UNDA — Daily Insights, Training Analytics & Check-in UX Specification
Status: Draft specification. Not yet implemented; roadmap tracks the build in three slices (see ROADMAP.md → Daily Insight + check-in analytics suite). Last reviewed: 2026-08-21
1. Feature objective
UNDA should combine three types of information in one coherent experience:
What is happening today
- cycle day
- estimated/confirmed cycle phase
- symptoms
- subjective readiness
- sleep/recovery
- recent training
What the user has actually experienced historically
- performance
- training consistency
- symptoms
- personal patterns across previous cycles
Educational context
- short evidence-based explanations about physiology, training, recovery, nutrition and symptoms
- sources available directly from each insight
- uncertainty clearly communicated
The app must avoid implying that every user should feel or perform in a particular way purely because they are in a particular menstrual-cycle phase.
The primary product principle is:
Personal data first. Population-level cycle research second.
2. Home / Today screen
Purpose
The Home screen answers:
“How am I doing today, and what should I know before training?”
It should provide a fast summary rather than require the user to interpret several physiological metrics.
2.1 Daily readiness card
Top-level card:
Before training
Example:
Readiness 82 Good readiness today
Secondary text:
Based on your recent recovery, symptoms and training data.
CTA:
View check-in →
Inputs
The readiness score may incorporate:
- sleep
- subjective energy
- soreness
- fatigue
- stress
- menstrual symptoms
- recent training load
- resting HR/HRV if available
- user-reported readiness
Cycle phase should not independently reduce or increase readiness.
Instead:
Readiness =
individual current state
+ recent training/recovery
+ personal historical cycle patternsNot:
Readiness =
menstrual phase → predefined score3. Daily metrics
Below readiness:
Your day
Display modular metric cards in a 2-column grid.
Possible cards:
Cycle
Day 6
Follicular phase
Secondary information:
- estimated / confirmed status
- expected next period
- cycle length
Sleep
7 h 42 min
Sleep duration
Optional small graph showing the previous 7 days.
Training load
312
7-day load
Small trend graph.
Recovery
78
Good
Symptoms
2 reported
Mild cramps · fatigue
Hydration
1.8 L
Daily logged intake
The user should be able to configure which metrics appear.
CTA:
Edit metrics
4. Today's workout
Large recommendation card below metrics.
Example:
Today's session
Endurance — 75 min
Z2 aerobic ride
Additional information:
- planned intensity
- expected duration
- training objective
- estimated load
CTA:
Start workout
Secondary CTA:
Why this workout?
Workout reasoning
When the user taps Why this workout?, show:
Recommended primarily because of your training plan and current recovery.
Then optionally:
Your historical data also shows that you usually tolerate similar sessions well around this point in your cycle.
This distinction is extremely important.
UNDA should never claim:
“You are follicular, therefore today you should do intervals.”
Instead, cycle information becomes one contextual variable among several.
5. Pre-workout check-in
This corresponds to the full-screen questionnaire shown in the reference screenshots.
The check-in should take approximately 10–20 seconds.
Screen 1 — Energy
How energetic do you feel?
5-step scale:
- Very low
- Low
- Normal
- Good
- Excellent
Screen 2 — Sleep
How did you sleep?
5-step scale.
Optionally preload wearable data:
7 h 21 min detected
User reports perceived sleep quality separately.
Screen 3 — Soreness
How sore do you feel?
Scale:
0 — None 1 — Mild 2 — Moderate 3 — High 4 — Very high
Optional body map later.
Screen 4 — Menstrual symptoms
Any symptoms today?
Multi-select:
- cramps
- headache
- bloating
- breast tenderness
- fatigue
- lower-back discomfort
- GI symptoms
- heavy bleeding
- mood changes
- none
Allow severity:
Mild / Moderate / Severe
Screen 5 — Motivation
How ready do you feel to train?
1–5 scale.
Check-in result
After completion:
Ready to train
82 / 100
Then explain the recommendation:
Training recommendation
Continue planned workout
or:
Reduce intensity slightly
or:
Recovery session suggested
Importantly, UNDA should explain why.
Example:
Your sleep and energy are normal, but you reported unusually high soreness. Your workout has therefore been reduced from 4 × 8 min threshold to 3 × 8 min.
This makes the recommendation auditable.
6. Daily Insights
This is the feature most closely inspired by the full-screen “Daily Decoding” screenshots.
Possible UNDA naming:
- Today's physiology
- Daily Insight
- Inside your cycle
- What's happening today
- Cycle Insight
Recommended:
Daily Insight
The UI can be immersive without using the astrology/cosmic aesthetic of the reference.
UNDA should instead use its own visual system:
- water
- gradients inspired by depth/current
- wave forms
- flowing particles
- controlled biological animation
- subtle phase colours
- no stars
- no moons
- no zodiac imagery
7. Daily Insight entry point
Home screen contains a compact card:
DAY 6
Today's cycle insight
What may be changing physiologically today
Explore →
The card should display an evidence indicator:
Evidence: Moderate
or:
Evidence: Limited
This immediately distinguishes UNDA from apps presenting speculative statements as facts.
