The innovators driving the period tracking tech revolution

Period tracking has moved on from the days of jotting down dates in your diary and menstrual apps have been in business for a while now. But with femtech a growing market, having exploded so much over the past 12 months that it is predicted to be worth US$60 billion by 2027, period tracking is getting increasingly advanced, as Femtech World discovers.

Period tracking apps heralded the start of the focus on femtech, which has since developed into a lucrative industry, tapping into what has traditionally been a somewhat neglected field of healthcare.

However, there is still plenty of development going on in the field of tracking women’s menstrual cycles, with new innovations – and, admittedly, concerns – arriving on the scene all the time.

These are just some of the latest developments.

Choosing a tracker

While period trackers have one main goal – to track menstrual cycles – not all are created equal, and some may be more or less suitable depending on why a woman is tracking her period.

With reasons ranging from fertility concerns to preparing for menopause, the apps currently on the market perform a range of functions; some are a simple tracker, while others are more educational and interactive.

In a comparison of the main brands on the market, Nandhini Gopal, founder of Femcy, an app for menstrual health guidance, found that Flo, which has more than 200 million users, had the most all-round features, from tracking and analytics to knowledge courses and anonymous communities.

Meanwhile, Glow was commended for catering to the whole menstrual cycle in detail, from tracking period, trying to conceive, tracking pregnancy and caring for a newborn.

All together

Femtech company Orchyd has taken period tracking one step further, launching an app along with a connected smart wallet to store a one-day supply of period products.

The app will track users’ periods, ovulation and overall health, using artificial intelligence in order to collect information about a user’s history. Women can also set up the app to give them alerts telling them when to remove tampons, to avoid the risk of toxic shock syndrome.

The tool can also alert users a few days before their expected period with a reminder to be ready and make sure they have everything they need in the associated smart wallet.

Ending period poverty

It was only a matter of time before women’s hygiene brands entered the tracking app market, and Always did so earlier this year – with a difference.

In partnership with behaviour change technology company Thrive Global, the firm launched the Always You app, a period tracker and wellness app that also aims to end period poverty.

The tracker also leverages Thrive Global’s expertise to bring users exclusive Thrive Microsteps – small, science-backed actions users can take to build positive habits.

For every new Always You registration and for every 100 donation points earned, Always pledged to donate one period product to US non-profit Feeding America, up to a maximum donation of 1,000,000 pads.

Users earn 20 points for every period or bladder leak event tracked, with a maximum of 200 per month, 10 donation points per day by completing all Microsteps, and five donation points for each piece of content consumed.

Ringing the changes

Most period trackers are found on either phones or smart watches, such as FitBits or Apple Watches. However, in October, Oura, a sleep and activity tracker ring, announced the addition of a menstrual tracker to its Generation 3 smart ring.

The ring will use changes in temperature and user feedback to predict when a women might get her period up to 30 days in advance. Body temperature changes through the menstrual cycle, rising just before ovulation and falling as menstruation begins.

The company said period prediction was only the beginning of its interest in menstruation and fertility, as the area is currently underinvested. A study in partnership with researchers at the University of California San Diego has previously showed that the Oura ring can use temperature changes to identify pregnancy around nine days before an at-home pregnancy test, although pregnancy prediction is not part of the device at this point.

Privacy issues

As women share their most intimate health details with apps and wearables, it is not surprising that some privacy concerns have come to light.

As Michelle Richardson, director of the Privacy and Data Project at the US Center for Democracy and Technology, told Marie Clare: “Everything I put into my period-tracking app is fair game to be sold.”

Reports of women downloading a pregnancy app only to be bombarded with baby-related ads on their phones are commonplace.

A study, led by Lori Andrews, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, backed those reports up. Her team set up a tracking device to monitor 600 medical apps, of which some collected period data, and found that the majority sent identifiable information such as a user’s prescriptions to both the app developer and marketing companies.

As Andrews points out, such tracking could have real-life repercussions for women, especially in the US where many employers encourage staff to use such apps. “There are real possibilities women could get fired because they’ve disclosed [to an app] they were trying to conceive,” she says.