Life

Want A Healthier Sex Life? There's An App For That

by Kristine Fellizar

There’s no doubt about it, that there are a wide range of apps out there catered to your reproductive health. But as we all know, sex isn’t just about baby-making. Because of that, the creators behind the fertility-monitoring app, Glow, has launched a new iOs app aimed at empowering women to take control of their sex lives, their cycles, and their overall health. Ruby by Glow aims to provide women with the necessary tools they need to make the right decisions for them when it comes to sex and their bodies.

“From launch, Glow has been focused on giving women more insight and control over their reproductive health. Ruby continues that mission, aiming to empower and educate women on a global scale,” Jennifer Tye, VP of Partnerships and Marketing at Glow says in a press release. “We designed Ruby to be the essential health and sex app that is 100 percent focused on you. To offer young woman a way to embrace their bodies and better understand their health really drives us.”

It offers everything from sex advice to health tracking, birth control tips and an active and engaged community of support. Using the app, women can get information and advice from women going through the same thing. Overall, the app seems to be like an older sister you could go to for anything and everything sex-related.

Currently, the app is available for download at the Apple App Store.

Because every woman can benefit from managing their sex lives, here are five things you should know about Ruby:

1. It’s Part Health Tracker, Part Social Network.

Ruby’s Anytime Log allows women to input information about their emotional states to physical symptoms, asking questions such as: Do you have your period? Are you feeling stressed? Do you have cramps? Did you have unprotected sex? Through data science, Ruby helps put all that information together to help women recognize patterns across their cycles. Because of that, women will be ready to better anticipate different symptoms at various points in their cycle.

2. Birth Control Options Galore

Not sure which birth control method is best for you? Ruby contains a dedicated birth control section where women can learn about every type of birth control option out there in order for them to decide the best possible choice. In fact, the app has partnered with Bedsider, which is an online birth control support network run by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. With the help of Bedsider, Ruby is able to give users the most up-to-date info on birth control and safe sex.

3. The Community

Like Glow, Ruby provides women with a safe space where they can ask any sort of question, no matter how WTF-worthy they are, and get useful answers.

4. Sex Shouldn't Be Taboo

Ruby also provides its users with candid conversations and information in order to make sex a comfortable topic of discussion. After all, sex is nothing to be embarrassed about. As Jennifer Tye told Wired, “We’ve never been shy about tackling taboo topics. We think the Ruby app and the community it provides can help women understand why it’s important to track our cycles and understand our bodies, have a better sense of signals our bodies are giving us, and ultimately be able to help women embrace the notion of having a healthy sex life.”

5. #TalkRubyToMe

As part of Ruby’s launch, Glow has partnered with nonprofit organization, Huru International, which provides menstrual hygiene products and sexual education to women in developing countries. Sadly, women in developing countries who don’t have access to everyday items we take for granted such as pads and tampons, have to miss school and work when they have their periods. Of course, that leads to missed educational and money-making opportunities. Because of that, Glow has chosen to “give a young woman a day back.” With every mention of Ruby’s hashtag #TalkRubyToMe, Glow will donate a day’s supply of Huru products, which include environmentally-friendly and locally-produced reusable menstrual pads.

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Images Courtesy of Glow; Kaboompics/Pexels