Samsung has been working on more health-centric features over the years. The Samsung Galaxy Watches are able to detect a person's skin temperature, and the electronics giant will use that feature to provide insight into a woman's menstrual cycle.
Using Galaxy Watches to Track Your Period
Samsung already has a Cycle Tracking feature based on its system calendar, but the company is taking its tracking capabilities further by providing deeper insights into the users' menstrual cycles as well as overall health.
Vice President and Head of the Digital Health Team, Hon Pak stated that the company's holistic view of wellness has been further advanced by sensor innovations, bringing users more convenient methods to track personal health.
A temperature reading is one of the factors used to predict a person's next period given that menstrual phases affect the basal body temperature of an individual. Women typically have lower temperatures in the first part of their menstrual cycles.
The Galaxy Watch can make the process of taking temperatures easier, since the best time to observe it is first thing in the morning and people tend to forget. An automated temperature reading saves users the trouble of doing it themselves.
Samsung is partnering with Natural Cycles, a company that possesses technology for pregnancy predictions. With the latter's own algorithm, it's integrated with Samsung's sensor technology, which uses infrared to get more accurate readings despite changes in the surroundings.
The feature is now available in Korea, the US, and 30 European countries. Users may activate it via Cycle Tracking in the Samsung Health app. After adding the latest cycle information, users may turn on "Predict period with skin temp" in the settings.
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Natural Cycles
Natural Cycles has been using temperature-based monitoring before using its own wearable devices, making it the only one that has acquired FDA clearance for it. It also has an app for birth control which is also called Natural Cycle.
While it can only be used for period tracking so you can be prepared, it also has many other uses such as determining whether you are fertile enough to conceive, or if you want to avoid various forms of birth control to avoid side effects.
The Natural Cycle birth control app is both FDA-cleared and CE-marked. It can be used to get a deeper look at the unique patterns of your menstrual cycle, along with updates and insights that are tailored just for you.
Birth control tools like contraceptive pills are just as effective as the app, although the pills may cause hormonal imbalance or other side effects. As for other fertility apps, they usually use 28-day cycles whereas Natural Cycle gives more accurate data since it's based on the user.
So far, the app has very good reviews, with over 30,000 ratings in the App Store with an average of 4.8 stars. According to Healthline, Natural Cycle claims to be accurate by 93% with typical use, which increases to 98% with perfect use.
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