Ms Scarlet in The Bathroom With a Tampon

How Clue became the most brilliant, badass way to manage your period.

By Danielle Henderson

What

All I want from a period app is fair warning of when I’m going to find myself inexplicably crying over an episode of House Hunters. But most fertility trackers overwhelm you with medical jargon in terrible fonts geared towards identifying your prime baby-making days. Enter the crisply designed Berlin-based cycle tracking app Clue, which describes itself as “confident, scientific, and not pink.” CEO Ida Tin used to lead motorcycle tours around the world, meaning your techno-fertility is in the hands of a brilliant badass who understands where science can meet design in a way that’s useful.

How

It’s a data-driven app that assesses things like pain (cramps, headache, ovulation, tender breasts), period flow, what kind of sex you might be having, and moods. You just tap the symptoms that best describe what you’re feeling, and the algorithm will craft a personal history of your cycle. Basically the more information you give it, the more useful it gets: Better than rival services not just because there are no annoying pop-ups about your body temperature, and you only plug in information that’s important to you. It’s way better than guessing, and it’s a lot more fun than putting a dot on a paper calendar.

Why

Clue is a good tool for family planning, but as someone who has no interest in having babies, I appreciate that you can set reminders based on what you actually want to know — like when you should do a breast check or when to take the pill. I personally appreciate the “PMS is coming up” reminder — which is simultaneously my “buy a bucket of Red Vines” reminder, so it inadvertently comes in handy for grocery shopping, too.

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