More women are using apps instead of the pill, but while some find them ‘freeing’, others had unwanted pregnancies

After 15 years on the contraceptive pill Francesca* decided that she wanted to know how her body felt without additional hormones. She started using a fertility tracking app – which tracks menstrual cycles or symptoms of ovulation to help estimate a woman’s fertile window – after learning about them on social media.

“I had been taking hormones since my teens, and had no real conception of my menstrual cycle in my adult life,” said the Londoner, now in her early 30s. She had been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) at 18 and told to continue taking the pill to help with symptoms. “Remarkably, pretty much all of my hormonal imbalance symptoms started to subside after stopping taking the pill,” she said.