Your menstrual cycle can change how you sleep, how you recover, and how hard training feels, but the pattern is different for everyone. FITIV Pulse puts cycle tracking next to the training and recovery data you already track: log your period and symptoms, see your current phase, and chart how your HRV, resting heart rate, sleep, and Recovery score move across your own cycle.
Why Track Your Cycle Alongside Training?
Hormones shift across the cycle, and some of the signals wearables measure shift with them. In a 2024 study of 116 women wearing a smart ring, finger temperature followed the cycle, heart rate was lowest during the period, and in younger participants HRV was lower in the late luteal phase (the days before a period) than during the period. A lab study linked lower HRV in the mid-luteal phase to higher progesterone. Those are the same signals behind a recovery score, so a dip in recovery at the same point each month may be your cycle rather than your training.
What that means for performance is less clear-cut than "cycle syncing" plans suggest.
That's the case for tracking: the useful question isn't what the average athlete feels in each phase, it's what you feel.
How Cycle Tracking Works in FITIV
Cycle tracking lives in the Cycle card on your Today screen, which opens into a full cycle view with a calendar.
Log Flow and Symptoms
Tap +, or pick a day on the calendar and tap Add, to log:
- Flow: None, Spotting, Light, Medium, or Heavy
- Symptoms: 21 symptoms that sync with Apple Health, including cramps, bloating, headache, fatigue, breast tenderness, lower back pain, acne, hot flashes, night sweats, and mood and sleep changes. Most can be rated Mild, Moderate, or Severe.
FITIV works out your periods from the flow days you log, so there's no separate start and end button to remember.
See Your Cycle Day and Phase
The Cycle card shows your cycle day and current phase (Menstrual, Follicular, Ovulation, or Luteal) on a phase bar. Phases are estimated from your logged periods and your typical cycle length, using the calendar method. FITIV starts with typical lengths you can set yourself, then switches to your own averages once you've tracked two cycles. If your cycles vary too much to estimate ovulation reliably, FITIV tells you rather than guessing.
FITIV's phases are estimates for understanding your training. It doesn't give period or fertile-window predictions or alerts; the phase bands on your calendar are estimated from your typical cycle length. Cycle tracking in FITIV isn't a form of birth control.
Built for Every Stage
Set your Cycle Status to match where you are, and FITIV adjusts how it counts cycle days and shows phases:
| Cycle Status | What FITIV shows |
|---|---|
| Regular cycle | Cycle day and all four phases |
| Hormonal contraceptives | Choose your method (pill, patch, ring, hormonal IUD, implant, or injection); FITIV focuses on cycle days or symptoms instead of phases |
| Pregnant | Your pregnancy week from Apple Health, with cycle tracking paused |
| Lactating | Cycle days resume when you log a period, and phases follow once enough cycles are tracked |
| Perimenopause | Cycle days and symptom tracking |
| Menopause | A symptom-first view |
If Apple Health shows a status that doesn't match the one you picked, such as a pregnancy logged in another app, FITIV suggests updating it.
Synced With Apple Health
Cycle tracking reads and writes Apple Health. Logs you make in FITIV are saved to Apple Health, and up to 15 months of cycle history from other apps shows up automatically, so you don't start from zero.
Your Body by Phase
The Your Body by Phase chart lays your own overnight data over your cycle phases, so you can see how each one shifts through the month:
- HRV and resting heart rate
- Wrist temperature, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen
- Your Recovery and Sleep scores
Your scores always reflect what your body is actually doing. They aren't adjusted for your phase. The chart helps you tell a cycle pattern from a training problem: if Recovery dips in the same phase every month, that's useful context when you plan your hardest sessions.
Patterns Over Time
As your history builds, FITIV shows:
- Symptoms by Phase: your most common symptoms and which phases they show up in, filling in as you log
- Cycle Length: after two tracked cycles, your average cycle and period length and up to your last six cycles, plus whether your cycles look regular or irregular once there's enough history
Training Guidance by Phase
FITIV explains what typically happens in each phase and offers a starting point for training. It's guidance to adjust to how you feel, not a plan you have to follow:
| Phase | Training starting point |
|---|---|
| Menstrual | Let symptoms set the ceiling. Gentle movement can ease cramps, and harder sessions are fine when you feel up to them. |
| Follicular | A natural window to push if you feel fresh: progress your load, try intervals, or chase a personal best. |
| Ovulation | If you feel strong, a good day for a tough session. Warm up thoroughly before heavy or explosive work. |
| Luteal | Steady, familiar work tends to feel best. Heat and hard intervals can feel tougher than usual. |
Pair it with your Training Readiness and training load and you have both sides of the picture: what your cycle suggests and what your body is telling you today.
Cycle Insights
Cycle Insights uses FITIV's AI to connect your cycle logs with your vitals, sleep, Recovery score, and recent workouts, comparing today against your own patterns for this phase. When you've logged symptoms, it can add practical tips and point out when something is worth raising with your doctor. It doesn't predict fertility or ovulation, give contraception advice, or diagnose. You can turn Cycle Insights off at any time in Cycle settings.
Privacy
Your cycle logs are saved to Apple Health on your iPhone. With Cycle Insights off, your cycle data stays on your device and in Apple Health, and nothing is stored on FITIV's servers. With Cycle Insights on, your data is processed in the cloud only to generate each insight. It isn't stored on FITIV's servers and is never sold.
Getting Started
Open the Cycle card on your Today screen (or add it from Customize Today), tap Set Up Cycle, and allow Apple Health access. If Apple Health already has your cycle history, FITIV picks it up. If not, set your status and typical cycle and period length, and start logging.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does FITIV predict my next period or fertile window?
No. FITIV estimates your phases from the periods you log and your typical cycle length so you can understand your training and recovery, and the calendar shades estimated phases ahead. It doesn't give period or fertile-window predictions or alerts, and it isn't a form of birth control.
Does my cycle change my Recovery or Readiness score?
No. Your scores reflect your actual HRV, resting heart rate, sleep, and other data. Your Body by Phase chart shows how those numbers line up with your phases, so you can see whether a dip is a cycle pattern or something else.
Does cycle tracking work if I'm on hormonal birth control, perimenopausal, or in menopause?
Yes. Set your Cycle Status to Hormonal contraceptives, Perimenopause, Menopause, Pregnant, or Lactating, and FITIV adapts what it shows, such as focusing on symptoms instead of phases.
Does FITIV sync cycle data with Apple Health?
Yes, both ways. Your FITIV logs are saved to Apple Health, and cycle history from other apps that use Apple Health, up to 15 months, appears in FITIV.
Is my cycle data private?
Your cycle logs are stored in Apple Health on your iPhone. When Cycle Insights is on, your data is processed in the cloud only to generate each insight. It isn't stored on FITIV's servers and is never sold.
Should I change my training based on my cycle phase?
Research shows large differences between individuals, so there's no single rule that fits everyone. Use FITIV's phase guidance as a starting point, then watch your own Recovery score, symptoms, and how sessions feel across a few cycles to learn what works for you.
