News/Blog

CycleBeads® and the Standard Days Method® on which it is based are included as a contraceptive option that can help address worldwide family planning needs in a special series on Impatient Optimists, a blog created by The Gates Foundation. The series, called “What’s Your Method?” looks at different family planning technologies and asks experts to write articles explaining these technologies, their benefits, and the challenges with making them available to women globally.

The article, "Keeping An Open Mind: What the Evidence Tells Us About the Standard Days Method" by Victoria Jennings, PhD, and Elaine Murphy, PhD. looks at research which shows that this highly effective fertility awareness-based method attracts new users to family planning and is especially attractive to women and couples who normally wish to avoid hormonal and surgical methods. The Standard Days Method has brought significant numbers of new users to family planning in developing countries and has addressed a number of associated issues in a positive way. 

As stated on the Impatient Optimist blog, “Not every method is right for every woman. A variety of [family planning] options must be available for each woman to find the best fit for her and her family.”

We couldn’t agree more!

Posted in: International Family Planning, Birth Control Options, Contraceptive Options, Womens Health

Posted in: Birth Control Cost, Birth Control Effectiveness, Birth Control Options, Birth Control Side Effects, CycleBeads, Natural Birth Control

Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are changing people’s lifestyles at a rapid pace, including how they manage their health care.  Health care providers and patients are increasingly communicating via mobile technology and many doctors are actually prescribing health apps to their patients for everything from pill reminders to managing their diabetes to using a family planning method (hello CycleBeads!).The development and adoption of health apps has exploded in a short time, and continues to grow with thousands of medical apps available for mobile devices.  Experts forecast that mobile health (or mHealth as the industry is becoming known) is going to change how healthcare is delivered and managed over the next few years.

Posted in: mHealth, Technology, Birth Control Options, CycleBeads, Education

To avoid side effects?  To save money?  For some other reason?  Everyone is different!  

We recently polled CycleBeads users about whether they use CycleBeads to plan or prevent pregnancy. Most users (approximately 75%) said they chose CycleBeads to prevent pregnancy.  So please tell us why you use CycleBeads as your birth control method in our anonymous survey!

Survey: Reasons for Choosing CycleBeads

Check back for the survey results.

Posted in: Birth Control Options, Contraceptive Options, Fertility Awareness, CycleBeads, Natural Birth Control

CycleBeads is a fertility awareness tool that can be used either to PLAN or PREVENT pregnancy. We were interested to find out how women were actually using CycleBeads, so we recently surveyed CycleBeads users. We found that most users, approximately three-quarters, were using CycleBeads (or an iCycleBeads app) to prevent pregnancy. In other words, most had chosen CycleBeads as their birth control method. Approximately one-quarter were using CycleBeads to plan a pregnancy, and a very small percentage were using CycleBeads simply to track their cycles. Interestingly, these results remain consistent with results from surveys in previous years.

Posted in: Birth Control Options, Contraceptive Options, CycleBeads, Fertility Awareness, Natural Birth Control, Womens Health

We want to hear from CycleBeads users!  Are you using CycleBeads (or iCycleBeads) to PLAN or PREVENT pregnancy? Please take our one-question survey.

Click here to take survey.

Thank you for your feedback!

Posted in: CycleBeads, Pregnancy, Birth Control Options, Fertility

CycleBeads®, a natural birth control tool, is now available through Maternova, a one-stop shop for products that help save the lives of mothers and newborns. CycleBeads enables a woman to plan or prevent pregnancy by tracking her cycles and identifying her potentially fertile days. It is based on the Standard Days Method®, a highly effective natural family planning method.

Says Maternova Vice President, Allyson Cote, “As the first global Maternal Health marketplace and cutting-edge online community, Maternova is delighted to include CycleBeads in our robust portfolio of leading innovations. Maternova is dedicated to improving the lives of mothers and newborns, along with improving patient outcomes in low-resource settings. CycleBeads is a true innovation that provides a highly effective method of natural family planning.”

Posted in: International Family Planning, CycleBeads, Birth Control Cost, Birth Control Effectiveness, Birth Control Options, Womens Health

It seems there are a million fertility apps out there. Want to get a daily reminder to take your birth control pill? Want to get pregnant? Want to have a girl? Want to know what your baby will look like at week 8?  Want to know if your period is likely to come this weekend?

There's an app for that.

So how are iCycleBeads™ family planning apps different from other so-called "fertility apps"?

Posted in: Birth Control Options, mHealth, Technology, CycleBeads, Natural Birth Control

Natural family planning, fertility awareness, natural birth control, FAB, FAM - chances are you have heard these terms thrown around and may only have a vague idea of what they mean. All of these are terms used to describe basically the same thing - a set of practices that enable a woman to plan or prevent pregnancy by identifying when she is fertile during her cycle.

Some people consider "natural family planning" to be a term specific to family planning methods that are advocated by the Catholic Church. And a few go even further and define it as a way only to conceive children. But most people consider natural family planning to be a broader term that can be used interchangeably with fertility awareness, natural birth control, etc.

So what are the different natural family planning methods?

Posted in: Birth Control Options, Fertility Awareness, Natural Birth Control

We are thrilled to be launching iCycleBeads™ Online and our redesigned website! iCycleBeads Online is the only web app in the world based on the Standard Days Method® of family planning. A user receives a private internet account where she can easily track the days of her cycles, know if she is on a day when pregnancy is possible or not, determine that her cycles are in range and continue to be in range for using this natural family planning method effectively, and maintain her cycle history. To use iCycleBeads Online a woman tracks the date her period starts each month; she is not required to track other in-depth fertility symptoms for use.

Posted in: CycleBeads, Technology, Birth Control Options, mHealth, Fertility Awareness, Natural Birth Control