8. Daily Insight story flow
Opening the card launches a vertically immersive screen.
Top:
Daily Insight: Exercise
Below:
Cycle day 6 of 30
Optional:
Estimated follicular phase
Progress navigation:
━━━━ ━━━━ ━━━━ ━━━━ ━━━━User can:
- swipe horizontally
- tap right side → next
- tap left side → previous
- swipe down / tap × → close
9. Insight categories
Do not force the user through seven categories every day.
Recommended categories:
1. Physiology
What is happening with:
- menstruation
- follicular development
- ovulation
- luteal physiology
- estrogen
- progesterone
Avoid implying hormone concentrations are known unless actually measured.
Use wording such as:
In a typical ovulatory cycle, estradiol generally begins to increase during the follicular phase.
Not:
Your estrogen is increasing.
unless UNDA has verified physiological data.
2. Training
Topics:
- performance evidence
- perceived exertion
- thermoregulation
- recovery
- menstrual symptoms
- training tolerance
Example:
Training today
Your symptoms matter more than the calendar
Research has not shown sufficiently large or consistent performance differences across menstrual-cycle phases to prescribe different training intensities for everyone.
Your recommendation today therefore uses your current recovery and your own historical response.
3. Recovery
Topics:
- fatigue
- sleep
- temperature
- soreness
- HRV where appropriate
- recovery perception
4. Nutrition
Topics may include:
- appetite
- energy intake
- hydration
- GI symptoms
- iron
- carbohydrate requirements for training
Avoid recommendations such as:
“During menstruation you should eat pomegranate and broccoli.”
Instead:
Some studies report differences in appetite and energy intake across the cycle, particularly between follicular and luteal phases, but individual variation is substantial.
Then give normal sports-nutrition recommendations based on the user's training.
5. Symptoms
Topics:
- cramps
- bloating
- headache
- fatigue
- GI symptoms
- breast tenderness
This category can become highly personalised.
Example:
You reported cramps today. Exercise may help some people with primary dysmenorrhea, although responses vary.
6. Mind
Topics:
- mood
- subjective concentration
- motivation
- stress
- perceived cognitive symptoms
Avoid deterministic language such as:
“Estrogen is rising, so your brain fog is disappearing.”
Prefer:
Some users notice changes in concentration or mood across their cycle. Research has not established a universal cognitive pattern, so your own observations are more useful here.
7. Skin
Possible topics:
- premenstrual acne
- skin hydration
- oiliness
- sensitivity
Avoid prescribing cosmetic products solely by cycle phase.
Example:
Hormonal variation can influence skin physiology, and premenstrual acne flares are commonly reported. Whether this occurs consistently is individual.
8. Sexual wellbeing
Optional and opt-in.
Topics:
- libido
- vaginal symptoms
- cervical mucus
- sexual wellbeing
Never present fertility predictions as contraception.
Example:
Sexual desire can vary across the cycle, but hormones are only one of many psychological, physiological and contextual factors involved.
10. Insight screen layout
Each Daily Insight page contains:
A. Category
Daily Insight · Training
B. Cycle context
Cycle day 6 · Estimated follicular phase
C. Illustration
Custom UNDA visual.
Examples:
Training → moving body/wave Nutrition → food/energy illustration Recovery → sleep/current illustration Skin → skin barrier/water visual Physiology → simplified reproductive physiology
D. Headline
Short editorial title.
Example:
Symptoms > phase
E. Explanation
Maximum approximately 80–130 words.
Readable, evidence-aware and practical.
F. Personal context
Optional personalised block:
For you
During your previous three cycles, you reported lower energy on days 1–2 but your cycling power did not meaningfully change.
This should eventually become one of UNDA's strongest differentiators.
G. Evidence level
Example:
Evidence Moderate
H. References
Expandable accordion.
11. Reference accordion
At the bottom:
Sources
⌄
Collapsed by default.
Expanded:
McNulty et al., 2020The Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Exercise Performance in Eumenorrheic Women. Sports Medicine.
Evidence type: Systematic review + meta-analysis
Why we use it: Supports the conclusion that average performance differences across cycle phases appear small and inconsistent and that individualisation is preferable.
Actions:
View paper ↗
Optional:
How we interpreted this evidence
This transparency should exist for every scientific claim shown by UNDA.
12. Evidence badges
Recommended evidence system:
Strong
Multiple good-quality systematic reviews / consistent evidence.
Moderate
Reasonably consistent evidence but important limitations exist.
Limited
Small studies, inconsistent results or indirect evidence.
Emerging
Interesting preliminary research but insufficient for recommendations.
Personal pattern
Finding derived from this user's longitudinal data rather than general population research.
The last category is particularly important.
Example:
Personal pattern · 4 cycles
Your reported energy tends to be 14% lower during the first two days of menstruation.
