Want to keep track of your ovulation cycle, or maybe how often you have sex? You'll be able to do that and more thanks to changes we'll see in iOS 9's Health app. Apple said Health would track "reproductive data" during its Worldwide Developer Conference keynote earlier this week, and now some of the details about exactly what that includes are coming out.
iOS 9's Health app lets you track your sex life
We already knew Health would include menstrual cycle tracking. Now that the beta version of iOS 9 is available, we're seeing what else that includes: basal body temperature, cervical mucus quality, ovulation test results, sexual activity, and spotting. Sexual activity also lets you track whether or not protection, such as a condom, was used.
Sex is something Apple has historically shied away from, and has even gone so far as to bar a female masturbation app from its own App Store. Offering sex tracking—or as Apple is calling it, "reproductive health"—in a bundled iPhone app is a big change for the company.
Instead of turning the Health app into a promiscuous sex bragging tool, Apple is taking a more clinical approach. You can tag the date and time of your sexual encounters, but you won't be logging things like sexual position, how many people were involved in the encounter, or the gender of your partners. Instead, it looks like Apple is focusing on giving users a tool to help people wanting to get pregnant, and possibly people concerned about sexually transmitted diseases.
If you're concerned Apple is going to use sex tracking to target you with ads for erectile dysfunction drugs or dating sites, the company says it has no interest in your personal data, and that it won't be mined or passed on to other companies. Considering Apple's strong stance on privacy, it's a safe bet the data you collect in the Health app—whether its steps walked, heart rate, or how often you have sex—won't be going beyond your iPhone.
Reproductive Health tracking in iOS 9, via The Independent
The reproductive and sex-related data Health collects won't be coming from sensors, which means you won't need to strap your iPhone to your arm, leg, or whatever before hopping in bed. Instead, the data is entered manually, so you'll need to remember to open the Health app and add the information yourself.
Unless you're an iOS app developer, you'll have to wait to start tracking your sexual activity. iOS 9 is currently available as a beta only for developers, and won't launch for the public until this fall. When it does finally come, you'll be able to update for free, and iOS 9 will run on the same devices iOS 8 supports.
While it would've been nice to see these features in Health when it was released last year, it's still good to see Apple acknowledging that women want to track their health, and that sex is a real and natural part of our lives, too.
[Some image elements courtesy Shutterstock]