‘Misleading’ advert for phone contraceptive app is banned

AN ADVERTISEMENT for a contraceptive app used by more than 100,000 UK women has been banned by watchdogs after figures show it is less effective than suggested.

Natural Cycles, the world’s first certified smartphone-based contraceptive, has found itself at the centre of recent controversy as a string of women using the “highly accurate” app have reported becoming pregnant.

The smartphone app, which uses a thermometer to track the user’s fertility, has been marketed as a contraceptive since February 2017. It says it has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration and CE marked in Europe as a medical device for birth control.

The app’s algorithm takes into account factors such as ovulation day, cycle length and the average temperatures of different phases throughout the menstrual cycle. It then assigns a number of green days, to notify the user of non-fertile days, and red days, when the user is predicted to be fertile.

The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints over a Facebook advert which said: “Natural Cycles is a highly accurate, certified, contraceptive app that adapts to every woman’s unique menstrual cycle. Sign up to get to know your body and prevent pregnancies naturally.”

An accompanying video claimed the app, which costs £5.99 a month, “offers a new, clinically tested alternative to birth control methods”.

However ASA ruled that claims made were misleading as the effectiveness of the app was exaggerated. In a ruling, it said: “In the context of the ad, the claim ‘highly accurate contraceptive app’ would be understood by consumers to mean that the app had a high degree of accuracy and was therefore very reliable in being able to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

“We further considered that the claim ‘clinically tested alternative to birth control methods’, presented alongside the ‘highly accurate’ claim would be understood to mean that the app was a reliable method of contraception which could be used in place of other established birth control methods, including those that were highly reliable in preventing unwanted pregnancies.”

According to clinical trials, the Natural Cycles app has a typical-use failure rate similar to condoms and the pill but higher than a range of other contraceptives, including implants and coils.

The ASA told Natural Cycles, which is based in Sweden, that it must take care “not to exaggerate the efficacy of the app in preventing pregnancies”.

Shazia Malik, a gynaecological consultant, said she supported the ASA’S decision and warned of the dangers of “glamouring” the contraceptive app.

She said: “I have seen a number of unwanted pregnancies with women using this app and it is very difficult to judge whether this is because they did not use the app properly or not. An unwanted pregnancy can be devastating, so I would be supportive of action to stop people being misled.”