Lively - Period Tracker, Cycle

It’s a beautiful app, has everything I was looking for, but you can’t access any of it unless you pay. Inside the app, everything except the calendar & quotes are blurred out. First of all, just show me what I can access in free and then a separate section that says upgrade if you’re going to do that. Don’t show the entire platform with 90% of it blurred out lol. What type of experience is that for your free users? I am really disappointed. I don’t need yet another subscription. $5 a month for something I’ll look at a few times a month. Like. It’s great and all and I understand it’s “affordable” technically, but not everything needs to be a subscription. Maybe a one time cost to download if anything? Just some feedback, not all of your users are committed and active enough to pay, but they still should be able to get some benefit or value. What you include in free is useless to be candid. I’d rather the creators integrate advertisements to generate income than this pricing model. Put ads on it and make more things visible. When you boom nationally, you can add subscriptions back in or keep it on for the partner thing. But currently you’re going to lose a lot of downloads and relevancy unless you offer something more for free while your business expands. Just a thought.

So TW for anyone with “intrusive” thoughts around certain emotionally sensitive periods of their cycle. But I recently got a hand injury and its been debilitating. On top of all of that I have been having mood swings that are worse than usual. Not only does this app help me anticipate those by telling me which stage of my cycle i am in, since your body and hormones behaves differently around each phase, but it tells me ways i can help to take care of myself. If you ever have depressive episodes during ur cycle, it definitely helps. My favorite feature has been the widget you can add to your lock screen (the new IOS feature that lets you customize ur clock and stuff) because each day it gives you a motivational quote or a self-love/healing affirmation. (TW) I had a panic attack and it led me down a pretty dark road with some VERY unsafe thoughts. My support group was unavailable at that moment and i just so happened to look at my lock screen and see the daily affirmation which i missed because I had work and didnt see it (youd think i would’ve but.. im weird sometimes especially when im busy, and it had been a rough day) the affirmation? “Practice self-compassion, you are doing the best you can.” This app really takes EVERYTHING into consideration. I highly recommend it off the affirmations alone, because you never know when you’ll need that extra boost from your digital friend. Lol.

So I’ve never been the girly who tracks her cycle, at least not to this extent. I’d occasionally write on the calendar when my period started and ended but that’s it. I certainly never thought about how my hormones fluctuate the whole month and how that effects me. Using Lively has been truly eye-opening to my feminine experience. I had never once considered how my hormones were affecting daily life but now I feel so enlightened. It’s helped me understand my body so much better. The yearly cost is totally worth it to me; the tips and information they give you is so helpful for building a more balanced life. Obviously you can do what you will with their information, but it’s just good to have a concise resource at my fingertips for things like suggested workouts, foods, and activities during all the different phases of my cycle. I only have one critique and it’s small: it would be nice to have more options for the mood tracker. I just personally don’t find the options to be a wide enough range. But that won’t keep me from using the app, I just think that would be a great improvement to that area.