Flo has a fairly genderless interface, if you look beyond the "Aunt Flo" reference and the pink icon. I mean, the icon has a feather logo, so pretty neutral in itself, but the backdrop to the feather is pink. The app itself has an intuitive aesthetic; with all your periodey details as a header at the top and a big circular area giving you the highlights of your cycle (period starts in six days! Low chance of getting pregnant!). I really like the way you have a bunch of backgrounds to choose from as well, from candyfloss clouds to space to a chalkboardey-looking black. The interface is functional in design as well. You indicate when your period starts with a tap on the self-explanatory footer, and the app predicts the duration of your gore-fest based on your previous data -- although you can adjust this manually as well. Another tap when the period ends and that's pretty much it.
You can record all sorts of other salient bodily experiences with the handy + button, which allows you to track mood, sexual activity, discharge and periodey symptoms. Options for tracking menstrual flow only appear when you've actually recorded menstruation, which is great because it streamlines the interface to reduce scrolling past stuff that's actually irrelevant to what you're experiencing most of the month. To emphasise this, the very first option is for monitoring your lifestyle, with options such as weight, sleep, physical activity, and water consumption -- although you can edit what options you want to be able to track. Anything you record is added to the home page, giving you an at-a-glance look at what's been happening on that day.
While I dutifully recorded my exercise, cramps, and backache, the water thing was the most exciting to me. I drink a lot of water and sort of just keep a rough mental tally of how much I consume on a daily basis. It's not unusual for me to tot it up and think, oh, only three litres by 5pm, better get on that. The maximum limit was five litres, so I set my target to that and recorded everything I drank by initially using the + button and then later just tapping the convenient water shortcut. On the first day I reached my 5l goal surprisingly quickly and still felt a bit thirsty afterwards. The water I consumed on that fateful day totalled about seven litres, causing those around me to speculate whether I had diabetes. "Do you urinate a lot?" the secretary at the admin office asked, having noted my frequent visits to the water-cooler. "Because you know that's a symptom of diabetes!"
Yeah, I pee a lot. I drank five litres of water on a regular basis; it comes with the territory. Incidentally, I have had both insulin and blood sugar levels tested and I'm fine. I guess I just like to stay well-hydrated.
All this recorded information can be viewed graphically so that you can check out trends in your cycle, exercise, weight and whatever else you're tracking. What's super cool is that you have the option to connect your Fitbit or Google Fit apps to Flo, creating a more accurate and streamlined record of your overall health via a single platform. This gives you a better perspective on how your cycle might affect how you eat and the energy you have. While I haven't used this option, I can see it being appealing to a health-oriented person looking for a comprehensive, holistic way to keep an eye on their body.
Flo also has a 'pregnancy mode' for those who are already with child, which gives a countdown to the birth and a reminder to check your cycle afterwards. Trying to avoid pregnancy mode at all costs? Set automated reminders to take your pill or eschew ovulation sexuals.
While I started out as a Clue user, I really liked Flo. Out of the three new apps I reviewed, I would definitely choose Flo as my go-to because it allows you to investigate so much more about your body than just how much you bleed every month. However, I'm going to be sticking with Clue because it's a little more minimal and a better fit for the way I use health/lifestyle apps. While all the features are exactly what I like about Flo, I stopped using it to record everything but period symptoms after the first few weeks or so. It seems that an abundance of features is just not for me -- I don't utilise them all, and prefer the low-maintenance simplicity of Clue.
You'll love Flo if:
- You want a gender-neutral app
- You want to keep track of your overall health and lifestyle
- You like to customise your apps
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