Flo

The Flo App is a period and cycle tracking mobile app for women that can be used on iOS and/ or Android devices.. It is known for using AI to conduct some of the features on its app. The features include tracking period cycles, predict cycles, and discover cycle patterns. It’s kind of like an all in one platform for all reproductive health and menstrual needs.

History

The Flo App launched in April 2015. The purpose of the Flo App is to give women resources for their menstrual health. The founders of the app are Dmitry and Yuri Gurski. Flo reached one million installs within June 2016. As of 2020, it’s stated that 15 million women got pregnant with the help of the Flo App. As of 2021, the results of a survey with American OB-GYNs showed that the Flo app is the #1 OB-GYN recommended period and cycle tracking application.

There are multiple features that users can use on the Flo app. These include: the menstrual tracker, ovulation calculator (a tool that allows users to predict their fertile window), pregnancy calendar, lifestyle & fitness tracker, reminders (such as reminding a user to take their birth control pill), and a health report feature. Flo has added some features since its initial launch, this includes a community section for the users to ask and answer questions. Flo has also added features to help analyze if users have a medical issue based on things such as symptoms that occurred during their period. In 2018, Flo implemented an algorithm that analyzes user data and figures out whether or not users might have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. This feature is called the PCOS Health Assistant. Flo users can also get assistance from professionals in the medical field if they have concerns about medical issues. Additionally, Flo has health articles reviewed by OB-GYNs that users can refer to when they need medical advice or if they are concerned about any period symptoms. This takes away time that users would spend looking for medical help online where there’s so many sources, and they have to go through all of them to find a reliable one.

Collaborations

Flo has had collaborations and partnerships with multiple universities. Researchers from the University of Adelaide, Jessica Grieger and Robert Norman, had a collaboration with Flo on a study that analyzes how lifestyle and demographic factors affect menstrual cycles based on data from 1.5 million Flo users. . They even have their research articles medically reviewed by OB-GYN professionals. They found that the older a user got, their menstrual cycle typically shortened and the average menstrual cycle is around 28 days . Additionally they found that BMI is unlikely to be the major factor for irregularities in a menstrual cycle. Stress and age were found to be the main contributors to affecting how long a person’s menstrual cycle is. Weight and drinking/ smoking habits were found to not be much of a contributor compared to stress and age .

Flo conducted another study with Northwestern University. They found that the three main signs as risk factors of PCOS were hirsutism, high blood glucose, and high levels of both cholesterol and glucose .

Ethical Concerns

A big controversy that Flo has faced is that the public found out that user information has been sent to platforms such as Facebook from Flo without users’ knowledge and permission. The information the user tells the Flo app can be very personal and private. This brings up the concern that users’ private information regarding the history of their reproductive health will be exposed to the public. There’s concerns that users will feel violated or anxious that this private information has been shared outside the Flo app. However there is also an argument that this information can be effectively used to understand women’s health better, and allows beneficial research to be done. (NY Times article). Since the Flo app has been created, there have been multiple studies done using information from Flo to understand women's health issues, their symptoms, and patterns. For instance, there was a study done using the Flo app to understand more about PCOS.Jain, T., Negris, O., Brown, D. et al. Characterization of polycystic ovary syndrome among Flo app users around the world. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 19, 36 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-021-00719-y/</ref> The Flo app can be labeled as a Femtech technology. Femtech promotes itself as technology that prioritizes women empowerment, but there are many aspects of the technology that aren’t empowering at all.