High-tech help for your periods

iPhone app makes tracking your monthly cycle fun and easy

The iPhone is full of applications that let you write, make music, take photos, paint, and even create interactive stories. So why not have a little more fun with managing the ups and downs of your monthly cycle?

Period Tracker is the go-to app to log and predict your periods, know your fertile times, and note when you're having menstrual symptoms (PMS, anyone?) throughout the month. Icons for moods, flow and ovulation (a bright pink daisy!) are cute and light-hearted, making those challenging, emotional days a little easier to take.

Avoid those surprise interruptions

Period Tracker was developed by married couple, Susan and David Lee, who recognized a need for better tracking after they tried to keep their wedding period-free. Been there before?

Susan says, "Before we got married, I used to keep track of my periods in my computer calendar but I would only remember to write it down every third month or so. Because of my inconsistent tracking, we nearly had a disaster when I figured out that I was due to have my period on my wedding day. I quickly got on birth control pills to try to not have my period during our wedding month and then ended up breaking out right before our wedding."

Period Tracker can get you in touch with your body

Now, since its launch in October 2008, she and her husband have helped women around the world manage their monthly cycles and keep their partners in the know. They've received numerous e-mails from happy, pregnant women as a thank-you for the high-tech help. And Susan says it's made her much more in touch with her own body, her feelings and changes she experiences throughout her cycle.

"I was pretty clueless before I started keeping better tabs on my periods about when my body did what," she explains. "I actually didn't even know when my ovulation and fertile days really were. Since keeping tabs, I notice patterns in my health, symptoms and even moods. When I'm a little crabby, I check my Period Tracker, see where I am in my cycle and know exactly why I'm feeling this way. I then apologize to David for being crabby and tell him that I'm going to start soon."

Tracker companion app keeps your guy informed

Period Tracker has been developed beyond a simple countdown app, with password protection, notes, a month-view calendar, and a symptoms notation feature. It has a sync option to wirelessly sync with Period Tracker Companion for Men, a new app created for men who would love an easier way to know when to be extra sweet to their girlfriend or spouse.

As enlightened David puts it: "Period Tracker has helped me to appreciate the wonders of the human body. It's amazing to me how the woman's body follows monthly cycles, and it's amazing to me how so many people tell us that our app has been so accurate for them. I'm also much more aware of my wife's cycle and I can be sensitive and understanding on special days."

Revolutionary and fun

The couple wants to revolutionize the way women track their health, making it fun, easy and a good database for reference. New features include weight-tracking, temperature-tracking, and 20 new moods. Twenty? Women are complex, emotional creatures, after all.

They're also upping the cuteness factor, with six new "skins" that users can choose from, depending on what type of girl you are – the nature girl, the beach girl, the city girl, the glam girl, the actress and the girly girl.

Period Tracker is available in the iTunes.com App Store for $1.99.

Try Period Tracker for free

During the month of September 2009, you can try Period Tracker for free using the following codes:

WFKYNTMRNYMX
TLLX4PLY9WXM
94NNTNY3PX9J
EKP4R4FKWXJN
7JTJ7L6T4Y4A
JA4TKN3H9AHL
T9WLR7THWPTN
A99AR44RW9PT
X4KXJWLA74WM
E6NNPXMKT9TN

More on menstruation and PMS

• All about menstrual migraines
• Menstrual mayhem: Managing the monthly madness
• 10 tips to prevent PMS, naturally