Cycle & Birth Control Tracking

We suggest starting by logging your period when it arrives. To do this, press the red Log Period button for the required day on the main screen and save it.This day and a few days after it will be marked as your period.

If you want to edit the period, tap Calendar and press Edit Period Dates. Check the required dates and save it.
When you scroll to the next month in you monthly calendar, you’ll see days marked with different colors:

• Predicted period days are red.
• Fertile days are marked in teal. A day that is inside a teal dotted circle is your ovulation day – and it says High chance of getting pregnant. Days before ovulation and a couple of days after are those with Chance to get pregnant (the app considers various parameters – such as the ability of sperm to live for up to 5 days in a woman’s body, the ability of your egg to live for one day – and it tries to keep the fertile window as wide as possible to include all possibilities).
• The days that are black (after the ovulation and before the next period) have a low chance of pregnancy. However, the chance to get pregnant exists even during the low-chance phase, as our cycle may shift due to various reasons.
• For the current and past days, it's also possible to add symptoms and events via the "+" button.

The more symptoms you enter, the more precise predictions you'll get.

If your cycle is unstable or you just started using the app, Flo will keep the fertile window as wide as possible to include all possibilities. With time, when your cycle is more or less stable and Flo has more historic data to build predictions upon, it will shorten the window. 

The minimum fertile window Flo can show is four days before ovulation; the ovulation day itself and 2 days after it. Such calculation is based on the ability of sperm to live in the woman's body for up to 5 days and on the fact that an egg is viable for up to 24 hours. 

This can happen for several reasons:

1. Fertility predictions disappear if you start tracking contraceptives (since ovulation gets suppressed in your body). Please navigate to More > Reminders > Contraception and check if it's enabled. If it's been activated by mistake, just disable the reminder and predictions will resume.
2. Your cycle was predicted to run for 20 days or less, or for 60 days and more. Unfortunately, Flo is unable to give more or less accurate fertility predictions for too short or too long cycles. Therefore, we hide them in order not to mislead our users. Once your cycles get somewhere between these extreme values and the app notices this trend, ovulation predictions will resume. For now we suggest tracking your ovulation via basal body temperature and ovulation tests. 
3. If you have a delay, then ovulation and period predictions for future months are hidden. A delay is displayed when Flo predictions didn’t come true, and so the app is no longer sure about the precision of its predictions. Once you log a new period and the app receives a new batch of data, predictions will be recalculated and displayed again.
4. You disabled the chance of getting pregnant in More > Cycle and ovulation. If you have done this by mistake, just enable the feature.

Ovulation tests detect a sudden increase in the luteinizing hormone (LH). This LH surge causes the release of the mature egg from the ovary, which is ovulation. Ovulation normally occurs 24 to 48 hours after the LH surge, which is why Flo predicts ovulation for the next day after a positive ovulation test result is logged.

It is also possible to receive a negative result and still ovulate. If you have a sharp LH surge, for example, you may take one test before your surge is detectable by your kit and another test when your LH has already begun to decrease and is no longer detectable by the kit. 

Therefore, we don't rely on negative ovulation tests because we don't know if ovulation has already happened or it's going to happen. 

Your cycle settings don't influence the predictions directly; rather they serve as a component for the app calculations.
Apart from that, Flo takes into account the historic period dates and the symptoms that you enter on a monthly basis. It creates the prediction based on this data.

You can get a quick overview of your previous cycle duration in More > Graphs & Reports > Cycle Duration.
However, if your cycle remains stable and matches the duration you've specified, then the app will note that and adjust its prediction accordingly.

Flo takes into account the user's history of cycles and builds a probability model. Sometimes, a cycle shifts and is unstable, so displaying a delay right away would not be fully accurate. Flo creates a "window" when a period can arrive. When the window is closed and the period has not been logged, the usual delay notice will be shown. 

If you don't like this feature, please navigate to More > Cycle and ovulation > Improved predictions > Disable.

When your cycle is not "fixed" and varies in duration, then the symptoms you enter recalculate the prediction. The more periods and symptoms you enter, the more precise Flo predictions become.

If you dislike the feature, it can be disabled in More > Cycle and ovulation > Improved Predictions > Off.

To collect cervical mucus, insert clean fingers (index and middle) into the vagina closer to the cervix. Rub the mucus between the two fingers, squeeze them a little, and then slowly spread them apart.

What types of cervical mucus are there?

• Eggwhite

Fertile days. HIGH chance of getting pregnant It's transparent and stretchy like raw egg white. Can be stretched up to 4 in (10 cm) and indicates the most fertile days.

• Sticky

LOW chance of getting pregnant It's cloudy or transparent, and lumpy like starch dissolved in water. It sticks, tears and doesn't stretch.

• Creamy

LOW chance of getting pregnant It's white or yellowish, and uniform like body lotion. Slightly stretchy, easily torn.

To log ovulation manually, please click ‘+’ - More parameters - Ovulation - Add it - Save. After that, you'll be able to log ovulation (Ovulation: My method) along with other symptoms. 

In order to log the period start/end date, press the red Log Period button for the required day on the main screen > Check it > Save. This day and some days after it will be added to your period timeframe. The end of the period will be logged automatically according to the Period length specified in More > Cycle and ovulation.

If you want to edit the period or add past periods, please tap Calendar > Edit Period Dates > Check the required dates > Save.

If there is no break in the intake of you pills, you can start a new pack. Flo will not show a delay, but will consider it as a continuation of your current cycle.

If you skip the break, please navigate to More > Reminders > Contraception and specify the new intake start date, so that Flo continues to send notifications.

Flo supports a range of contraception methods: oral contraceptives, vaginal ring, contraceptive patch, contraceptive injection, IUD and implant.

The app will be aware of your contraception type after you set up reminders for it. It can be done via More > Reminders > Contraception (on) > Type > Choose the type you use.

In case of pills, you can also log the intake along with other symptoms on  "+" screen.

It's possible to log BBT and test results in Flo after your add the corresponding trackers to screen "+".
Please press “+” > More parameters > Add Basal Temperature or Test Results > Save.

After that, you can log the results along with other symptoms.

To edit your basal temperature or logged weight, tap the logged number and then with the help of the Backspace button of your keyboard, remove the incorrect value and type a new one. Then, press Done.

Flo takes nutrition information from other apps via Google Fit (i.e., Flo connects to Google Fit, and nutrition apps connect to it, too). 

Here's a list of most popular nutrition apps. They make it easy to track calorie intake, and you might want to give them a try. 
To connect Google Fit to Flo, go to More > Settings > Google Fit > Connect > Then, you will see the instructions. 

For some women, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a real disaster, especially if they experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which has more severe symptoms.

Don’t be embarrassed and don't suffer in silence! Pain is a body signal that something is wrong; it’s not a challenge which you must bravely endure.

Our aim is to provide you with essential advice, so note all your symptoms in the app. If the situation really affects your life, please see your doctor.