Clue Birth Control

2021: Clue Birth Control Announcement - Smart Ovulation Control Applications

In early March 2021, the German company Clue, which deals with women's health technologies, introduced the first fully digital contraceptive. The new Clue Birth Control app offers users a statistical prediction of ovulation as a means of birth control, but does not require any manipulation like a daily temperature measurement.

The new method uses only the start date of menstruation, which greatly simplifies the work with the application and turns it into the most attractive option for women. Clue's algorithmic prediction is based on Bayesian modeling: the application displays a high-risk window over several days of the cycle when unprotected sexual intercourse can lead to pregnancy. The application also displays a low-risk window when the opposite is true.

Clue Birth Control for smart ovulation control

Bayesian modeling is used in medicine to solve many problems. The application places the obtained data in an algorithm, a mathematical model that calculates the possibility of ovulation taking into account an array of statistics, "explained Clue's chief physician.

The duration of these windows may vary as the application accumulates new data, with the risk window typically shrinking as personalization increases. If the high-risk window is 16 days at the beginning of the application, then over time its duration may decrease to 5 days.

Users should either refrain from having sex on high-risk days or use additional protection (e.g. condoms). Clue states that the effectiveness of the product in preventing unwanted pregnancy is 92% with "typical use" and 97% with "ideal use" (that is, when the application is used exactly as the instruction suggests, as opposed to "typical" use with some errors).^[1][2]

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