Trying to conceive: when do you switch from a cycle app to a pregnancy app?

Short answer: you do not have to switch, and it is better not to. The moment most women go from a cycle app to a pregnancy app is exactly when their cycle data is worth the most: for calculating the due date, for the first weeks, and later for recovery. Whoever switches starts with an empty app.

The three moments people usually switch

• When you start trying. You want more than a period prediction: you want to know which days matter.
• At a positive test. The cycle app does not know what to do and keeps predicting periods.
• After birth. The pregnancy app is done, the cycle is not back, and nobody tells you honestly when it will be.

What you lose with every switch

Your cycle length over the past months, your average, your variation, your temperature curves, your symptoms. Exactly what a midwife or doctor wants to see when the due date is set or when something is irregular.

What you need while trying

Not day 14 from a textbook. Ovulation falls somewhere between day 11 and day 21 in a normal cycle, wider in an irregular one. What works is three signals side by side: basal temperature, ovulation tests and cervical mucus.

What you need when pregnant

No more period predictions. Instead: per week what happens to the baby and to your body, in plain language. Reporting bleeding instead of logging "flow". And an assistant that knows which week you are in.

What you need after birth

Honesty. Your cycle returns between six weeks and more than a year after birth, depending among other things on breastfeeding. An app that predicts a period on day 28 after birth pretends to know something it does not.

How we solved it

In PERIOD. you choose in your profile where you are: cycle, trying, pregnant, or after birth. The app adapts, your data stays. That is PERIOD. baby: 7.99 per month or 69.99 per year, everything in plus included, 14 days free first. Tracking your cycle stays free alongside it.

PERIOD. is not a medical device. For questions about your pregnancy or fertility, talk to your GP, midwife or gynaecologist.