Oura has announced a partnership with Natural Cycles, a birth control app, to enable automatic syncing of temperature data collected by its smart ring. Although it may sound like a basic feature, especially as cross-app syncing in health and fitness products is common, it streamlines the process of using the Natural Cycles app considerably.
Up until now anyone using the Natural Cycles app needed to manually enter temperature data each day, after obtaining it with a thermometer. It’s through this data the app helps people understand fertility cycles. Now, Oura will share data gathered by the temperature sensors in its smart ring overnight with the app, making it easier to use.
Holly Shelton, Senior Vice President of Consumer Product at Oura, said:
“Partnering with Natural Cycles is a natural fit given our research has shown that skin temperature data from the Oura Ring can detect important temperature changes throughout the menstrual cycle, including increases around the LH surge, which occurs just before ovulation, and decreases nearing menstruation.”
Natural Cycles co-founder Dr. Elina Berglund Scherwitzl added:
“We have been actively working on delivering a seamless measuring experience for our users and we were thrilled when we received FDA clearance to use the Oura Ring with our algorithm. With the help of Oura data, Natural Cycles is powering the future of birth control.”
The app will be updated with a dedicated Oura Mode, which presumably removes the daily need to manually input temperature data. After giving permission in the app, Oura will share sleep data with Natural Cycles, including temperature, sleep stages and duration, and heart rate information. It’s noted that Natural Cycles does not share any sensitive data with Oura.
Natural Cycles has both clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CE mark, and has a claimed 93% effectiveness with perfect use. It’s available for Android and iOS but requires a subscription to use, which costs $10 per month or $90 per year. The Oura smart ring starts at $300 and requires a $6 per month subscription to continue viewing all the collected data after six months of use.
It’s also the latest in a string of announcements from Oura. Recently the company added Strava integration to help increase appeal for more serious sports people, and its long-expected blood oxygen measurement feature has also finally been activated.