Myth: Menstrual cycle apps are extremely reliable in predicting fertility.
Truth: This is false.
Mobile applications are popular among women to keep track of their menstrual cycles, ovulation, and fertility. Women trying to conceive rely on these apps to plan and time sexual intercourse. About four to six days of every menstrual cycle is a fertile window. Researchers rated 12 different types of apps available to help women trying to conceive by using a scoring system. Their findings were published in an article in Frontiers in Public Health.
Researchers found that the fertile window cannot be predicted easily. Menstrual apps use data from previous cycles and this is not enough to accurately predict the most fertile dates. To read more about this study, click here.
Reference
- Freis, A., Freundl-Schütt, T., Wallwiener, L., Baur, S., Strowitzki, T., Freundl, G., & Frank-Herrmann, P. (2018). Plausibility of menstrual cycle apps claiming to support conception. Frontiers in Public Health, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00098