How does the science behind the determination of fertile days work within drip?

Drip uses the "sympto-thermal method" which combines basal body temperature and cervical mucus values OR basal body temperature and cervix values. You can choose your method by going to ➞ Settings ➞ Customization ➞ Secondary symptom. When tracked with care and continuously, temperature, a secondary symptom combined with menstrual bleeding data can detect ovulation. You can read drip's precise math here: https://gitlab.com/bloodyhealth/sympto

Why doesn't drip show me fertile days?

You probably haven't entered enough data into the app. drip will only show you what it can calculate based on an accurate implementation of the "sympto-thermal method." This is based on many decades of scientific research by scientists around the world. drip will not make any assumptions about your fertility only based on menstrual bleeding data.

I want to install drip on my Android device without using the Google Play Store.

On drips homepage, scroll down to "Get the Android version here as APK". After clicking the download your device will ask if you want to install something from "this source" (your browser). Grant these permissions in the app settings and then you should be able to click install. We highly recommend that you remove this permission from your phone directly after the installation. To do this, go to ➞ Settings ➞ Apps, choose the browser you used for downloading and scroll down to where you are able the switch the toggle for installation from unknown sources. This is a security feature you should have switched on only in those minutes you do a new installation you feel safe with.
What you need to know: when installing the APK-version you won't be notified about updates. Therefore we recommend everyone who usually uses the Google Play Store to go for that version.

When can I expect new features?

For many years drip has mostly been unpaid voluntary work. The people who maintain, develop new features and fix bugs do it with passion, blood, sweat and tears. But they also have to make a living, do care work, be with their loved ones, fight patriachy and so much more! But the good news is, we got a small amount funding from the Prototype Fund. From October 2023 on two people will work on the app part-time for five months.

I want to pause tracking and continue using drip at a later point with new and old data.

This is relevant for many people and we are aware of it. Unfortunately drip can't manage this functionality at the moment. However this feature is a top priority for us and will be implemented in the future.

I want to change from some other menstruation app to drip, how do I migrate my data?

Most apps have options to download/export your data, but usually have data formats that are not compatible with others. Therefore you can't simply import them. If you want to try to migrate yourself, we recommend the following: Have a look at how drip data is stored. We provide a simple file that only stores menstrual bleeding values and a more detailed file that stores all kind of values you can save in drip like cervical mucus, temperature, mood... If you simply want to get your bleeding dates into drip, download the simple file. Open it on your computer in LibreOffice, Excel, Numbers or another tool that can work with csv-files. Add your bleeding dates in exactly the same format as they are in the provided files. You only need the dates where you want to save data. The bleeding values work like this: 0 = spotting, 1 = light bleeding, 2 = medium bleeding, 3 = heavy bleeding. You need to add the word false in the bleeding.exclude column. If you leave it empty it will cause an error, if you write true drip will treat it as non-menstrual bleeding. Next save the file as a csv-file and transfer it to your phone (you can transfer the csv with a cable or send it by email or messenger to yourself). Within drip, you go to ➞ Settings ➞ Data ➞ Import Data and choose your file from where you saved it on your phone.

If you want to migrate from Flo to drip the amazing Sara Veira built a tool to convert the bleeding data automatically. Anyone can use this flo-to-drip service.

If you want to migrate from Clue you can use the Clue to drip Converter from Morris Frank. This can transform your data for pain (period cramps, ovulation, tender breasts), mood (happy, sad, sensitive/anxious), energy (exhausted/fatigue, tired/fatigue, fully energized/energetic) and bleeding. Please note that this converter always excludes spotting from menstrual bleeding.

The drip collective recommends both converters but neither build nor runs them. Therefore we can not guarantee for anything. Please check for yourself if this makes sense to you.

I have a good feature idea, how can I tell you?

We are happy to receive emails and keep a prioritized list of requests, but please be aware that we are not able to implement everything. Also some feature requests might conflict with the NFP/sympto-thermal method.
Since we consider drip a feminist project and a lot of our work is done on voluntary basis we very much appreciate pleasant ways of communication. We are not a commercial app with lots of employees and an automated answer-bot. Every email, just as every line of code and every graphic, is done with care by a real person.

Where can I find your privacy policy?

Here is our privacy policy. By default your drip data is only stored on your phone, which is why our privacy policy is quite short (and pleasant to read). If you have any additional questions concerning data protection you can email us.

Why is drip available only in English?

We haven't had enough time and energy to make other languages available yet. But we have a German translation quite high on the priority list. When this is ready and we gain more knowledge about how to do it well, we hope more translations will be smoother with the help of volunteers.

Exporting my drip data to xyz-app does not work.

This can have many reasons. We have good experience with K9-Email app for smartphones as well as Google's built-in email app. An easy and safe alternative is the encrypted, free and open source messenger app Signal. There you have the option to write a Note to Self". Once you have 'Note to Self' activated, inside drip you can choose Signal as the destination to export your data to, simply choose "Note to Self" as the recipient. After doing so you can save the csv-file on any device where you use your signal account. Many other messengers have similar options as "note to self" (be aware, WhatsApp might not let you download it again).