Ask Lemmy

Ditch the apps, ladies. Those companies will give your data to the government. And police in the UK are now allowed to unlock a woman's phone to check their period tracker so they can see if you've had an illegal abortion (yes, I know that's bullshit).

I've tracked my now wife's periods for about 6 years now because we would fight once a month for years and I eventually started noticing a pattern, lol. Now, at least we know some days in advance so when she starts getting needlessly cranky I check or she asks me to check and it does make it easier to know you/your wife is not crazy for no reason, it's the hormones!

“Oh shit, Is everyone the literal worst or is my uterus about to violently vomit out it’s lining?” Checks app…. “Ok, but maybe it’s actually both!” 🤨

Also to note that some female athletes have started to try to get their big events to happen follicular phase of their cycle. During this time they are stronger, faster and better than other parts of their cycles. Its all based on their hormone. I was chatting with some crazy distance runners who were trying to only schedule their big marathons / ultra marathons during their follicular phase only. They also try to get their distance runs and recovery days synced with their cycles. You really need an app for that.

I use one from Fdroid. The appl-ess alternative would have been to add colored days to my Google Calendar, but I already have too much shit there and I don't need more clutter. In particular I don't want Google having more of my data.

I also don't want my cycles exposed if I'm showing my calendar in person to someone.

Periodical, the app I chose, lets me enter the dates, the intensity, it forecasts my upcoming two cycles, and keeps a log of all my previous cycles in text format that is very easy to read. It's super useful when going to the doctor; instead of "uhhh, I think I've been regular the past six months or so" I can just pull out a list of dates and if I'm really looking for details I have a log of symptoms too.

My periods are super irregular, and tracking is how I try to make sense of it. My last three periods were 2 months ago, 8 months ago and 9 months ago. It's possible that this irregularity is an indicator of poor health, so my doctor advised me to track stuff and come back if it's more than 6 months.

Many tracking apps also include the option for tracking how heavy the flow is. The copper coil/IUD often causes heavier flow and more period pains, but for some people, this settles down after a few months. Tracking can be a useful tool in evaluating whether you're happy with a contraception method (excessive side effects may mean needing to try a different method, like the hormonal coil).

Also, it's not uncommon for there to be some level of bleeding at times when someone isn't on their period. Nothing much, just light spotting. I don't think this is super widespread, but it's also not super rare either. It can be linked to one's contraception. Periods are annoying enough as it is, but at least they don't last long. Irregular spotting may happen when you thought you were safe from bleeding, but some tracking can help spot patterns.

In terms of anticipating patterns and planning around stuff, that's definitely a thing that people do. Sometimes it's as trivial as not wearing nice underwear when you're due to be starting your period. Sometimes it might involve scheduling a date or holiday to avoid overlapping with the period due date. I think perhaps some people who take certain varieties of the contraceptive pill can actually delay their period (I think it's something like taking week 4 of the medication when you're on week 3, or something like that). I have a friend whose only contraception method with her partner are condoms (due to health issues around all the long term methods like the coil), and she uses period tracking to ease anxiety around unexpected pregnancy.

Speaking of planning around one's cycle, I am more likely to make ill-advised horny decisions when I'm ovulating (in a 28 day cycle, ovulation typically happens around 2 weeks after the period starts). I have heard that I'm not the only one who experiences this. It's not a huge effect, but if I'm pondering whether to get off with someone, it can be useful to know if there are background factors affecting that decision.

In short, there are loads of reasons why someone might benefit from this data. These are far from exhaustive examples. Having things on a separate calendar can be useful if apps make it easier to track things like heaviness of flow. It's also nice to not have this stuff on your regular calendar (which may be shared with other people).

When I had a period, they were extremely difficult to track so I gave up. I love you, depo shot, and if they take that shot away I'll go feral. My period is 7 days long with 3 of those days so heavy I can not sleep longer than 1 hour or I bleed over. Now I do not bleed.

Even people with textbook "consistent" menstrual cycles vary by 3-5 days. People with "inconsistent" cycles vary by weeks or even months. Tracking helps anyone on that spectrum.

I'm towards the more consistent end of the spectrum, but I still use a calendar reminder because my cycle is not a perfect calendar month long so it's not as easy as "my period will start around the 5th of every month". I want to ensure I'm prepared (mentally and with menstruation products) before it starts. Doubly so because I travel for work a fair bit and need to pack for it.

And yes, I moved away from a cloud-based app to a local-only tracker over privacy concerns.

Bodies don’t have a set schedule for things. An AFAB body is supposed to routinely ovulate and have a period, but lots of things can disrupt that and cause things to happen early or not at all or delayed. Tracking becomes important for a lot of medical reasons, but a common situation in which it’s important to track is for conceiving. And yes privacy is a huge risk with using an app to track, and with how the government in the US is currently talking about punishing women for not conceiving or having miscarriages etc

Yes women plan around their periods. They don't "Need" a special calendar, but it's pretty easy to lose track of when it's going to happen, and then you forget and plan something important on day 1 of when it's supposed to happen and end up having a bad time, or not account for the fact that it can be early or late (it's not perfect for most women)

In addition to what have been said in other comments, it's useful to track your period for any serious irregularities. Your period can tell a lot about the state of your body, and those can be a sign of illness and such. For example, missed periods are very common in eating disorders; it might be a wake up call in many cases.

To those who actually use or need a menstruation tracker app, if you use Android there is an open source, free option called Bluemoon on F-Droid.

Many people with a uterus don't actually bleed, but still have a cycle. A tracker is helpful to figure out where you are in your cycle when there isn't a big signal you can rely on every period, by logging and tracking other more subtle cues.

In Addition to everything else it helps planning babies (or not to have babies) too. At least for those people with a More or less regular cycle, these apps usually show you the dates where ovulation is most likely to happen. So in case you are planning a baby these are the dates you should defintely spend time together and in the opposite case these are the days where extra attention is needed / fast action in case of an accident.

In the US the worry is the fascist right wing and the fascist tech Bros will use the data to prosecute women for having abortions.

If I wanted to keep track then I definitely would need a calendar. My period is all over the place. Sometimes is 4 or 5 weeks in between instead of the usual 29 ish days, and sometimes I get two a month. There’s no set schedule for me unfortunately, and it’s more erratic as I get older. On the plus side I’ve never had cramps or the other usual symptoms, just had to make sure I have a tampon or pad with me at all times. So yay I guess.

It’s absolutely a way to collect that data and prosecute women. Look at the permissions of any app before you download it!!

I needed to track when not on bc pills, and then during the disastrous run with the copper IUD. Did not use an app, except Excel, and certainly would not do that now, nor advise my kids to. Get a notebook or make coded marks on a calendar.