Why using a period tracking app doesn’t have to be a terrible experience

I’m responsible for product at Clue. So when I read Maggie’s post about her bad experience with every period tracker she tried (including ours) I felt pretty bummed about it. I think we at Clue could be doing better to express where our hearts are and where our development plans are headed. So here goes.

Tracking cycles is a complex problem to solve in an elegant way, particularly because we at Clue are trying to address the needs of all people who are biologically female-bodied — or, as one of Clue’s users put it, “anyone who has a uterus”. We have a long way to go, but we’re on the journey to provide a solution that we feel is right.

We do feel it’s important to address every variety of need, including the asexual, sexually active, the full spectrum of straight, LGBTQ, cis and even common medical conditions such as PCOS, and all possible life stages from perimenarche to postmenopausal.

And we’re trying to do all that without dicing people up into a demographic, psychographic or sexygraphic. Our goal is to give everyone a utility they can use, but we had to start somewhere.

The reality is that people have smartphones, and apps like Clue are popular because they solve a real need. (We also hope to one day provide non-smartphone solutions based on the science that is being pioneered by Clue.)

It’s correct that Clue is not yet fully non-heteronormative — specifically, the iconography for “sex”, which could easily be interpreted as sexy reclining men. (Though we would not suggest for a minute that it’s only men who choose to wear ties.) But we’ll be fixing that problem. We’re on it. We’re onto a lot of things. Last year, we had an editor go through the 6,000-plus words of informational text that are embedded into Clue to remove as many references to “woman” as possible. This was to make Clue more accessible and not trigger dysphoria for Clue’s trans* users.

“I’m a teen so I’m still getting used to my cycle, and Clue definitely helps me figure out what symptoms to expect when I’m on and off my period. I appreciate the fact that it is gender-neutral, as well. This app is clearly made with the user in mind. Some people don’t realize women aren’t the only ones who have to go through a period!”

I’m happy to see reviews like that, but I also know we have a long way to go. We’re currently working on an option for people to turn off the fertile window, for whatever their reason: for those in a homosexual relationship, for younger people who aren’t sexually active, for the asexual, for the infertile, for people who are on birth control, or for anyone else who just doesn’t want to see that information, for any reason.

The truth is, there are many people who Clue does a poor job of supporting, including lesbian couples who are trying to have children together.

My point is that we are working on a utility for people to use — all people, and thanks for your feedback to remind us that we need to constantly communicate our vision. It’s conversations like these that help reaffirm we’re on the right path, so push us.

Seriously — push us. Email us at testing@helloclue.com and we’ll add you to our beta testing group. You can be one of the first to try out the ability to turn off the fertile window, very very soon.