Menopause and perimenopause are natural transitions that all women go through when they reach middle age. Unfortunately, this time of life is often accompanied by disruptive and uncomfortable symptoms such as hot or cold flashes, night sweats, insomnia, decreased libido, forgetfulness, pelvic and urinary disturbances, weight gain, and mood swings.
While there are traditional methods of managing perimenopause and menopause symptoms, such as hormone therapy and lifestyle changes, technology opens up new possibilities for women to manage their symptoms effectively.
Wearables and apps offer tools and support to help women navigate the ups and downs of menopause. From tracking hot flashes to providing customized advice on nutrition and exercises for the pelvic floor and more, these digital tools help “women of a certain age” take control of “the change.”
This article explores the latest developments in wearable technology and apps that aim to help women manage or even eliminate hot flashes and other menopause symptoms.
Whether you are just starting your menopause journey or struggled with symptoms for years, these innovative tools can help you navigate menopause and take charge of your health to live your best life, no matter your age.
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Why use an app or wearable for menopause and perimenopause symptom management? 
According to the Mayo Clinic, about 2 million women reach menopause annually in the United States, with many more entering perimenopause, the transitional period between routine menstruation and the complete cessation of it.
With women in the US averaging a life expectancy of 81, women are now spending more than one-third of their lives in menopause.
Research indicates that while about 84% of women in menopause experience symptoms, only about a quarter actually seek treatment.
Why women don’t seek treatment ranges from menopause still being an embarrassing and taboo subject, the stigma of aging, worries about the health risks associated with hormone replacement therapy, to thinking it’s just a part of the normal aging process.
Because the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause are so varied, many healthcare providers don’t connect the dots, and women can leave their doctors’ offices without any treatment plan. Worse yet, many doctors dismiss their midlife female patient’s symptoms as unimportant or not bothersome enough to be managed.
Fortunately, modern technology is beginning to offer women some help and hope.
Information is everything 
Both wearables and apps help collect data about when your symptoms occur and may even point to why they occur.
All that information can help you and your healthcare team identify strategies to lessen or even eliminate those menopause or perimenopause symptoms for a better overall quality of life.
Wearables like an Apple Watch, Fitbit, Samsung Watch, or Oura Ring automatically track your body’s temperature, heart rate, and sleep patterns, providing insight into when and how often symptoms like body temperature change.
Some wearables like the Embr Wave and Thermaband provide immediate relief from hot flashes, night sweats, and chills.
Apps usually rely on self-reporting your symptoms, but some integrate with a wearable that automatically tracks changes in your temperature, heart rate, and sleep (or a combination of both self-report and wearable data.)
Additionally, apps offer features like guided meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga routines that help you manage your symptoms.
It helps to know we are not alone
There is power in knowing you aren’t alone that other people experience the same or similar symptoms.
Many of these apps also build community and connect you to other women going through the same thing so you can share your experience and share things that work (or don’t.)
Handle menopause and perimenopause symptoms with these top free apps
Okay, I admit it. I love free apps! While there are quite a few excellent paid subscription apps for menopause (more on those later), there aren’t many completely free ones.
Luckily, there are a few excellent apps out there that are 100% free AND offer the same or similar features, rigorous science, and features of those paid apps.
Here are our favorites (and they’re also the ones that I use.)
Health & Her Menopause app
Health & Her is one of the few free menopause/perimenopause apps for Apple and Android devices with no subscription fees or paywall.
The app is created by UK’s Health & Her, a company that sells supplements and products that provide relief from the symptoms of menopause. But don’t let that turn you off. While the app mentions its own supplements, it is not focused on selling its products.
In addition to logging your daily symptoms and triggers, Health & Her creates a personalized plan that may include things like pelvic floor training exercises for bladder issues, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for hot flashes, night sweats, loss of sex drive, and low mood, guided meditation for better sleep, and deep breathing for stress and anxiety. 
Plus, you can set up reminders for things like drinking water, doing your pelvic floor or CBT exercises, taking supplements, or any hormone replacement medicine(s) so you stick to your plan.
MenoLife – Menopause Tracker
MenoLife is another free app that a supplement company sponsors for Apple and Android devices.
And like Health & Her, this app doesn’t focus on its products and instead offers comprehensive features to help you manage menopause symptoms.
MenoLife offers a self-report symptom tracker for over 40 different symptoms and triggers for women in all phases, from perimenopause to menopause and post-menopause.
You can also add entries for your daily water intake, sleep, exercise, and weight. And if you do take one of MenoLabs supplements or any other supplement to help manage your symptoms, you can add those, too.
When you use the app over time and log your symptoms and things like sleep and water intake, MenoLife provides you with personalized insights based on your 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day trends.
You’ll also find articles on the latest research and clinical findings regarding women’s health and a wealth of information and tips on topics related to the menopause journey, including managing symptoms, what foods to eat and which to avoid, what exercises to do, tips on maintaining a healthy weight, and a whole lot more! 
There’s also a MenoLife friends community where you can connect with other women going through the same things and share experiences, tips, and strategies for managing all phases of menopause.
Perry: Perimenopause Community
Don’t let the name fool you, Perry is for women in all stages of menopause, from perimenopause to post-menopause.
Plus, it’s one of the best free apps for women seeking a sharing, supportive, and caring community in their perimenopause or menopause journey. It’s available for Apple and Android devices.
So if you’re looking for a great and free app that connects you to other women having a tough time with perimenopause or menopause symptoms, this app is for you!
With Perry, you can join, chat, and share your experiences and tips in groups and forums related to specific perimenopause and menopause topics. The app even offers weekly support groups.
In addition, there are a bunch of other resources for education and support, including courses and tutorials, live and on-demand videos with experts, a podcast, and you can even search and learn about supplements, hormone therapy, and other relevant information about the impacts of menopause. 
