Smartphone apps that serve as ovulation calculators are a dime a dozen nowadays. The main functions include allowing you to discreetly track your periods, forecast your ovulation and estimate the “peak” fertility period to try and have a baby. These five go just that little bit further…

Period Tracker

If you prefer to express yourself in cutesy emojis, this iPhone and android app is what you need. It also allows you to log a wide array of symptoms that you might experience during your period – from the severity of acne, backaches, bloating and even your cravings (are you pining for something savoury or sweet?).

PRICE: Free for “Lite” version; $2.98 (iPhone) and $2.43 (Android) for “Deluxe”.

PROS: The free “Lite” app is great for getting yourself acquainted with it. If the myriad of symptoms the app provides you with isn’t enough, you can add your own through the “custom” option.

CONS: If you’d like to have access to social features pay for the “Deluxe”. With so many symptoms to log, any- and everything could be note-worthy when trying for a baby.

Glow

Enlist your spouse by having him log details about his health and moods just as you do in this app. It will also remind your husband when you reach your peak fertility that it is time to “get busy” in the bedroom... A paid subscription service within the app, called Glow First, is for users who want to have a baby as soon as possible. The claim is that if users join and do not get pregnant, they will receive funds to cover the cost of infertility screening! If you're on a budget, there is another paid subscription service, Glow Premium — your information is pooled so it's less tailored to your exact needs, also, it's only for maximum 10 months. A spokesman for the app now says it has helped over 300,000 women conceive...

PRICE: Free for both iPhone and Android. There are two additional subscription services, Glow Premium and Glow First.

PROS: The app collates the data you have entered into a PDF file, a helpful resource to have on hand during your next visit to the doctor.

CONS: Depending on the occasion, it could be quite disturbing to receive an alert to have sex, especially if you are busy at work.

Clue

Fuss-free data entry lies at the heart of Clue’s simplified and sleek interface. The app also helps to predict when Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) is likely to set in for you. PMS is marked by a wide variety of symptoms, most notably mood swings, fatigue, food cravings and irritability. Thus, this app gives you a good chance to warn your husband before things get a bit “tense” in the days ahead.

PRICE: Free for both iPhone and Android.

PROS: Get a report that includes a visualisation of your menstrual patterns, The Clue Cycle Report, which you can share with your doctor on your next visit.

CONS: The app learns from the data you have provided it with so the less you use it, the more inaccurate it will be.

Ovia Fertility

Besides taking into account common indicators like the date of your previous period, basal body temperature and consistency of your cervical mucus, Ovia also considers other indicators like eating and sleeping habits in its ovulation prediction. The Harvard CEO who heads the app development swears by its accuracy: It helped him and his wife conceive.

PRICE: Free for both iPhone and Android

PROS: The app gives you a daily score between one and 10 based on the data you have logged into the app. A score of seven or more means you are in your fertile window.

CONS: The app’s accuracy is based on more than 1 million data points harvested from its community of more than 3 million active users, who we assume (hope?) are kept anonymous.

Maybe Baby 2016

This app can predict the sex of your baby right from the get-go (no voodoo, we hope)! That’s not to say the predictions are made with any sort of guarantees... The traffic-light feature, under the monthly view, makes it real easy for you to decide if you ought to be trying for a baby tonight. Just remember to first activate the button under the settings menu to switch the “red light” with the “green light”. In its default setting, the “red light” signals a definite chance of getting pregnant —counter-intuitive right?

PRICE: $6.98 (iPhone), not available on Android

PROS: If your baby’s sex could be accurately predicted, this app would definitely be a game-changer.

CONS: The counter-intuitive traffic-light feature can be confusing if you miss the button to set the signals. At $6.98, it’s the priciest of the lot.

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