Track your period with Cycle Tracking

Learn how to track your menstrual cycle to help get a better picture of your health.

With Cycle Tracking, you can:

  • Track your menstrual cycle in the Health app on your iPhone, or in the Cycle Tracking app on your Apple Watch.

  • Turn on notifications to tell you when your next period or fertile window is approaching.

  • Log a pregnancy to track gestational age and receive a variety of health notifications and recommendations to review throughout your pregnancy.

  • Set up menopause stage tracking in the Health app on your iPhone, then log symptoms and other information on your iPhone or Apple Watch.

Learn how the Health app is designed to protect your information

How to set up Cycle Tracking

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Health app.

  2. If you're on your iPhone, tap the Browse tab. If you're on your iPad, tap the sidebar button to open the sidebar.

  3. Tap Cycle Tracking.

  4. Tap Get Started, then follow the onscreen steps.

How to track your cycle

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Health app.

  2. If you're on your iPhone, tap the Browse tab. If you're on your iPad, tap the sidebar button to open the sidebar.

  3. Tap Cycle Tracking.

  4. Swipe to the correct day, then tap the oval to log your period.

  5. To add more information, scroll down and tap a category, make a change, then tap Done. You can track symptoms, spotting, basal body temperature, and more.

To track your cycle from your Apple Watch, open the Cycle Tracking app, swipe to the correct date, then tap the oval to log your period.

An iPhone and Apple Watch which show a period logged in Cycle Tracking.

To track your cycle from your Apple Watch, open the Cycle Tracking app, swipe to the correct date, then tap the oval to log your period.

Add cycle factors

You can also add factors that can influence the timing and length of your cycle, such as pregnancy.

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Health app.

  2. If you're on your iPhone, tap the Browse tab. If you're on your iPad, tap the sidebar button to open the sidebar.

  3. Tap Cycle Tracking.

  4. Under the Your Cycles section, tap Factors.

  5. Tap the plus sign button in the upper corner, then select Pregnancy, Lactation, or Contraceptive. Learn how to log a pregnancy in the Health app.

  6. Enter a start date for the factor and tap Done.

If a factor was added incorrectly, tap the factor and tap Delete Factor From Health to remove it.

To end a factor, tap the factor and tap Ended. Enter an end date and tap Done. You can tap Show All Factors to see a history of your previous factors.

Track menopause stages

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Health app.

  2. If you're on your iPhone, tap the Browse tab. If you're on your iPad, tap the sidebar button to open the sidebar.

  3. Tap Cycle Tracking.

  4. Tap Menopause Stages.

  5. Tap the plus sign button in the upper corner.

  6. Tap Next, then follow the onscreen steps to set up perimenopause or menopause stages.

Learn more about tracking your perimenopause and menopause stages.

What the colors mean

When you open the Health app or Cycle Tracking app, it's easy to check your period or fertile window at a glance. Here's what the symbols and colors in the app mean.

A light blue oval.

A light blue oval marks your predicted six-day fertile window.

A light purple oval.

A light purple oval marks your retrospectively-estimated ovulation day.1

A light green oval with a solid outline.

A light green oval with a solid outline represents a day when you've logged a pregnancy.

A light green oval with a dotted outline.

A light green oval with a dotted outline represents a day when you may still be pregnant.

A dark green oval.

A dark green oval represents the day of your estimated due date.

Red stripes on a circle.

Red stripes on a circle mark when your period is predicted to occur.

A solid red circle.

Solid red circles mark your logged period days.

A purple dot.

Purple dots mark days when you logged information.

Review and export your cycle history

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Health app.

  2. If you're on your iPhone, tap the Browse tab. If you're on your iPad, tap the sidebar button to open the sidebar.

  3. Tap Cycle Tracking.

  4. Scroll to Your Cycles.

  5. Tap Cycle History. You can tap Export PDF to generate a PDF of the last 12 months of your cycle history.

  6. Tap the cycle that you’d like to review. You can also tap Export PDF to generate a PDF for the selected cycle.

  7. To edit the Cycle Detail view, tap Edit and then select or deselect the information you’d like to review.

How to set period and fertility tracking notifications and prediction data

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Health app.

  2. If you're on your iPhone, tap the Browse tab. If you're on your iPad, tap the sidebar button to open the sidebar.

  3. Tap Cycle Tracking.

  4. Scroll down and tap Options.

  5. Turn on Period Predictions and Period Notifications. These notifications can let you know when your period is about to start and ask if your period has ended.

  6. If you're on your iPhone, tap Cycle Deviation Detection and select which deviations you want to be notified about.

  7. Turn on Fertile Window Estimates and Fertility Notifications. These notifications can let you know when your fertile window is likely to start.

    An iPhone that shows the options for Cycle Tracking such as Period Predictions and Fertility Notifications.

Predictions begin after you enter your last period in the Cycle Tracking app and are based on logged data. If you log a period before it's predicted to begin, you won't get a period prediction notification for that cycle. Notifications appear on your Apple Watch and iPhone, depending on what you're using.

How predictions are calculated