Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2013. Glow was new then, available only on the App Store and in the US, and the Glow First terms ($50 a month for 10 months, treatment paid at a clinic of your choice) are those of 2013 and may no longer exist.
Many couples who have trouble conceiving will know that there are apps with various fertility trackers, which may or may not work.
PayPal co-founder Max Levchin has come up with an app that could increase the chances of getting pregnant. Levchin is so sure this app works that the company is even willing to pay for fertility treatment if it doesn’t.
The app is called Glow, and for now it is only available on the App Store. They make it very clear that they are a non-profit company, although it costs couples $50 a month for 10 months or until the woman gets pregnant. According to the company, that money goes into a common fund and into infertility research, with the aim that any couple can have children.
The way it works is simple (they explain it on their website).
You have to be an active user for at least 10 months or until you get pregnant. If at the end of the 10 months you haven’t become pregnant, Glow First sends you to a fertility clinic of your choice, and from then on Glow covers all the costs.
On their website they insist that every cent that comes into the company is eventually passed on to other families trying to have children. If you get pregnant within 10 months, you’ve made a good investment. If you don’t, your money and that of other couples will pay for the treatment.
The truth is that the idea, despite being quite recent, has been well received in the US. It isn’t out of the question that this kind of app could become a common model in healthcare systems in the future, since behind this app lies an in-depth global data analysis and a team of scientists.
I don’t know whether the app’s service is available outside the United States.
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