Thanks to the useless sex education classes we received in school, you could easily be led to believe that you could fall pregnant from simply holding hands. Now a lot of my friends are actually trying to get pregnant on purpose, it turns out it can be a lot harder than we were once told!

The EarlySense Percept is the world’s first contact-free fertility monitor that involves no patches or peeing, but instead monitors physiological signals including heart rate and breathing from a sensor that is placed under the mattress. Along with the app, the Percept can then supply you with predictions of your ovulation and menstrual cycle, as well as information about you sleep patterns and relaxation level which can also have an affect on conception.

The ultra-thin sensor sits under your mattress - that’s right: under it! Like me, you might be thinking ‘how on earth can it pick up any signals through the thick mattress?’ Well it did manage to, but only if I stayed in the right location - data was lost when I rolled about. The other downside is, to collect the data, you must have your Bluetooth running through the night which can quickly drain battery.

The app is attractive and straightforward to use and connected straight away. When using alongside the sensor, I was getting the same predictions as my free app, meaning that it is an accurate but unnecessary purchase. I also worry about the sensor becoming damaged under my mattress, because it’s on the slats and/or the cats thinking it is string dangling from the bed and messing around with it.

If you have zero ovulation tracking the EarlySense Precept could be a good place to start if only for the app, but with a high price tag and similar results to the free apps, I’m not sure its worth it. RRP $199

3 out of 5

Buy now

Pros

Easy to use

Attractive, clean app

Results seem accurate

Cons

Needs constant Bluetooth connection

Lost data when moving around the bed

Expensive

Not sure the sensor brings much to the table

Concerns to the durability of the sensor on slats