Natural Cycles Fertility App reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
An FDA-cleared cycle tracker and non-hormonal birth control built on basal temperature: it genuinely teaches women about their bodies, but hides a hard paywall and a lock-in to its own thermometer or Oura ring behind a long onboarding quiz.
What users love
It teaches women about their own bodies — the core reason people love it
Over years of use people say they've learned more about their cycle, hormones and phases than anywhere else, including school. The educational articles, reminders (PMS, breast self-exams) and seeing how the cycle ties to mood, sleep and energy give a real sense of bodily agency.
I have learned so much about my body & the female biology. I have 3 kids & am shocked I never knew as much as this app has taught me.
this app is extremely informative. I have learned more about my female health than anywhere else. tbh we should be learning this stuff from the time we are in school.
This app is clearly made by women, for women with the goal of empowerment through knowledge.
Works as non-hormonal birth control and helps people conceive
For people off the pill, IUD or implant, NC reliably prevents pregnancy for years and, by switching modes, helps them conceive, then track and get through pregnancy. Users value that it's a non-hormonal, FDA-cleared method with no side effects — many staying 5-9 years.
I have used the app since 2018, so 8 years now. It's been amazing to learn more about my cycle and through consistent data collection
Helped me both avoid pregnancy as well as get pregnant and then helped me postpartum. Truly a good app and worth the fee.
Effective, intuitive, and a relief to have another FDA approved option for birth control.
Oura sync and the partner view make tracking effortless
Syncing with the Oura ring (or NC band) removes the painful "take your temp the second you wake" ritual — a lifesaver for people whose sleep is broken by small kids or night shifts. The partner profile lets a husband see the red/green day and stay involved.
Pairing this app with my Oura ring is life changing. Best natural cycle tracker!!
I love that this syncs with my oura ring and provides me so much information about my cycle.
my partner loves to check in with the partner link to know if its a red or green day
Insurance or an HSA often covers the subscription
Many discover, often after paying, that the annual fee can be reimbursed through insurance or paid from an HSA via step-by-step instructions on the site — which makes the steep price tolerable or even free. Those whose insurance covers it 100% urge others not to let the price deter them.
you can get the annual membership cost covered by your insurance. if you check their website, it gives you step by step instructions on getting the form filled out by your doctor and filing a claim through insurance!
I am lucky enough that my insurance covers the annual dues 100%.
was also able to get reimbursed from my HSA.
What users hate
The paywall is hidden behind a long quiz and sign-up
People spend 10-15 minutes answering health questions, create an account and hand over personal data — only to hit a subscription wall right at the end, just before the prediction, with no warning anywhere upfront. Many delete the account immediately and demand their data be erased.
the biggest waste of time. Can't proceed without a subscription after 10 minutes of asking questions, collecting data
I went through the entire setup process - including a health questionnaire, creating an account, giving them my email address - before hitting the paywall.
it gets you to go through the whole setup, input all your period logs etc... then when your just about to view your ovulation prediction.... it wants you to pay £89.99 a year !!
Price doubled or tripled with no improvements — loyal users leave
Long-timers since 2017-2018 say the sub jumped from £49 to £89 (or to $150/yr) with no warning and no meaningful new features. The hike is justified as "improvements" users never see, and many cancel, feeling the most loyal customers are the ones being squeezed.
The recent price increase from £49 to £89 is mental.
Initially, it was affordable but they've more than doubled the sub fee which was still extortionate even when paid annually, justifying it as "making improvements to the app" when the app already did everything it needed to.
It's also literally tripled in price since I first used it.
You're forced to buy their thermometer, ring or band
On top of the pricey subscription, the app demands a branded $40 thermometer, the NC band or an Oura ring — and blocks manual temperature entry from your own ordinary thermometer. Existing customers who already own the Gen 3 thermometer get hard-locked to the new device with no choice.
You have to buy some stupid expensive wearables like rings and arm bands to actually use the app.
It will also not allow manuel entry of temperature because it is set to sync with the band, and you cannot change that.
Why am I paying for an app, just to use their branded thermometer? The thermometer is no different to any others on the market
They auto-charge on renewal and refuse refunds
The subscription silently auto-renews with no clear reminder email, charging people $120-168 even after they tried to cancel — then refunds are refused on a "once we have your money it's ours" basis. Tellingly, NC only refunds many of them AFTER a public one-star review.
They have a strict, "once we have your money it's ours policy"
they auto renew and won't refund, they should at least give you a warning email.
They will charge you $168 for a terrible app and won't honor your cancelation when you try to cancel.
The algorithm floods you with red days and confirms ovulation a week late
Even with a regular cycle and Oura, the algorithm holds "waiting for ovulation" for weeks, then retroactively says it happened long ago. Red days are so frequent there are barely any green ones, and the day's colour flips green-to-red and back — which scares users and erodes trust in it as contraception.
It will tell me "waiting for ovulation" every day and then 7 days later it will back track and tell me I ovulated last week.
getting a green day and then the next day it saying the green day was actually red?
If you have an even slightly irregular period you will have so many red days it's useless.
Doesn't work with Samsung/Galaxy, Garmin or Fitbit — despite being advertised there
People discover NC via Samsung Health ("powered by Natural Cycles") or a Galaxy/Garmin promo, subscribe — then learn the app only syncs with Apple and Oura, and their temperature-sensing watch isn't supported. In some countries it just says "no devices available."
why does NC work with my galaxy watch temperature scan within Samsung Health but only supports aura ring within its own app?
this data does absolutely nothing for me other than tell me when I'm fertile
The biggest drawback is no support for Samsung Watch! Why partner with Samsung and not support a watch app?!
The ads lie about being "the only" and "number one"
Pushy ads claim NC is the only app that accurately tracks your cycle and is "number one"; in the UK the ads were forced to change for being misleading. Users bristle at the "we'll tell you when it's safe to have sex" framing — and come specifically to leave one star for the dishonesty.
The advertisement for this app is lying saying they are the number one choice. In fact, the UK 🇬🇧 made them change their ads due to misleading information.
said it was the ONLY app that could accurately track your cycle. The thing about this is that I've had a different app accurately tracking my cycle for decades, and I don't like liars.
seeing the false advertising alone has led me to come and leave this review so others can be warned this company isn't looking to be honest at all.
Support is an AI bot instead of humans
To reach support you first have to get past a useless chatbot posing as AI, then wait 1-2 (really 4+) days with no phone line. The contrast is stark: store reviews get instant replies while real billing tickets go unanswered. When a human does get through, though, they can be kind.
customer service? spend some time with an "ai" chatbot (not really ai, just a chatbot) before you can get a ticket raised
I did reach out to you via your chat bot which was of no use, as many others have noted. I don't understand why you have someone replying to reviews instantly but no one ever working customer service
Having a terrible time syncing data from Oura. And having a harder time getting help with it (forced to chat with a bit)
The recent redesign split temperature and symptom logging across screens
After the update the most important step — entering temperature — was split off from symptoms and buried on the "today" screen, forcing a separate save per entry. Long-time users call it a step backward made by people who don't use the app themselves, and also dislike the new "blurry" look.
New UX is terrible - temp input is now separate from symptoms, making it clunky and annoying to use - just put it all on the same page like before!
Latest app changes are frustrating & seem like they were made by someone who doesn't *use* the app OR menstruate.
Arguably the most important data being tracked is temp but you can only add it from the "today" screen, but you can add other details by clicking + from any screen? Such a bizarre and inconvenient change.