why someone would use a birth control app when they could just figure all this out on their own? Let’s take a look at why you might want to use an app.

 

1. You’ll Learn to Listen to Your Body

The most accurate fertility apps like Natural Cycles and Clue, use more than just dates to keep track of your cycle. They include other things like checking your body for symptoms. This will allow you to learn the signs that you need to watch for, including body temperature, cravings, mucus discharge, etc. Many women find they learn a lot about their bodies while using these apps.

 

2. Skip the Hormones and Side Effects

Unfortunately, many birth control methods actually use hormones and these can have quite a few side effects. From the pill to the Depo Provera shot, side effects can include:

  • Tender breasts
  • Irregularities in the menstrual cycle
  • Reduced libido
  • Nausea
  • Acne
  • Increased weight
  • Headaches

For good reason, many women don’t want to risk these effects. Even barrier methods, like condoms, can have the effect of reducing sensation.

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3. Be More Spontaneous

While tracking your symptoms and fertility may not seem very spontaneous, it does make your love life a little simpler. Most apps allow you to see at a glance if you’re within your fertile window and that means you can quickly check, then move into the fun stuff without worrying about grabbing a condom. If you’re on top of your tracking, this makes it quick and accurate to check.

When you’re ready to have a fun night, you just peek at the app and will know immediately if you can just enjoy yourself or if you need to be more careful.

 

4. Give Yourself Another Option for Staying Safe

Not everyone has the same level of fertility and for women who have already become pregnant while on another type of birth control, an added level of security can boost confidence. For example, if you avoid having intercourse on fertile days, but also use a condom on other days, you’re less likely to fall into the 7% of women who end up conceiving while using an app. Doubling up on methods is a better choice if you don’t fully trust one method and a birth control app is a simple way to give yourself more security.

 

5. Plan Your Life Better

No one likes it when their period sneaks up on them, but if you’re manually tracking, you can end up getting distracted and forgetting. An app makes it nice and simple to stay on track. You’ll get a warning when it comes to PMS and will be able to plan trips and such around when your period is likely to come. It may seem trivial, but many decisions can be better made when you know exactly what your cycle is doing a few months out.

Imagine you want to go on a scuba diving trip and you can simply check your app to determine when your period is due, three months from now. It’s easy to check so you can avoid setting up a vacation or swim date when you are starting your period.

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6. Prepare for Having a Child

If you do want a baby in the future, you will find it much simpler to plan things out when you know your fertility windows. It also allows you to prepare ahead of time and ensure that you get pregnant when you choose to do so. Understanding your cycle is a good idea, whether you’re trying to get pregnant and even if you prefer to just prevent pregnancy, you’ll have a better understanding of things overall.

Once you are ready to get pregnant, you can easily continue to use the same app, with all your months or years of data, to determine the best day for trying. It can also help you plan ahead and prepare your body for an upcoming pregnancy.

 

7. Reduce the Uncertainty from Manual Tracking

While you can absolutely track your cycle manually and do your own calculations, it’s often helpful to have an app handle it all. There’s a lot of data to keep track of and the best apps will keep it all organized for you. Many people find it frustrating to write everything down and then try to calculate when their fertile windows are, so having what is essentially a fancy calculator do the work for you is nice.

There’s also a higher margin of error when you’re doing the tracking on your own. Keeping up with everything on an app allows external calculations. Some even use AI to help ensure higher accuracy. There’s always some margin of error, but you’ll have less of a chance of messing things up if you have extra help from a birth control app.

These are some excellent reasons to use a fertility app. They’re not just to plan a pregnancy. They can also be used to eliminate the major stress of trying to avoid fertile times.

 

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