Market-testing a smartphone application for family planning: assessing potential of the CycleBeads app in seven countries through digital monitoring

Over a 6-cycle period in seven countries —  Egypt, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda — the app’s developer conducted social marketing campaigns to monitor cost and distribution, understand the user profile, and assess user experience.

In-app micro-surveys collected data around demographics, app use, prior experiences with family planning, and satisfaction to better understand women’s interactions with the apps, and how it contribute to meeting unmet need. IRH analyzed the data.

Findings published in the mHealth journal this week indicate that a social media campaign is a low-cost approach to making the CycleBeads app accessible to women. For many women, the app was the first modern method they used in the last 3 months, showing that fertility awareness-based apps have the potential to address an unmet need.