Garmin has integrated select smartwatches with Natural Cycles, the FDA-cleared birth control app, allowing users to sync overnight skin temperature data directly into fertility status predictions – no separate thermometer required.
The integration works across compatible Garmin devices including the fēnix 8, Forerunner 570, Forerunner 970, Venu 4, and Venu X1. Users wear their watch to sleep, skin temperature data syncs to the Natural Cycles app in the morning, and the app analyzes it to provide a daily fertility status – either for pregnancy prevention or planning.
The underlying science: hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle impact body temperature, which rises post-ovulation and decreases during menstruation. Natural Cycles’ algorithm uses these temperature patterns to determine fertile and non-fertile days.
Garmin joins Apple Watch and Oura Ring as wearable devices that now integrate with Natural Cycles, continuing a broader trend of mainstream wearable companies building fertility and reproductive health features into their platforms. Between this, WHOOP’s Women’s Health Biomarker Panel, and Oura’s proprietary women’s health AI model – all announced in recent weeks – the competition to be the wearable of choice for women’s health is intensifying.
