Best Pregnancy Apps

Starting a family opens up a whole new world. There’s so much to learn: When am I most likely to get pregnant? When will the nausea end? Are these contractions for real? Will I ever sleep well again?

But don’t worry, getting the answers you need during this exciting time can be as easy as downloading an app. Check out the best ones we found to guide you through every stage— from trying to conceive to tracking your baby’s growth to creating a registry:

Best for Tracking Fertility and Ovulation: Ovia

Knowing what’s what with your monthly cycle can make a huge difference when you’re trying to get pregnant. With the Ovia Fertility app, you can track your period and other fertility info like your morning body temperature and cervical fluid—if you want to—to find out when you’re likely to ovulate. The app lets you know what days you’re most fertile and when to take a pregnancy test. Dealing with irregular periods? Ovia’s algorithm also makes predictions for cycles that are harder to pin down.

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Best All-in-One App: BabyCenter

This all-in-one pregnancy app goes from tracking your ovulation to counting contractions and gives you the deets on everything in between. Get weekly updates about your stage of pregnancy with articles, slideshows and videos on topics relevant to what you’re going through right now (and your baby’s development), including special information for high-risk pregnancies. You can also take pictures of your growing bump to create a pregnancy journal and search the baby names database by meaning or theme to find a name you like. After you give birth, the app will automatically switch over to giving you parenting advice for baby’s first year.

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Best for Pregnancy Health: WebMD Pregnancy App

Your body is about to go through some major changes. To learn about what’s happening at various stages of pregnancy, and how your peanut is growing too, this app sends you doctor-approved tips and health information. You can check out interactive images of your baby’s development, track your weight and blood pressure, and record the number of baby kicks your feel (something your OB will ask about at appointments). There’s also a place to write down what questions to ask your doctor next time and a symptom tracker, so you’ll always be prepared for your appointments, and you can customize for multiples. During the third trimester, a checklist for what to pack in your hospital bag and a contraction counter come in handy.

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Best for Baby Registry: Babylist Baby Registry App

Preparing your home for the newest family member should be fun, not overwhelming. Anytime you come across a really cool gadget or the cutest-ever bodysuit you can add it to the Babylist Baby Registry App, no matter which store it comes from—big or small. It’s a one-stop registry for everything parents need to deck out the nursery, prepare for breastfeeding and even get support after birth (think: meal delivery, house-cleaning services or postpartum doula—yes, you can add those kinds of things!). Or, if you’d rather people contribute to a college fund, you can do that with this app too.

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Best for Pregnancy Meditations: Headspace

Worrying about your baby, pregnancy or what’s to come can fuel anxiety and stress, which isn’t good for anyone. To get back to a better mental place, consider meditation. Headspace is an easy-to-use app that provides a free course to teach you meditation basics. But for $12.99 a month you get access to their library of hundreds of guided meditations including one for pregnancy. The series uses mindfulness and visualization techniques to help moms-to-be relax and refocus on enjoying their pregnancy journey.

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Best for Sleeping: TMSoft White Noise

When you’re pregnant, there are a lot factors working against getting a good night’s rest: feeling hot, needing bathroom breaks, having trouble getting comfortable. The last thing you need is your partner’s snoring or a car-door slam waking you up. Enter: The TMSoft White Noise App. While there are numerous white noise apps available, this one has endless options (consider it the mall of white noises). In the Lite version, you can access 40 different sounds to find the one that relaxes you most, from the hum of an air conditioner to croaking frogs to a crackling campfire. You can even record your own sounds—like crashing waves on your tropical babymoon getaway—or mix sounds to create personalized white noise guaranteed to get your snooze on. When baby comes, you can use it to help them get to sleep, as well.

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Best for Contraction Tracking: Full Term App

Braxton Hicks contractions or the real deal? It’s often hard to tell. But with this simple app, you can track your contractions and see if there’s a pattern that means it’s time to head to the hospital. Just hit one button to start and stop the contraction timer. Then check out the app’s reporting to see how long your contractions are (average duration) and how close together (average frequency). You can also add a note to each contraction entry, like how intense it was, and record when your water broke and the color of the fluid—something your doctor or midwife will want to know.

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