13. Training exercise analytics
The first reference screenshot introduces another useful feature:
Exercise details
Example:
Squat
Personal best
20 repetitions
Last 30 days
Graph underneath.
The graph should plot the metric over time.
Possible selectable metrics:
- repetitions
- weight
- volume
- estimated 1RM
- power
- duration
- pace
- cycling power
- heart rate
- RPE
14. Cycle overlay on performance charts
This is a particularly valuable UNDA feature.
The performance graph can optionally display menstrual-cycle context.
Example:
Performance
│
│ ╭────╮
│ ╭──╮ ╭╯ ╰──╮
│────╯ ╰──╯ ╰──
└─────────────────────────
M F O LPhase information appears as a subtle background layer.
But it must not visually imply causation.
When tapping a point:
14 Aug
Power: 218 W RPE: 7/10 Cycle day: 13 Phase: estimated late follicular Sleep: 7 h 48 min Symptoms: none
This lets the user investigate actual relationships.
15. Performance summary cards
Below chart:
Total volume
12,450 kg
Last 30 days
Best performance
65 kg × 8
14 August
Or for cycling:
Best 20 min power
238 W
Average weekly volume
9 h 12 min
16. History table
History
Columns:
| Date | Cycle context | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug | Day 3 · Menstrual | 60 kg × 8 |
| 18 Aug | Day 25 · Luteal | 62.5 kg × 8 |
| 11 Aug | Day 18 · Luteal | 65 kg × 8 |
| 4 Aug | Day 11 · Follicular | 62.5 kg × 8 |
Tapping a row opens the original workout.
17. Personal cycle-performance analytics
Once enough data exists, UNDA can show:
Your patterns
Example:
Threshold cycling
No meaningful difference detected across your cycle.
Confidence: Moderate Based on 14 workouts / 5 cycles
or:
Perceived fatigue
You report higher fatigue around days −2 to +2 relative to menstruation.
Confidence: Moderate Observed in 4 of your last 5 cycles.
This is much more scientifically defensible than generic “cycle syncing”.
18. Minimum-data rule
UNDA should not claim a personal pattern after one cycle.
Suggested thresholds:
1 cycle Collecting data
2 cycles Early observation
3 cycles Possible pattern
4–6 cycles Personal pattern
6+ cycles Higher-confidence personal trend if effect remains consistent
The statistical model should also consider:
- sample size
- missing data
- effect magnitude
- variance
- training type
- illness
- sleep
- training load
- contraception status
19. Estimated vs confirmed cycle state
Every relevant screen should distinguish:
Estimated
Calculated from dates.
Ovulation-supported
Ovulation supported by LH testing or another appropriate signal.
Hormone-confirmed
Only if actual validated hormonal measurements exist.
UNDA should never convert a calendar estimate into a physiological certainty.
20. Suggested complete flow
HOME
↓
Today's readiness
↓
Daily metrics
↓
Today's workout
↓
Daily Insight
├── Physiology
├── Training
├── Recovery
├── Nutrition
├── Symptoms
├── Mind
├── Skin
└── Sexual wellbeing
↓
SourcesTraining flow:
TODAY'S WORKOUT
↓
Pre-workout check-in
↓
Workout recommendation
↓
Workout
↓
Post-workout check-in
↓
Workout saved
↓
Performance history
↓
Personal cycle patterns21. Post-workout check-in
Very short questionnaire:
How did it feel?
- Easier than expected
- As expected
- Harder than expected
Did you complete it?
- Yes
- Modified
- Stopped early
If modified:
- fatigue
- pain
- symptoms
- lack of motivation
- excessive intensity
- time
- other
Optional:
RPE 1–10
This information becomes critical for personalisation.
22. UX design principles
The interface should feel
- premium
- athletic
- intelligent
- calm
- biological rather than medical
- scientific without being clinical
- visually rich without resembling astrology
Avoid
- moon metaphors
- flowers
- pink “female fitness” clichés
- deterministic hormonal predictions
- fake precision
- “your body wants X today”
- mandatory phase-based training
- unverified medical claims
Use
- UNDA wave language
- flowing data visualisations
- dynamic gradients
- restrained motion
- evidence badges
- personal longitudinal data
- transparent scientific references
23. Core content rule
Every Daily Insight should internally follow:
CLAIM
↓
SOURCE
↓
EVIDENCE QUALITY
↓
LIMITATIONS
↓
ALLOWED USER-FACING WORDING
↓
PERSONALISATION RULEExample:
Claim:
Exercise performance differs across menstrual phases.
Evidence:
McNulty et al. systematic review/meta-analysis.
Finding:
Possible trivial reduction in early follicular phase.
Limitations:
Low-quality heterogeneous evidence.
Allowed wording:
“Some studies suggest small differences, but these are not consistent
enough to prescribe different training for everyone.”
Forbidden wording:
“You are menstruating, therefore your performance is lower.”This rule should apply to every scientific insight published in UNDA.