menopause is not a feeling or a blood test result. It is a date you can only see looking back: the point when you have had 12 months in a row with no period, as PGH faculty explained at the 2025 UP Manila symposium (UP Manila). Everything before that, while periods are changing, is perimenopause.

The tracker counts forward from your last logged period: "If you reach [date] with no period, that is when menopause is confirmed." If a period arrives before then, the countdown resets. That is normal in late perimenopause, when gaps of two, three or six months are common.

Two things this rule changes in daily life:

• Pregnancy is still possible, for longer than the 12 months. FSRH guidance says that without hormonal contraception you should treat yourself as possibly fertile for 2 years after your last period if you are under 50, and 1 year if you are 50 or over; all women can stop contraception at 55. If that matters to you, see birthcontrolphilippines.com for contraception in your 40s.
• Any bleeding after the 12 months is not "a late period". It needs checking.

• Start date of each period (end date optional).
• Flow: light, normal, heavy or flooding.
• Spotting between periods.
• Optional notes, such as clots or pain.

From this the tracker shows a bar chart of cycle lengths, your longest gap and how much cycles vary. You can export a summary for your doctor.

Perimenopause often starts with small changes while periods are still regular: cycles a few days shorter, or flow heavier or lighter. Later, cycles become more spread out and you start skipping periods. Doctors use this pattern, along with your age, to describe your stage on the STRAW+10 system. In STRAW+10, early perimenopause is a persistent difference of 7 days or more between the lengths of consecutive cycles, recurring within 10 cycles, and a gap of 60 days or more without a period marks late perimenopause, which lasts on average 1 to 3 years (Harlow et al. 2012). For a quick read of your likely stage, use the stage finder.

The folk rule "if you have been irregular for a year, peri has started" is only partly right. Perimenopause can begin while you are still regular.

The tracker shows a "See a doctor soon" note when you log:

• Any bleeding after 12 months with no period, even light spotting, even once. Read bleeding after menopause.
• Very heavy bleeding (flooding, soaking through pads quickly, large clots) or bleeding that leaves you dizzy or tired.
• Bleeding between periods that keeps happening, or bleeding after sex.

Irregular cycles are expected in perimenopause, but these patterns need evaluation, usually starting with a transvaginal ultrasound.

Your dates are stored only on your device. Nothing is sent to our server or used in analytics, and you can export or delete everything. The tracker is a calendar, not a test. It cannot confirm perimenopause, rule out pregnancy, or explain why bleeding is happening. If your periods stopped before 40, or before 45 with symptoms, talk to a doctor about early menopause: try the early menopause check.