Finland-based smart ring company Ōura is working with the Natural Cycles FDA-cleared birth control app so users can sync temperature trend data straight from the Oura Ring.

The smart ring delivers personalised health data, insights and daily guidance. The partnership with Natural Cycles lets wearers track their temperature trends automatically while they sleep rather than manually taking their temperature with an oral thermometer when they wake up.

Stockholm-based Natural Cycles’ technology works by analysing established hormone-driven temperature patterns, along with other key fertility indicators, to determine red (fertile) or green (not fertile) days to plan or prevent pregnancy naturally. Previously, Natural Cycles could only obtain temperature data by users manually taking their temperature each morning.

“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,” said Natural Cycles CEO Elina Berglund Scherwitzl. “We are proud to officially launch this partnership and work alongside a company that is similarly committed to delivering advanced health tools to women at a time when it has never been more important. With the help of Oura data, Natural Cycles is powering the future of birth control.”

Reproductive health has historically been underserved by medicine, science and technology but, thanks to companies such as Natural Cycles and Ōura, science has taken steps forward in recent years. In 2018, the FDA cleared Natural Cycles as the first contraceptive app, making birth control history. Now, the company has moved one step further by using temperature trend data from the Oura Ring, providing women with an innovative way to plan or prevent pregnancy without hormones.

The temperature sensors in the Oura Ring generate 1440 data points each day, and are validated to measure temperature changes as precisely as 0.13°C. In addition to temperature trend data, the Natural Cycles algorithm uses heart rate data from the Oura Ring to take into account nights with elevated heart rates, and hence also temperatures, that may be due to lifestyle changes, such as high alcohol consumption, rather than due to menstrual cycle changes.

“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,” said Holly Shelton, senior vice president at Ōura. “The partnership between Natural Cycles and Ōura shows the power of technology to enable women to better understand and take control of their fertility.”

Beyond cycle insights, the Oura Ring tracks and analyses sleep quality based on the body’s key vitals and time spent in each sleep stage. During the day, members can use the daytime heart rate, workout heart rate and automatic activity detection features to evaluate their movement and restorative time. These personalised health metrics are then summarised into sleep, activity and readiness scores, which are displayed alongside insights and personalised guidance that help provide a holistic view of health.

Natural Cycles users with an Oura Ring can begin syncing their Ōura data once they switch to Ōura mode within the Natural Cycles app. If a ring user gives explicit consent, Ōura will only share sleep data with Natural Cycles, which includes temperature trends, HR, sleep length and sleep stages. The partnership is a one-way integration, and Natural Cycles does not share any sensitive data with Ōura. 

Ōura is the company behind the Oura Ring, the smart ring that delivers personalised health data, insights and daily guidance. Founded in 2013, Ōura Health is headquartered in Oulu, Finland, with offices in Helsinki, San Francisco and San Diego.

Natural Cycles is a women’s health company that developed the world’s first birth control app, which has been used by millions of women around the world. As a Class II medical device, the app is cleared by the FDA in the USA and certified to be used as a contraceptive in Europe, Australia and Singapore. Founded in 2013 by physicists Elina Berglund and Raoul Scherwitzl, Natural Cycles has contributed to 14 peer-reviewed research papers.