Ovulation and Pregnancy Calendar app review: track your cycle, predict gender, and more

Introduction

The Ovulation and Pregnancy Calendar app (or OP Calendar) is meant to be used to predict your fertility window by tracking your periods.  The simple interface has daily and monthly screens that are color-coded and it tracks the beginning and end of each menstrual cycle.

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Daily Screen

Upon opening the periods app, a daily screen appears marked with “Today.”  There is the standard toothed gear button in the top right corner to access the Settings screen.  Tapping on the ring will display the dates for the next period and days countdown till the next fertility window. Swiping right and left changes the date. Along the bottom are four buttons to display: “Legend,” “Period Start," “Fun,” and “Calendar.. 

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The primary detail on the daily screen is a colored ring and date displayed in the matching color. Menstruation cycles are set to five days by default, which the user may change in the settings. These dates are coded red. The conventional meaning of red is to stop, so it’s not clear what we are trying to stop. This color option only works if you are trying to get pregnant, so stop having sex on these red days. You won’t pregnant on the green days either, so no sex on the green days as well as the red!  This color coding is counterintuitive and confusing.

A green ring is used to indicate that the next fertility window is greater than three days away. If green were to be used for “GO” then these dates are safe to “GO” have “Fun.”  This app uses “Fun” to mean unprotected sex. Within three days of the predicted fertility window, the ring and date color becomes yellow. This is vaguely labeled “Maybe...,” translating to mean the possibility of becoming pregnant during these days.  

Fertility Window

During the actual fertility window, five days are coded pink with a single day of ovulation coded in blue.  Unfortunately, these fertility windows are marked with text and a male/female icon to indicate “Most likely to have a girl/boy". It is well-documented and widely accepted that the sex of the child is determined by the sperm, although there are some theories about date of conception compared to date of sexual intercourse having some impact on the gender of the child.

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Pros and Cons

Pros

• Predicts your future periods and fertility windows
• Tracks your periods to provide accurate predictions
• Keeps track of your last fun encounter
• Predicts due date if the baby was conceived
• Optional passcode to protect your privacy

Cons

• Counterintuitive color scheme
• Adolescent euphemism for having unprotected sex
• Menstrual periods can differ from woman to woman and month to month affecting accuracy of predictions

Final Thoughts

This is a free, simple app that predicts future periods and fertility windows by using arithmetic based on a 28-day cycle and five-day menstruation (can be customized in settings). Since menstrual periods can vary between individuals and each cycle, a disclaimer states “should be used as estimate only."