Clue now advises women on what to do if they forgot to take their contraceptive pill

Clue, the app for tracking your period and all things related, surveyed a fraction of its 5 million worldwide users and found out that in some countries a lot of young women didn’t know what to do if they didn’t take their contraceptive pill on time.

In Russia, for instance, you can buy the pill without a prescription and Clue found one out of four women there were given zero advice to go along with even the basics about their period. Not taking the pill on time can start a woman’s cycle and could potentially lead to an unwanted pregnancy. Young women not aware of that point could find themselves in an awful situation.

Clue’s younger user base now relies on the app for information on topics they are too uncomfortable asking an adult or medical provider, says founder Ida Tin. And in that, she saw an opportunity in education. Now women who forgot to take their pill or took it the wrong way can get advice from the app on what to do next.

Clue already helped women track when they were taking their pill as well as whether it was taken late, on time, missed, or double dosed. However, Tin says the app now offers medically validated advice, based on the type of pill you take. The new feature also helps users track the side effects of a combined pill or progestogen-only pill, and could prove useful for those thinking of changing to another type of pill but are too embarrassed to ask a professional about it.

Users on the pill will now be able to track categories relevant to the type of pill they take and will see empty dots for days they didn’t take the pill. The feature showing a user’s fertile window will also go away if they opt to instead track contraception.

“Clue’s ultimate aim is to help people better understand their bodies by providing them with scientifically accurate, easy to understand information. The Clue app is not a form of contraception, and with the pill being the most commonly used form of birth control, we thought it hugely important to offer our users a feature that not only helps them track their usage, but that also offers immediate and unbiased advice on what to do if a pill is missed or taken late,” Tin said.

You can read the rest of the findings in Clue’s worldwide survey of 90,000 women here.