Why Period Apps Haven’t Figured Out How to Log a Miscarriage

I officially began tracking my period via an app one year before my wedding. While my menstrual cycle has never been abnormal, I was trying to predict whether or not I would be bleeding on the one day I planned to wear white — which, of course, is exactly what happened.

Still, having that data made things easier when, close to a year after our big day, my husband and I began trying to conceive. Through my period tracking app, I could now pinpoint my exact ovulation days, and combined with the physical symptoms I usually get during that cycle phase, we were able to time things exactly right. One month later, I was pregnant. But ultimately, I ended up having a miscarriage.

While I healed and mourned the loss, I updated my app, switching back from tracking my pregnancy to trying to conceive mode. After suffering my second miscarriage, I repeated the steps, but this time, I only wanted to track my period. My husband and I had made plans to get testing done, hoping to find a reason for my recurrent loss before trying to get pregnant again.

So, imagine my surprise when, a few weeks after my second miscarriage, my tracking app began sending alerts, suggesting various reasons for my multiple “missed periods” — otherwise known as the months I’d spent pregnant, passing the miscarriage, and waiting for my period to return. It no longer recognized my pregnancies and, instead, simply saw them as two irregular cycles over the course of a few months. It might be perimenopause, the app suggested, citing the fact that I was approaching 35 (which is technically geriatric in the fertility world). Since my period seemed abnormal, it began quizzing me to see if I’d experienced perimenopausal symptoms. Was I having hot flashes? Sleep problems? Weight gain? Or maybe it was actually PCOS — did I ever get pelvic pain or have acne?

Despite knowing the real reason for my missed periods, and even having the test results to contradict these suggestions, I couldn’t stop spiraling. I frantically downloaded additional menstrual cycle tracking apps, but while they allowed me to log random things — whether or not I’d watched Netflix, had a “fun night out,” had a bad hair day, etc. — none offered the option to officially log a miscarriage.

I was confused. How could it be that, in 2024, when one in four pregnancies end in loss, you can’t just press a button and say hey, this gap is actually when I lost my baby? But it turns out that logging a miscarriage isn’t as simple as you’d think. Between the possibility of irregular cycles to privacy issues, there are multiple reasons why the technology isn’t there yet.

Experts Featured in This Article:

Natalie Crawford, MD, is a fertility doctor and health educator based in Austin, Texas.

Stephanie Hack, MD, is a board-certified ob-gyn and founder of The Lady Parts Doctor.

Alison Paul is the lead product manager at Flo Health.

Annie O’Leary is the the director of content and creative at Flo Health.

Andrea Sleeth, WHNP, is a women’s health nurse practitioner and medical operations lead at Wisp.

Why Period Apps Haven’t Figured Out How to Log a Miscarriage

In my frustration and quest for answers, I talked to experts about the complexities of logging a miscarriage and what alternatives are available when it comes to resuming period tracking post-loss.

For starters, it’s normal for your period to be irregular after a loss.

It took a little longer than a month for my period to come back after passing my miscarriages — something else that tracking apps don’t really account for. Missing my period during my pregnancy and then waiting for it to return seemed like a large chunk of time not to menstruate, but thankfully, if your cycle seems off post-loss, it’s not a reason to panic.

According to Natalie Crawford, MD, a fertility doctor and health educator based in Austin, Texas, having a delayed period after a miscarriage is perfectly normal.

“A pregnancy makes the hormone hCG, which rises through the first few weeks of pregnancy and is what you are testing when you take a pregnancy test,” she explains to PS. “hCG has many functions, including stimulating progesterone production and in turn prevents FSH/LH release from the brain.”

Following pregnancy loss, your hCG levels begin to drop, and depending on how far along you were, this could take a while — which means you might have to wait to get your period back.

“The average time for hCG level to drop to zero is two to 10 weeks after a loss,” says Dr. Crawford. “Your body will not start to send out FSH, which is the hormone stimulating an egg growth prior to ovulation, until hCG levels are very low or zero. This means that the entire time your body is waiting for hCG to drop, you have not started to grow an egg in the next cycle.”