There’s also an in-app shop that features products that users and experts recommend for symptom management, from dealing with bone and metabolism health to combating vaginal dryness or thinning hair. Perry does not push you to purchase these products like our other recommended free apps.
So if you’re looking for an app that builds community and prioritizes supporting each other and sharing experiences, look no further than Perry!
Want more options? Check out these paid menopause and perimenopause apps
I hope one of those free apps hits the mark. But if not, more than a few paid subscription apps support women through all stages of menopause.
One advantage of these paid apps is that some connect to a wearable, like a Fitbit or Apple Watch, to automatically track hot flashes, sleep, and other physiological symptoms that menopause can cause.
Some also leverage AI (artificial intelligence) to further personalize insights, recommendations, and interventions to help you manage your symptoms.
Midday
Created by Lisa Health in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, Midday leverages AI and information from your Fitbit or another supported wearable sensor to support women through their menopause journey.
The only downside is that Midday is available only for Apple devices and does not support Android.
And, of course, it’s not free. Currently, Midday offers a one-month free trial. The app costs $9.99/month or $77.99/year after the trial period. So not cheap. And there isn’t much you can do on the app without paying the subscription fee.
What you get for that fee is a full-featured and evidence-based app that identifies what exact menopause stage you’re in, a hormone therapy decision-making tool backed by the Mayo Clinic, and personalized reports and insights that use symptom tracking data from your wearable.
And you get articles and other science-backed information for whatever stage you’re in, from perimenopause to post-menopause stage. 
Rapid Relief programs also help you quickly handle symptoms like hot flashes, anxiety, and other symptoms as they happen.
Additionally, Midday offers an in-app chat feature where you can quickly get advice from a women’s health coach and even request an appointment with a menopause specialist at the Mayo Clinic.
Balance- Menopause Support
Balance-Menopause Support is another app created by a doctor, Louise Newson, who is a UK menopause and perimenopause expert. Balance is available for Apple and Android devices.
Unlike Midday, Balance offers both a free version and a premium subscription called Balance+. At this time, Balance+ offers a 7-day free trial, which costs $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
With the free version, you log your symptoms, mood, periods (for perimenopause), sleep, activity, meditation, and food+drink in your Daily Journal.
Additionally, you get access to news, health articles, and lifestyle content written by Dr. Newson and other experts in the field.
And there’s also a community feature where you connect with others for support, share your story, or ask and answer questions.
You can also participate in short-term community experiments, which are things that others in the community found helped them manage their symptoms or improved their well-being–for example, eating oily fish for 15 days to reduce hot flashes. 
The paid subscription plan Balance+ includes all the free features listed above, plus live sessions with Dr. Newson and more detailed information on nutrition, sleep, weight management, skin and hair health, and physical health, including sexual and pelvic floor exercises. The paid membership also includes videos for you to exercise or cook along with.
One unique feature of this app that’s available in all versions (free and subscription) is its 23-question Menopause Symptom Questionnaire, which you complete when first using the app and then every three months. This questionnaire helps monitor changes in your symptoms over time, and you can download it as a health report to take to any appointments with your healthcare team.
Need something different? Try a wearable! 
One of the most common complaints about perimenopause and menopause are hot flashes and night sweats – sudden feelings of intense heat that last for a few seconds up to several minutes and may even cause you to soak your sheets at night.
For some women, these symptoms are a minor inconvenience, but for others, they can be debilitating, impacting their quality of life.
Fortunately, recent advancements in wearable technology are bringing new solutions to the table.
One recent and popular wearable to hit the market is Embr Labs Embr Wave 2, a smart wristband that, at the touch of a button or on automatic all-night mode, provides almost instant cooling to dial down those hot flashes and night sweats. And it does the same for sudden body chills, providing almost instant warming.
The Embr Wave 2 works with your body’s natural response by cooling or warming the nerve-rich and temperature-sensitive skin on the inside of the wrist. The wrist nerves send messages to your brain to thermoregulate, and consequently, you feel your body’s temperature stabilize back to normal.
In a clinical study, participants who used Embr Wave for three minutes changed their perceived temperature by an average of 5°F.
The companion app allows users to further control and customize their cooling or heating sensation, choose options for all-night adjustments while sleeping, and track their usage trends to learn more about when they experience symptoms. 
Users particularly like the all-night mode (up to 9 hours), which helps them sleep through the night without waking hot, in sweat-soaked sheets!
One user tip: make sure you wear your Wave 2 for at least two weeks to allow your body to adjust to the band’s cooling or warming waves and get to know how best to personalize the band and the app for your symptoms.
- TAKE CONTROL OF HOT FLASHES* - Clinically proven to be a safe and effective solution for managing...
- PERSONALIZED RELIEF - Connect to the Embr Wave 2 app to customize your relief: Explore cooling or...
A similar wearable is the Thermaband, which monitors your temperature via onboard sensors and AI (artificial intelligence) and automatically activates when it detects a hot flash, chill, or nighttime sleep disruptions like night sweats. 
Like the Embr Wave, the Thermaband cools or warms the temperature-sensitive skin on the inside of the wrist. The wrist’s nerves then send a signal to your brain that affects your perceived body temperature.
The Thermaband is currently taking pre-orders and is expected to ship soon.
Final thoughts
Wearables and apps designed to monitor and manage menopause symptoms are becoming increasingly popular, offering women new ways to manage their symptoms and improve their overall quality of life.
With the help of technology, women can track their symptoms, monitor and improve their health, and personalize their treatment plans.
From bracelets that cool you down to apps that empower you through knowledge and community, there are a variety of wearables and apps available that can help you take control of the symptoms and disruptions caused by perimenopause and menopause.
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