Pure Cycles will get FDA clearance to make use of Apple Watch temperature knowledge

The FDA has cleared the Apple Watch to be used with Pure Cycles, a digital contraception app. This implies Pure Cycles customers who personal an Apple Watch Collection 8, 9, Extremely, or Extremely 2 can now import their temperature knowledge from the watch as a substitute of manually taking their basal physique temperature every morning. This marks Pure Cycles’ second FDA-cleared wearable integration, with the primary being the Oura Ring.

Apple Watch integration is a giant deal, on condition that it held roughly 30 % of the worldwide smartwatch market in 2022, which can be the 12 months Apple launched temperature sensors on the Collection 8. Whereas it’s removed from the primary smartwatch to take action, Apple’s take was distinctive in that it included two temperature sensors. One was situated simply beneath the show, whereas the opposite was situated nearer to the pores and skin. The primary is supposed to take ambient temperature readings to assist get rid of environmental bias. The sensors have been additionally what enabled Apple to incorporate superior cycle monitoring with retrospective ovulation estimates.

The Pure Cycles app requires folks to enter every day temperature knowledge — from a basal physique temperature thermometer, which is free with a subscription for those who don’t have a appropriate wearable — which is then fed into an algorithm that purports to tell customers of their fertility standing. It’s at the moment the one FDA-cleared digital contraception app in use and designated as a Class II medical gadget. Class II gadgets are these outlined as having a reasonable to excessive danger to the consumer and embody issues like blood stress cuffs, contact lenses, and smartwatch EKG options used to detect atrial fibrillation. Widespread interval monitoring app Clue had additionally acquired FDA clearance as a contraceptive in 2021 however has since paused that characteristic.

In a press release, Pure Cycles co-founder and CEO Elina Berglund Scherwitzl mentioned the corporate acquired quite a few requests from customers to include an Apple Watch integration as soon as the Collection 8 launched with the brand new temperature sensors. Older fashions of the Apple Watch don’t embody temperature sensors, nor do the SE fashions; solely the Collection 8 and 9 and the Extremely fashions are appropriate with the characteristic.

Using wearable temperature knowledge for reproductive well being monitoring is a rising pattern. Pure Cycles first pursued “wearable contraception” again in 2020 earlier than receiving FDA clearance for this expertise in 2021. It gained clearance for Oura Ring integration final 12 months and, earlier this 12 months, partnered with Samsung to adapt its algorithm for superior Cycle Monitoring for the corporate’s Galaxy Watch 5 and 6 collection smartwatches. (The Galaxy Watches, nevertheless, should not appropriate with Pure Cycles’ contraception options.)

That mentioned, Pure Cycles isn’t with out controversy. The FDA initially granted the app clearance for its digital contraception characteristic in 2018, however the choice acquired some backlash after the app was linked to 37 undesirable pregnancies at a single hospital in Sweden. Moreover, reproductive well being apps have acquired elevated scrutiny within the US following the Supreme Courtroom’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Pure Cycles says for this integration, it needed to submit medical evaluations to the FDA through the company’s 510(ok) overview course of, in addition to proof that the app complies with cybersecurity necessities for knowledge privateness. Along with the FDA, Pure Cycles says its Apple Watch integration has additionally acquired clearance from European regulators and has additionally been registered to be used in Australia.

Even so, receiving regulatory clearance doesn’t imply these strategies are foolproof. The upside to utilizing temperature knowledge from wearables is that it could get rid of some consumer error by including one other layer of automation, in addition to offering extra constant knowledge. Nonetheless, it nonetheless requires shoppers to stick to utilizing the app appropriately, and consumer error can nonetheless lead to undesirable pregnancies.