Why we're building femLove

Most health problems don't arrive all at once. They show up as small things that are easy to forget by the time you're sitting in front of a doctor: the cramps that were worse than usual, the headaches that seemed to cluster before a period, the blood pressure reading that was a little higher three mornings in a row.

When you can't remember the details, you end up describing a feeling instead of a pattern. And patterns are what get taken seriously.

Two problems, one app

We started femLove with two problems in mind.

The first is memory. Endometriosis is a good example of what goes wrong without a record. It affects around 1 in 10 women of reproductive age, and the World Health Organization puts the average time to diagnosis at between 4 and 12 years. Part of that delay is that pain is easy to dismiss when it's described from memory. A clear log of when it happens, how strong it is and what helped is much harder to wave away.

The second is trust. Period apps hold some of the most personal information a person has. Yet when the digital health group ORCHA reviewed 25 period tracker apps in 2022, 84% allowed personal and sensitive health data to be shared with third parties. We didn't want to add another one to that list.

What that means in practice

So femLove does a few simple things, carefully:

• Logging takes seconds. The Day log puts everything on one page: period, mood, symptoms, sleep, blood pressure, food, drinks and a note. Tap what's true, skip the rest.
• Patterns turn into a report. femLove lines your symptoms up against your cycle and builds a one-page summary you can hand to a GP.
• It speaks up when it matters. A very severe headache or a very high blood pressure reading brings up clear advice and a one-tap call, instead of a cheerful "Logged!".
• Your data has one job: helping you. No ads, no data sales, servers in the EU, and a link feature that shares only the cycle details you switch on.

femLove can't diagnose anything. What it can do is help you notice, keep a record, and get help sooner.

What's next

We're finishing the app for iPhone and Android now and will open it to a small group first. If you'd like to be one of them, join the waitlist below. We'll send one email when it's ready, and nothing else.