Menstruation Meets Technology: A Look at the Highs and Lows of Period Apps

Once a whispered topic confined to calendars and coded diary entries, menstruation is now managed by sleek apps that promise precision and empowerment. Period tracking apps—used by millions across the globe—let users log everything from flow levels and moods to cravings and fertility windows. These tools claim to decode the body’s cycles using algorithms, pushing biology into the realm of data-driven self-surveillance. As our bodies become increasingly mediated by technology, the intimate rhythms of menstruation are no longer just hormonal—they’re digital, calculated, and often, commodified. Haraway’s cyborg metaphor helps us understand how the body is no longer purely biological but a hybrid of human and machine. Period apps create a cyborg menstrual body, where one’s biological functions are mediated, managed, and interpreted through digital interfaces. The body is no longer just experienced, but also read and understood through data.

From Calendars to Code: India’s Growing Dependence on Period Tracking Apps

Across India, a growing number of menstruators are turning to digital apps to navigate their cycles. Platforms like Maya, Flo, and Clue have become everyday companions, helping users log symptoms, predict periods, and monitor fertility. Designed with bright interfaces and daily reminders, these apps promise control over one’s reproductive health, yet their performance often depends on how well they reflect the realities of diverse bodies.

A 24-year-old user shared, “It gives me a heads-up about when to expect my period, but the dates often shift around.” Another, aged 30, added, “I like that I can track how I feel, but it doesn’t always interpret my entries in a way that makes sense to me.”

At their core, these apps rely on user data—inputs like cycle start dates, mood logs, and physical symptoms—to generate predictions using built-in algorithms. Most are modelled around the idea of a standard 28-day cycle, assuming ovulation around day 14. While this suits some users, it excludes those with irregular cycles, PCOS, or hormone-related conditions. A few apps allow tracking of additional indicators like body temperature or discharge. Though they offer a sense of structure, these tools can also simplify the complexity of menstrual health.

The Digital Dependency Dilemma: From Teenage Taps to Fertility Fumbles

​​Teenagers today are growing up in an age where the first sign of a period doesn’t send them to a school nurse, it sends them to the app store. In contrast to earlier generations, who relied on rough estimates, whispered advice, or hand-marked calendars, Gen Z users often treat period apps as biological authorities. This shift has brought convenience, yes, but also new anxieties. “I started tracking my cycle at 15 because my friends were doing it,” shared a 19-year-old.

This over-reliance isn’t just psychological, it’s also structural. A 2022 Mozilla Foundation report revealed that many period tracking apps, including some of the most downloaded ones, scored poorly on privacy. Sensitive data, about sex, moods, and fertility, was often shared with third-party advertisers without informed consent. The harm here isn’t abstract; it's intimate. 

When asked about conveniences, Period tracking apps have grown into far more than just digital calendars; they now serve as intuitive wellness companions. For many, these tools help navigate not just the menstrual cycle, but the emotional, hormonal, and physical changes that come with it. Leah, who uses both Flo and Apple Health, shares, “While I find value in both, I lean more towards Flo. The app has been noticeably more accurate when it comes to predicting my cycle, and I find the Insights section super helpful and easy to understand.” She especially appreciates the Secret Chats, a community feature where users share honest stories, creating a safe space for emotional validation and guidance. Similarly, Mrinil, a long-time user, adds, “It helps me track cycle, medication, mood, symptoms and also allows for future planning. The best part is that it also has a partner version, so that your partner can track your cycle and support you.” These features collectively promote body literacy, deepen partner communication, and create a sense of global sisterhood. Even though not every experience is perfect—as Anisha points out about the lack of options for irregular periods—there’s still acknowledgment that, “Flo covered all aspects, like my symptoms, moods, my diet, and even exercise,” which lays the foundation for more personalised health management tools in the future.

Beyond Pink: When Period Apps Fail Queer Bodies

Beneath the glossy surface of period tracking apps, wrapped in pastel palettes, flower motifs, and phrases like “Hey girl, it’s that time again”, lies a deeper problem: a fundamental exclusion of queer and trans experiences. While these apps are promoted as tools for bodily empowerment, their design often assumes a narrow, cisgender female user. But trans men menstruate. So do non-binary people. And for them, opening an app that greets them with hyper-feminine visuals or assumptions about fertility can be not just alienating, but dysphoria-inducing.

As queer theory reminds us, gender is not a static identity but a lived, fluid experience, yet most digital health tools freeze it into binary defaults. A 20-year-old trans user shared, “I just wanted to track my cramps, but the app kept referring to me as a woman and asking if I was ‘trying for a baby.’ It felt like I didn’t belong.” In trying to cater to “all women,” these platforms end up othering anyone who doesn’t conform to traditional gender expectations. The language, aesthetics, and assumptions within these apps signal who is welcomed, and who is invisibilized.

For true inclusivity, it isn’t enough to add a “gender: other” option in the settings. Queer users need interfaces that affirm their identities, language that reflects their realities, and systems that respect their autonomy. Otherwise, period tech risks replicating the same exclusions it claims to overcome, under the guise of empowerment.

Where Are the Men in Menstruation? Rethinking Responsibility and Intimacy in a Digital Age

The silent observer in this tech-health revolution is often the man, partner, father, friend, left out not just of the interface, but the conversation itself. Yet as one 29-year-old respondent reflected, “When my partner’s app misjudges her cycle and she’s stressed or in pain, it affects both of us. It’s not just her issue—it’s ours.”

Apps shape how menstruators relate to their bodies, but they also indirectly shape how their loved ones relate to them. Irregular cycles, PMS, or fertility anxieties often ripple into relationships. Still, many men feel unequipped to engage. A 34-year-old father admitted, “I wouldn’t know how to talk to my daughter if her app made her feel ashamed. We never had those conversations growing up.”

The disconnect is cultural as much as technological. Men are rarely targeted in menstrual health campaigns, and rarely included in period app design. But as maternal health becomes more digitised, their role deserves a rethink, not as silent supporters, but as empathetic co-navigators. Including men in these dialogues could demystify menstruation, reduce stigma, and build deeper emotional fluency. After all, a more inclusive future for menstrual tech means redesigning not just our apps, but our relationships, too.

Period Tech Needs a New Cycle

Period tracking apps promised to revolutionise menstrual health, and in many ways, they have—offering structure, awareness, and access like never before. But as we've seen, convenience doesn't always mean care. These tools, built on standardised bodies and narrow gender assumptions, often leave behind the very users they claim to empower—those with irregular cycles, chronic conditions, or queer identities. And while the burden of managing menstruation still largely falls on individuals, its ripple effects touch partners, families, and wider communities.