This new contraceptive app is officially more effective at preventing pregnancy than the pill

A contraceptive app that tells women when it is safe to have unprotected sex has been found to be as effective at preventing pregnancy as the pill.

A recent study, published in the journal Contraception found that Natural Cycles was 99% effective.

The app, which is used by 380,000 women as a form of birth control, is different from other period-tracking apps because it also asks women to record their body temperature every morning.

This offers an indirect measure of hormone levels, which allows the app to calculate the six days within her menstrual cycle on which a user is most fertile and therefore most likely to get pregnant.

The app, which costs £40 a year, also uses dates of menstruation and sexual activity to advise users when they should take extra precautions in order to avoid pregnancies.

The largest-ever study, of 22,785 women, into the app’s effectiveness found it to be 99% effective under “perfect” use and 93% effective under “typical” use. In comparison according to NHS Choices the pill offers just 91% effectiveness.

Professor Kristina Gemzell Danielsson, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said: “Since more and more women are choosing natural contraception as an option, we welcome that there is a certified app with solid clinical evidence.”

But the app isn’t just used to prevent unwanted pregnancies, women are also using it to track their fertility in the hope of getting pregnant.

“What we see in our data, which I find very promising, is younger women getting pregnant less when using the app even though they are more fertile, because they really don’t want to get pregnant,” Elina Berglund, one of the app’s founders told Wired. “Slightly older women are those that get pregnant the most using the app.”

She goes on to explain that she believes women could use Natural Cycles for various reasons throughout their menstruating years – a form of contraception, to help them plan for a pregnancy and to plan and prepare for when period pains are likely to kick in.

“People usually say what they like the most about the app is that it knows their body and helps them understand what’s going on inside,” she says.

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