Solid and striped pink distinguish period records
A period you logged appears as a solid light-pink band. A period the app predicts appears in the same pink with diagonal stripes. The legend names them Period and Expected.
This solid-versus-striped rule applies to the pink period bands. It should not be generalized to every color on the calendar, because a solid sky-blue fertile window is still an estimate.
Where do the striped period days come from?
The expected period is placed one cycle length after your last recorded start. For the cycle length, MiniCycle looks at up to your latest 12 period records; once there are at least 10 measured intervals, it drops one shortest and one longest, then takes the median. With no usable interval it works from a 29-day default, and a manual setting between 21 and 42 days overrides the estimate.
When you log the actual start, a solid band appears on the recorded dates. An app-based study of more than 600,000 cycles found substantial variation within its study population, but no dataset can guarantee the next date for an individual.
The sky-blue band is an estimated fertile window
Sky blue marks seven calendar dates from five days before estimated ovulation through one day after it. ACOG describes pregnancy as possible across that same relative range around actual ovulation, but MiniCycle does not know the actual ovulation date.
Solid blue is used for the current cycle and retrospective estimates between recorded periods. Striped blue is used for farther future cycles that depend on additional assumptions. Both textures are predictions. Even a past blue band is a retrospective calculation, not a record of actual ovulation or fertility.
The small marks under a date
Three shapes can sit under a date number. A deeper-blue diamond is the estimated ovulation day, counted backward from the next expected period using a luteal phase estimate clamped between 9 and 14 days rather than a fixed 14. A purple dot is a sexual activity record. A short gray capsule means the day has a note.
Today is the one date drawn over everything else: a white number on a red circle, with the small marks set aside for the day. The records are still there. Select the date and the day's details appear below the calendar.
Why the meaning never rides on color alone
W3C accessibility guidance says color should not be the only way information is conveyed. MiniCycle pairs pink period states with solid or striped patterns, while ovulation, activity, and notes use different shapes.
The pattern distinguishes recorded and predicted period bands even when their pink hue is hard to perceive. Fertile-window texture indicates the stage of the estimate, but neither solid nor striped blue is a measured fertility record.
What a colored day cannot tell you
No mark on the calendar is a measurement. MiniCycle does not know whether ovulation occurred; it places the diamond by calculating from recorded period dates. Research shows that fertile timing varies even among people with apparently regular cycles.
The blue band is not contraception, the diamond does not confirm fertility, and a striped pink day is not a guaranteed deadline. Log the actual period dates when they occur so later estimates use the updated record.
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MiniCycle is built for a clean iPhone period calendar, local records, simple statistics, and a home screen widget.
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References
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.1: Use of Color.
- ACOG. Fertility Awareness-Based Methods of Family Planning.
- Wilcox AJ, Dunson D, Baird DD. The timing of the fertile window in the menstrual cycle. BMJ. 2000.
- Bull JR, Rowland SP, Scherwitzl EB, et al. Real-world menstrual cycle characteristics of more than 600,000 menstrual cycles. npj Digital Medicine. 2019.
- MiniCycle Privacy Policy.