Natural Birth Control and Fertility App Coming to the U.S.

It might be hard to imagine at first that a simple app could be used as effective birth control. Nevertheless, there’s a first time for everything as technology reaches new heights. This year, Swedish nuclear physicist Elina Berglund released a mobile app called Natural Cycles that could forever change contraceptives and fertility tracking for women.

How it Works

Birth control pills can sometimes be unreliable and cause side effects for women, so Berglund created a new method that may not only cut down on those side effects, but still be amazingly helpful in protecting you from unwanted pregnancy. You use the app by measuring the temperature under your tongue each day and recording it into the app. The app will then use a specially made algorithm to tell you whether or not you’re fertile that day so you know if you’re likely to get pregnant. It has been shown to be just as --- or even more --- effective as the pill for birth control without putting a single extra hormone in your body.

Helping Plan for a Baby

With this app, you can not only plan to lower your risk of unwanted pregnancy, but also keep track of when the best time is to try for a baby. If you and your significant other are looking to have a child, you can use the app to find out on what days you’ll be the most likely to get pregnant. An app for tracking fertility that’s this accurate? Yes, please! Imagine the hopeful parents-to-be whose lives will change dramatically. Oh, how technology has grown!

As a new alternative to pills or implants like the IUD, the app has already seen success in Europe and over 160 countries across the globe. The app was clinically tested and approved for use by Tüv Süd, a German inspection and certification group. Berglund also plans to gain attention and business in the United States before long, so that people can have a piece of technology that can be useful to their needs whether they see children in their future or not.