Still, while it’s normal for your first cycle to be delayed, Dr. Crawford notes that your next cycles should come at regular intervals. “If irregularity persists, then you do need to get an evaluation,” she advises.

There’s always room for error when it comes to technology.

Cycle tracking apps clearly have limitations, with the main one being that they’re unable to tell the difference between a missed period and a miscarriage.

“Most apps rely on user input and predefined algorithms that aren’t designed to account for the complexities of miscarriage,” says Stephanie Hack, MD, a board-certified ob-gyn, pointing out that this can often lead to frustration or, in my case, unwanted alerts.

Dr. Crawford adds that, once again, hCG levels come into play here. “As the app has no idea when you have recovered from the loss — when hcG is back to zero — it doesn’t know when you will ovulate next. This often throws off the cycle length and the formula for subsequent cycles.”

Cycle tracking apps are working on it, but they want to get it right.

According to Alison Paul, the lead product manager at Flo Health, privacy and medical accuracy are just two factors that come into play when developing a miscarriage tracking feature. Security is one thing that’s extremely important to the company — especially following the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, where cycle data could be incriminating for women.

“For us, this means taking our time in developing a first-class offering for users who experience a pregnancy loss, whilst respecting the sensitivity and medical implications of women’s experiences,” Paul tells PS. “It’s essential to recognize that delivering a product that meets our rigorous standards requires significant time and effort.”

She also says that while being able to simply log a miscarriage in the app may seem somewhat straightforward, Flo Health is aiming for something that’s more than just functional.

“This isn’t just about building somewhere to log a pregnancy loss, but providing something 100% trustworthy and holistically supportive,” says Paul. “A pregnancy loss is a big deal and can be very traumatic — we have to reflect that in any functionality we add.”

Annie O’Leary, Flo Health’s director of content and creative, also points out that the perimenopause and menopause modes are “an example of another crucial high-need life stage that’s been shockingly under-served historically,” and features to track that phase of life are necessary. But that doesn’t mean the team isn’t working on something else regarding miscarriage.

“We do have plans to introduce features around miscarriage but to do it all, quickly, at the same time isn’t just impossible, it would be foolish,” she says. “It matters that we take our time and get it 100% right.”

Alternative Ways and Tips For Tracking Your Period Post-Loss

Using a regular old wall calendar to track your period after a miscarriage might be the way to go in order to avoid triggering notifications or figure out patterns in your new, post-miscarriage cycle.

“You can use a physical calendar or journal to record the start and end dates of your periods, any symptoms you experience, and any other relevant notes about your cycle,” says Andrea Sleeth, a women’s health nurse practitioner who works with Wisp, the largest sexual and productive health provider in the US. “This approach allows you to manually track changes over time and identify patterns, especially post-loss as your period may be irregular, and an app may not catch that. You can also consider using a cycle tracking worksheet or template, which can help you organize your data and observe trends without relying on digital tools.”

However, if you do plan to continue to use a cycle tracking app post-loss, Dr. Hack does offer some advice. “A practical workaround could be to log a ‘positive pregnancy test’ when you first confirm the pregnancy and a ‘negative pregnancy test’ when a loss is confirmed,” she advises, referencing the fact that since positive pregnancy tests measure hCG, a negative test post-loss will represent the fact that your hCG is back to or close to zero. “This method has been helpful for me personally in tracking first and early second-trimester miscarriages.”

By logging a negative test on the app, you’ll be able to more accurately predict how your cycle might work going forward — although it doesn’t fully solve the issue of having not logged a period and, therefore, putting yourself at risk for pesky alerts.

Samantha Sutton is a freelance writer with more than a decade of experience covering women’s lifestyle topics or working with publications as a stylist. During the course of her career, she has written for PS, InStyle, Stylecaster, Page Six, Real Simple, and more.