I remember back in the summer before sixth grade when it was my first year having a period. My mom told me to be sure to track the date so I could have an idea of when my next period would start, so I would not be caught off guard. Therefore, the week after my first period, I went to Walgreens and bought a small pocket calendar. I would place a red dot on the date that I got my period and count 28 days and put a square to estimate when my next period would be.
Now, the year is no longer 2009, but 2015. The day before my projected period, my phone pings with an alert—one more day until your projected period. I literally am able to carry my period information wherever I go. It makes Doctor Appointments a lot simpler.
I got my first iPod Touch for Christmas during sixth grade. While I loved playing games on in and watching movies, I also found a pretty nifty app as I was scrolling through the Top 100 apps on the App Store: Period Tracker. The name was quite simple, so I clicked on it to learn more and would never have imagined a world where digital period tracking existed. I fell down the rabbit hole of digital tracking and have never looked back up. When I got my first iPhone in 7th grade, I just transferred the data and kept going on my way.
There are five tabs on the app: note, calendar, period log, charts, and setting. On the note section, you can write notes on anything, indicate if you were intimate or had a period start or end that day, track symptoms by intensity, choose moods, and record weight, temperature, fertility symptoms, and pills taken.
The calendar tab shows a visual calendar and has a key that shows period days and the date of ovulation. The period log shows the start date of periods and how many days were in that cycle. On the top is the average days in your custom cycle from what you have tracked in the app. While many women have 28 days in their average cycle, not every women has a perfect four weeks between each period.
Charts are visual tracking of menstrual cycle lengths, weight, symptoms, and other trackable features. Under settings, you can customize the appearance of the app and backup data. If you get pregnant, there is also a feature under setting to turn on pregnancy.
Besides Period Tracker, there are many different apps that do similar period tracking. It’s important to look at the screen caps and read the features and choose the best period tracking app to fit your needs. Some women may want to track every symptom and emotion imaginable and then some. Other women may be looking for a simple calendar that is separate from their work calendars and get alerts of upcoming periods.
Tracking my period through my phone has been great for my lifestyle. I feel I have less concern about upcoming periods and can understand better when I may feel moody on certain days of the month. This is just another way that technology has improved the life of many.
Cover image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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