Tempdrop vs. Natural Cycles
Sometimes it feels like new fertility-related devices emerge every day. From fertility tracking to menstrual cycle analysis, these innovative solutions aim to empower women with valuable insights into their bodies. But how are you supposed to know which apps and devices are worth the money and which ones you should pass on?
In this post, I’ll dive into two fertility related Femtech solutions, Tempdrop and Natural Cycles, both of which I have personally tried. Let's explore the strengths and weaknesses of each to help you make an informed decision.
Tempdrop: Wearable Basal Body Temperature Device
Tempdrop is a wearable basal body temperature (BBT) device designed to provide accurate temperature readings throughout your sleep cycle, eliminating the need to take your temperature at the same time each morning with an oral basal body thermometer, which is a significant convenience for many users.
Basal body temperature is your lowest body temperature attained during rest, and your relative temperature rises very slightly after ovulation thanks to the presence of progesterone.
BBT is a sign used in symptothermal fertility awareness based methods to confirm ovulation. It’s important to note that while BBT gives you information about ovulation after it’s actually happened, it doesn’t predict ovulation.
Tempdrop at its base level is a basal body thermometer, however it is advertised as an all in one device, because of the premium app features. But temperature only isn’t enough to get the full picture of your fertility. If you’re trying to conceive, the cervical mucus sign or LH testing is going to give you an idea of when ovulation is about to occur - and timing intimacy before ovulation will result in higher chances of pregnancy.
If you’re avoiding pregnancy and using a fertility awareness based method, temperature needs to be cross checked with another fertility sign like cervical mucus, to ensure highest efficacy. Cervical mucus is also going to be your real-time indicator of rising estrogen and potential fertility.
Tempdrop is great as a basal body thermometer but I wouldn’t call it an all-in-one solution.
The Tempdrop app has a fertility chart feature, which I don’t recommend for my fertility charting clients, because of the limitations of the mucus categories and limitations of manually marking up the chart. Instead, my clients use the Read Your Body app which automatically pulls Tempdrop temps into the chart after they’ve been synced to the Tempdrop app. The app also offers a premium chart interpretation feature, geared towards those who are trying to conceive. As you’ll read on below, I don’t recommend automatic chart interpretation.
The big advantage of Tempdrop really comes down to the convenience. If you work shifts or aren’t aren’t able to wake up at the same time each morning to temp, Tempdrop can be a game changer. You can wake up in the middle of the night, keeping the device on, and still have a reliable temperature in the morning. Tempdrop can also handle sleeping in different rooms, or travelling to different time zones.
Device placement makes a huge difference with stability of Tempdrop temps. If the device isn’t making proper contact or moves around at night, you will have poor quality data.
Natural Cycles: Temperature-Only Algorithm
Natural Cycles, on the other hand, is an app that relies solely on a temperature-based algorithm to determine safe days for avoiding or achieving pregnancy. The app interprets basal body temperature data, using a calculation to open the fertile window, and interprets your temperature shift data to confirm ovulation.
I was curious about how the Natural Cycles algorithm compared to a fertility charting approach, so I tested it for 6 cycles.
I was surprised at how innacurate the temperature shift interpretation was. Not only is temperature only to confirm ovulation riskier than cross checking with a biomarker like cervical mucus, but there were enough cycles where the interpretation was just outright wrong.
Temperature can’t predict ovulation. Natural Cycles uses a population based as well as cycle data based calculation to open the fertile window, but the calculation that I was given was really generous.
A bleed starts each cycle, regardless of whether it was menstruation or not. In a fertility awareness based charting approach, menstruation is distinguished form other types of bleeding by nature of it being preceded by ovulation. Whether or not ovulation was confirmed, a bleed started a new cycle in Natural Cycles. Fertility awareness based methods (FABMS) would treat these bleeds as potentially fertile or even highly fertile, because they could be a sign ovulation is occurring.
No app or thermometer can predict ovulation. Even if your app has seemed to accurately predict ovulation in the past and you have regular cycles - cycles are only regular until they aren’t. If you’re strictly avoiding pregnancy I would stay away from Natural Cycles as your primary method of birth control.
TLDR:
Tempdrop is a convenient basal body thermometer, but it isn’t always necessary for everyone. If you’re able to take your temperature with a basic oral thermometer, start with that and go from there. If you’re struggling to get accurate temps because your wake up time is all over the place, Tempdrop is a great alternative. Always crosscheck Tempdrop temps with a primary fertility biomarker like cervical mucus.
Natural Cycles is an algorithm based charting app. I wouldn’t recommend it if you are strictly avoiding pregnancy.
As technology continues to evolve, Femtech options are likely to improve and become more comprehensive in addressing various aspects of women's health.
Regardless of the choice you make, these tools serve as stepping stones towards a deeper understanding of your body and reproductive health. Always remember to complement technology with additional knowledge, Femtech can never replace learning a method of fertility awareness - information you’ll have for life.