Want to Get Pregnant? Or Not Pregnant? There's An App For That
LatestIf you’re looking for one more way to neurotically track your body’s every move, a Cambridge, MA startup has your back. Or reproductive organs, as it were.
Ovuline is a smartphone-powered service that tracks various body signals and then lets you know when you’re ovulating, giving you a better chance at conceiving. Or not conceiving, if babies aren’t your thing right now.
Their CEO Paris Wallace claims that, on average, it takes couples four to six months to conceive but with the aid of Ovuline, the average conception time is down to two months. One, two, three, put a baby in me! (Sorry, I’m a little kid crazy, my niece is staying with me ATM, and my ovaries are going crazy via her supreme cuteness)
Since us women are already using our iPhones to track everything from our workouts to our wardrobes (I wish, is there an app for that? Like Cher has in Clueless??), it’s easy to see the appeal of another app that teaches us more about our womanly bodies.
So, how does it work?
Every day during their march toward pregnancy, Ovuline members are prompted to answer a series of questions about key markers of fertility, including basal body temperature, cervical mucus, ovulation test results and mood. The company then takes that data, compares it to other Ovuline users and clinical guidelines, and churns out personalized recommendations to help you get pregnant faster.
Cool. And I maintain that it’d also be good for women who don’t want to get pregnant but are still interested in how their cycles run. I have a few friends whose main form of birth control is fertility awareness, and none of them have accidentally gotten knocked up. This is not an official endorsement from some random blogger, though, obviously do what’s best for you, but the thought of not putting more drugs or foreign objects* into my body sounds pretty alright.
A basic membership to Ovuline is free and includes a fertility health dashboard (?), but you gotta cough up a one-time $50 fee for their iPhone app, access to a team of doctors who can give specific fertility advice, and more in-depth health tracking. If you don’t get pregnant within six months, Ovuline will refund your dinero. Unless you don’t want to get pregnant, and then it’ll high-five itself for being damn good at its job.
*EXCEPT YOU, PENISES
Image via Alessandro Colle / Shutterstock.