against birth control manufacturers for packaging mistakes. But even if apps themselves fail, those who experience unintended pregnancies likely don’t have the same legal recourse.
“[Doctors] have extremely stringent, specific requirements for training and continuous accreditation,” Gross says. “We’re held accountable to the outcomes that our patients experience, and there’s a level of accountability that these apps have none of.” What’s more, the sensitive data entered into your phone isn’t subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that doctors must comply with — and as noted above, can be exploited for profit.On the flip side, the massive amounts of reproductive data amassed from users around the world could revolutionize research on women’s health.
For decades, clinicians followed guidelines stating that the average menstrual cycle falls around 28 days — an estimate based on a handful of small, demographically limited studies — but has nevertheless informed gynecology textbooks and doctors’ decisions ever since, Gross says. But a study powered by data from over 120,000 consenting Natural Cycles users bolsters the long-suspected theory that cycle lengths vary widely between women, and even within individuals. A