Why using the Natural cycles app as natural contraception has been a failure for many women.

Here's what we've been reading for the past few days:
"They used an app as a contraceptive instead of the pill: 37 women became pregnant".

I'll tell you about my amazement and why I strongly advise against Natural cycles app. Others are much more reliable and didactic.

That's what we've been reading all over social networks for the past few days... But apart from a frightening headline, the articles are never very in-depth and skim over the subject. All of which reinforces the confusion between the various natural contraception techniques ....

Others are much more reliable and didactic, such as Symptofree !
So are these "37 Swedish women" the only ones, and why did this application fail?

**First approach: the website

On the application site Natural cycles we see a woman taking her temperature orally in bed. Just take your temperature every morning and the app does it all for you!
On this one we discover that it's the temperature method, and only this one. The reliability index for the 93% is the result of a study apparently carried out in-house...

What's more, the application is free for the first month, then becomes a monthly fee (€8.99/month!).
There's no real information on why and how fertility can be detected, implying that it's a very complicated algorithm, so you have to trust the application.

**Second approach: Natural Cycles app

When I downloaded the app, I was waiting for a few explanations on how to take your temperature, why it can tell you when you're fertile, and so on.
Just download the application and launch it, and you'll understand what it's all about.
As soon as you open it, you have to answer a series of short questions about the length of your cycles, your weight, your height, etc. Then an explanatory video starts up: 1min 20 to explain how to take your temperature and use the application... that seems a bit light to me.

Ah yes, it doesn't really surprise me any more that the failure rate is so high. There's nothing about where to take your temperature, how to do it, or the events that influence it (illness, drunken evenings, too little sleep, etc.). What's more, the app considers a 2-hour deviation from the schedule to be a small deviation ... which is just enormous, especially for chronosensitive women like me!
After that, the explanations come to an end, which sounds simple enough.

Finally, when it comes to entering our daily data, we're limited to: noting the presence of bleeding, whether the ovulation test is positive (if we need to do an ovulation test to check it, why bother taking our temperature every day), whether we've had intercourse and whether the temperature seems deviant. Absolutely nothing at all about mucus, the presence of particular events, and other signs (cervical position, sore breasts).

****Mon opinion :

Natural cycles application plays on women's ignorance on their cycle, and maintains it.

Women are unable to determine for themselves why they go from one phase to another, and therefore have no perspective. In my opinion, this is very dangerous. For a woman who has had no training or instruction on this subject, and who starts out solely with this application without knowing her cycle, she can make all the mistakes that lead to an unwanted pregnancy.

Lack of explanation of the practice We'd like to emphasize the importance of taking your temperature correctly (oral, anal or vaginal), at the same time and without any disturbing events. The video and photos on the site encourage women to take their temperature buccally, as it's much more glamorous than the other methods, but some women can't interpret their temperature using this method - those who sleep with their mouth open or drink water at night, for example. What's more, the thermometer would have to be placed under the tongue for the reading to be correct, but there's no mention of this in the video. In short, there's still a serious lack of information here!

The temperature method alone cannot reliably determine ovulation. if not complemented by observation of mucus and/or cervical position. The choice of this method is certainly strategic, as it is more attractive than a method that requires you to observe your mucus, but the choice of this method combined with the lack of explanations reinforces the risks!

Finally, this unjustified price Freeing yourself from the pill and other external constraints to be totally dependent on a paying application every month is an aberration. Your ovulation costs you €8.99/month until the menopause...
Given the price, I can understand why they don't explain to women how to simply interpret their temperatures on their own.
If women were to learn a few simple rules about interpreting temperature, they wouldn't need the application. So we need to reinforce the ignorance and mystery of the female cycle behind highly complex algorithms.

In my opinion, the Natural Cycles app responds to a deep-seated need among women. to move towards more natural options, without really worrying about the consequences

and the prejudice these events will have on other natural contraceptives... It's obvious that the media won't go looking for the difference between the different techniques and lump everything together.

My advice:

• Be vigilant on the proposed methods: the sympto-thermal method is currently the most reliable.

• Reinforce your knowledge Its effectiveness also depends on understanding and autonomy in the face of our observations. A woman who wants 100% natural contraception can feel safe in the face of an unwanted pregnancy if she knows the female cycle perfectly, is able to create her own cyclograms and is aware of the factors that can interfere with her cycle.

• Beware of monthly pay applications.

• And above all, don't use Natural cycles, the advice of an expert in natural contraception.