Jan 02 2009
Period Tracking Application for the iPhone
I read a very interesting article about a new period tracking application for the iPhone. The application is called I am a Man, and it enables the user to keep track of the periods of several women. Its main features are described as:
- Trace your girlfriend’s periods
- Set a master password for the whole program
- Set personal passwords for every girl
- Make calls by simply tapping on her name
Here is a sample screenshot:
I am a Man Application Screenshot (courtesy of VentureBeat)
For more details about this application see An iPhone app to track the menstrual cycle of your girlfriend(s). (Yes, you read that right).
I think that the application seems to be quite useful! My only negative comment is that the application title is a bit sexist, because it seems to be very focused on male users. Surely more females track periods than males!
Unsurprisingly, the application is getting a lot of negative attention. For example, Pat Phelan expresses his opinion in Farts and periods, Apple finally reaches the bottom of the barrel, and many of his Irish readers agree with him.
I understand why people have these negative opinions. Furthermore, I think that most of my Irish friends (both male and female) would have similar opinions.
However, I think that this application will be viewed differently by people from different cultures and backgrounds. For example, I know females who feel that information regarding their periods is not particularly private (of course they do not make a public announcement about it either). It is just not a big deal to them, and it is certainly not taboo. Indeed, some of these females already track their periods using their computers or mobile devices. Finally, it is not uncommon for them to know when their colleagues are having theirs.
So are these friends all exceptional? I do not know, but perhaps their attitudes are influenced by the fact that they come from Spain and Italy :o
I will try and convince some of my female friends to post their opinions of this application here :)
January 4th, 2009 at 14:04
As always I think it is a pity how a good application can be used in the wrong way! I thought it was a great idea to have an application to track your period. For years many people kept a record of their periods on their hardback dairies, calendars and so on!
Let’s be realistic it is very useful to keep a record for the obvious reasons: to know if you are pregnant, when it is the easiest time to get pregnant and so on. I think that Apple meant good. It is great that there is an application to modernize the way of keeping track of this. But jess guys! I think it is going too far by having males tracking people’s periods from work and so on. I wonder for what? Do they care when I have my period? It is such a pity as I think the application can be very useful. I guess that now the misunderstanding and misuse of several people will made this application infamous.