Yesterday at the office, my friends Lucia, Diana and I were all staring at my Google Calendar. Why? Because I’d just synced it with Phase, the new cycle-tracking productivity app that launched this week, and suddenly my menstrual cycle was right there next to all my meetings.
Why the calendar thing matters
Look, I’ve used basically every period and fertility tracker that exists. It’s part of the job when you’re covering femtech. But here’s the problem with most of them: They live in their own little app bubble that I have to remember to check.
Phase is different because it integrates with Google Calendar, Office 365, and Chrome. Since I literally live in Google Calendar, having cycle insights visible all the time feels like proper habit stacking – it’s part of my existing routine instead of another thing I need to remember to do.
What Phase actually is
The London team behind Phase – Maggie McDaris (former EVP at Lulafit), Georgie Powell (ex-Freedom), and Sam Cooke (Mixcloud co-founder) – built this specifically as a productivity tool rather than just another period tracker. They’re working with clinicians and focusing on how your brain actually changes throughout your cycle.
The app gives you daily charts showing energy, focus, and creativity shifts, plus suggestions for what tasks to tackle or avoid. The calendar integration shows you cycle-aware views so you can plan weeks ahead and schedule demanding work during your natural peaks.
Their data says 81% of women report productivity drops during their cycle, which makes sense when you think about how most workplaces expect consistent output regardless of biology.
Our mini focus group thoughts
The three of us ended up doing an impromptu product review:
What works: The calendar integration is genuinely game-changing. Having the insights where you already plan your day versus buried in a separate app makes all the difference.
What we want to see: It’s positioned around productivity, but we’d love sports integration too. The research on cycle-synced training is solid and would make this even more valuable.
Missing piece: Basal temperature integration would help with accuracy. Right now it’s relying on tracking input, but BBT data would give much better insights.
The psychology question: One of my friends asked whether this creates self-fulfilling prophecies – if your calendar says you’re having an off day, will you? Fair point about whether these tools empower or limit us.
Why I think this matters
Phase launches right as we’re finally having real conversations about biology and work. The “strengths not symptoms” angle is refreshing – instead of focusing on symptoms, they’re highlighting cognitive advantages like luteal phase creativity or follicular phase focus.
The calendar integration alone makes it worth trying. And I’m genuinly curious to see where they take it next. But the core idea of working with your cycle instead of against it? That’s solid.
If you want to try it, the app’s on the Apple App Store now. And yes, I’ll obviously be tracking not just my cycle, but also how this evolves because that’s what I do. 😉
