Fitbit already tracks things like your daily steps and sleep patterns. But, starting next month, some versions of the OG wearable (like the Ionic and the forthcoming Versa) will also be able to track your period.
Here’s how it works: You start by inputting your period dates and attributes using adorbs emojis, such as an image of an egg or a honeycomb under the delightfully vague header of “fluids.” (You can also click to indicate if you’re experiencing fun symptoms like headaches, cramps, or acne.)
But since it can’t detect symptoms like mood swings — at least, not yet — your Fitbit can’t exactly predict when you’ll get your period. But once you input enough data, it will learn a lot about your menstruation cycle. According to The Verge, the app will show “your predicted period week as pink, and your predicted fertile window as blue.”
According to the company, a menstrual tracker is among their customer’s top-five requested add-ons, citing a statistic that “24 percent of US adult women use some kind of period-tracking app today.” So, they figured: Why not Fitbit?
Still, these period-tracking apps are not without controversy. As The Cut pointed out in June last year, some users felt that “even if that information is technically accurate, that doesn’t mean we necessarily want (or need) to attribute every passing mood or symptom to our biology.” And a TIME Health study from 2016 showed that of the 53 websites and smartphone apps that tracked fertility and periods, only four accurately predicted them.
Um, thanks, but no thanks, Fitbit. I have a hard enough time getting to 10,000 steps each day — I think I’ll just worry about that.
