While the Oura App provides insights into your menstrual cycle, it is not meant to be used for birth control. If you are looking to prevent pregnancy, you must refer to the NC° Birth Control app.
Natural Cycles is FDA Cleared to be used as a birth control method and fertility tracker. The NC° app’s algorithm confirms your daily fertility status, which in turn can help you prevent or plan pregnancy.
Why does my fertility data differ between NC° and Oura?
As shown in the Oura App, Oura's Fertile Window is an estimate intended only to aid in conception and alone is not meant for use as a birth control method. If you are looking to prevent pregnancy, please refer to your fertility status and ovulation detection in the NC° Birth Control app.
If you notice a difference in your data between the Oura App and Natural Cycles, it's important to understand that these two apps operate differently. Oura shares your temperature trend data with Natural Cycles, but this is a one-way integration. The Natural Cycles app does not send or receive any period data to or from your Oura Ring or the Oura App. Any data from the Natural Cycles app, including your ovulation day and fertility status, is not shared with the Oura app.
The Oura Ring provides Natural Cycles with temperature trends, which are then processed into a single temperature value used by the Natural Cycles algorithm. This algorithm utilizes this data and any other data you add in the Natural Cycles app, along with advanced statistical methods, to determine your daily fertility status.
Your fertility status shown in the NC° app is based on your own biometric data and may not always overlap with a predicted 6-day fertile window in other apps. The Natural Cycles algorithm only gives a Green Day when it is certain that you are not fertile that day.
If you’d like to read more about how the algorithm detects ovulation, we wrote more about it in this article: How Natural Cycles detects ovulation.
If you would like to learn more about Natural Cycles’ effectiveness, you can go here: How Effective is NC° Birth Control?