Period-tracking app Clue will tell women what to do if they miss a birth control pill

 

Clue helps women keep track of their menstrual cycle by allowing them to input information about when they have their period, how they’re feeling when they have it, their sexual activity, flow, and other notes. The idea is that with this detailed log, Clue can offer women a more thorough look at their fertility and how their period affects day-to-day life. Today, the company is building new functionality into its app that’s meant to help women understand how their birth control pill impacts their cycle. “Smart Pill Tracking,” as the company calls it, asks women to tell the app whether they took their pill that day, or more specifically, whether it was taken late, completely missed, or doubled because they had previously skipped a day.

Maybe more importantly, though, the app can also explain how pill dosages impact fertility. If you miss a pill, for example, there’s an increased chance of pregnancy. If they opt-in, users have to tell the app every day whether they took their pill, and if they don’t mark “taken,” it’ll offer instructions on what to do. (If it’s been less than three hours, the pill should be taken immediately and will still be effective, for instance.)

 

The app includes an alarm to remind users to take the pill, which is helpful but not foolproof. Sometimes doses are missed not because someone forgot to take the pill but because she doesn’t have her pill pack with her, or her prescription ran out and needs to be refilled. The information Clue provides likely isn’t any more helpful than a WebMD page, but it at least puts everything in front of a woman’s face so she doesn’t have to go out of her way to figure out what to do.

The article was published on : theverge