A Simpler Clue Alternative: Your Period, Your Symptoms and Your Mood in One App

The short answer

If you track your period mostly because of what comes with it (PMS, cramps, migraines, low mood, a chronic condition that flares with your cycle), the simpler Clue alternative on iPhone is Trace Health.

• The core of a period tracker: your cycle day, cycle and period length, next period estimate, fertile window and a cycle calendar.
• Plus the symptoms that matter: 100+ symptoms in one tap, and after a few cycles, which ones get worse the week before your period, as it starts or around ovulation, and what to expect in the next days.
• Plus your mood: one question a day, then what lifts or weighs on your mood.
• Plus the rest of Trace Health: triggers and relievers from your daily habits, 34 condition setups, a PDF report for your doctor and an Apple Watch app.
• More private: no account, no email, no ads; your data stays on your iPhone.

And you do not have to choose: Clue saves your periods to Apple Health, and Trace Health can import them from there.

Stay with Clue if you want to get pregnant (Conceive mode), track a pregnancy, use Android, or want articles and predictions up to a year ahead.

Trace Health vs Clue at a glance

From each app's US App Store listing and Clue's help center, checked October 2026. Features and prices change, so verify before deciding.

Why people look for a Clue alternative

Recent App Store reviews of Clue come back to a few things: frequent Clue Plus offers, analysis features that need the subscription, promotional notifications, and predictions that miss with irregular cycles. Clue has also required an account since 2019, and its own help center lists Clue Plus as the way to unlock most analysis.

None of that makes Clue a bad app; it is rated 4.8 by more than 400,000 people. It means some people, especially those tracking their cycle because of symptoms, want something calmer and more focused.

The best Clue alternative for each reason people leave

• “I track my period because of my symptoms.” Choose Trace Health. It checks every symptom you log against your cycle and tells you which ones come before your period, as it starts or around ovulation. See how cycle tracking works in Trace Health.
• “I don't want an account or my cycle data on a server.” Choose Trace Health: no account, and your data stays on your iPhone. Apple's built-in Cycle Tracking in the Health app is another account-free option, with fewer insights. See what private means in Trace Health.
• “Too many upgrade prompts.” Choose Trace Health. Cycle tracking, predictions and the calendar are free, and there are no ads.
• “I have PMDD, endometriosis, PCOS or migraines.” Choose Trace Health: ready-made setups for PMDD, endometriosis, PCOS and migraine, severity on every log and a PDF for your doctor.
• “I want to log from my Apple Watch.” Choose Trace Health, which has a native watch app. Clue has none.
• “I'm trying to get pregnant.” Stay with Clue (Conceive mode), or use ovulation tests and a temperature-based app. Trace Health is not a fertility app.
• “I'm pregnant.” Stay with Clue, which has a Pregnancy mode.
• “I need contraception.” Talk to a health professional. Neither app should be used as a method of contraception.
• “I use Android.” Stay with Clue. Trace Health is iPhone only.

Keep Clue and add Trace Health

If you like logging your period in Clue, keep doing it. Clue saves your periods to Apple Health, and with Import on (Premium), Trace Health brings them in, past ones included, and links them to the symptoms and mood you log in Trace. Turn on Apple Health in Clue's settings first: Clue only shares data logged after you allow it.

What you give up

Honestly: Clue covers more of reproductive life. It has Conceive and Pregnancy modes, temperature charts, predictions up to a year ahead, an article library, 27 languages and an Android app, and it is used by millions. Trace Health makes a different trade: the core of cycle tracking, without the fertility and pregnancy features, and in exchange your symptoms, your mood, your triggers and your doctor report in the same simple app.

How to switch in five minutes

1. Export your Clue data first (Clue emails it as a password-protected ZIP) and keep it as your archive.
2. Install Trace Health and choose your conditions, or add Period Flow from Women's Health.
3. Optional: turn on Apple Health in Trace's settings with Import on, so the periods Clue saved to Apple Health come in.
4. Log your period and your symptoms in one tap as they happen; add the widget or the Apple Watch complication to keep them one tap away.
5. After 2 or 3 cycles, open Insights to see which symptoms follow your cycle.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Clue?

For iPhone users who track their period because of their symptoms, Trace Health: it covers cycle day, cycle and period length, next period, fertile window and a calendar, and adds one-tap symptom and mood tracking, the symptoms linked to your cycle, triggers, doctor reports and an Apple Watch app, with no account. For conception or pregnancy, stay with Clue; on Android too.

Is there a period tracker that doesn't need an account?

Yes. Trace Health needs no account, email or sign-up, and keeps your periods on your iPhone, with an optional backup to your own private iCloud. Apple's Cycle Tracking in the Health app also works without a separate account. Clue requires an account.

Is there a simpler app than Clue?

Yes. Trace Health logs your period, a symptom or your mood in one tap, from the app, a widget, the Lock Screen or an Apple Watch, and keeps cycle tracking to what most people use: where you are in your cycle, your next period, your fertile window and a calendar.

Can I import my Clue data into Trace Health?

Your periods, yes, through Apple Health: Clue saves periods and flow to Apple Health, and Trace Health imports them with Import on (Premium). Clue's other data (tags, notes) is not imported; export it from Clue and keep it as an archive.

Is Trace Health cheaper than Clue Plus?

Yes. Cycle tracking in Trace Health is free, including predictions and the Cycle Calendar. Premium costs $29.99 a year in the US, against $39.99 a year for Clue Plus.

Does Trace Health have an Apple Watch app? Does Clue?

Trace Health does: one tap logs your period or a symptom, complications sit on the watch face, and today's mood is a swipe away (Premium, watchOS 11 or later). Clue has no Apple Watch app; with Clue Plus it can read temperature, sleep and heart data recorded by an Apple Watch.

Can Trace Health help me get pregnant or avoid pregnancy?

No. Its fertile window is an estimate from your period dates and is never a method of contraception. For conception, Clue's Conceive mode, ovulation tests or temperature tracking are better suited; for contraception, talk to a health professional.

Does Trace Health work on Android?

No, Trace Health is available on iPhone and Apple Watch only. On Android, Clue remains a strong choice.