Women have relied upon their menstrual cycles for generations to track their fertility and plan their families. In the last ten years, period tracking apps have entered the market, allowing women to track their cycles and menstrual health using their smartphones. Contraceptive Fertility Tracking Apps (CFTAs) represent a recent innovation to this category – more than just a period tracking app, CFTAs are backed by a growing body of effectiveness data and cleared by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to be used as a method of contraception. The market for apps that have been approved for use as contraception is small, but likely to grow.
Through direct consumer research, the USAID-funded Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options (EECO) project, led by Catalyst Global in close partnership with Population Services International (PSI), aimed to understand potential users of CFTAs and to estimate the market size for a hypothetical CFTA in the Philippines.
While our modeling estimates that the total market for CFTAs in the Philippines may be small, it still represents a valuable addition to the method mix. CFTAs have a variety of features that potential users appreciate, including their ease of use, convenience, and lack of side effects (among others, discussed more fully in a forthcoming publication). CFTA can be used in addition to other methods, as well as for menstrual health and fertility tracking, providing additional health benefits to women throughout the course of their reproductive lives. Furthermore, the potential market for CFTAs could be grown with product promotion, demand generation, and a roll-out plan that subsidizes the app, driving additional interest and uptake. Stakeholders in the FP community of practice, including Ministries of Health, donors, and program implementers, should consider these unique attributes when weighing the potential impact of CFTA introduction relative to their level of investment.