Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator Review: Should You Buy It in 2026?

This Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator review has a simple verdict: no. Don't buy one. No new buyer should choose it; existing owners should check expiry and app access. Clearblue discontinued it, distribution ended February 3, 2026, and app support ended September 1, 2026. Walmart showed $19.98 but no online stock. Without the app, five sticks cannot produce a stage.

Here's what makes this worth five more minutes of your time: when we put Clearblue's own cutoff beside the peer-reviewed data behind serial FSH testing, the reason the product struggled to answer the question buyers brought to it was hiding in plain sight.

Who this page is for

Read this if	This isn't what you need if
You were about to buy the Clearblue menopause test	You've had any bleeding after 12 full months with no period — that needs a prompt clinical check, not a web page
You already own a kit and want to know whether it can still work	You're under 40 with absent or very irregular periods — that needs a clinician-led primary ovarian insufficiency workup
You want to know what a positive result meant	You already have a diagnosis and are choosing a treatment
You want a better way to document symptoms and cycle changes	You need an exam, ultrasound, biopsy, or urgent assessment

The HRT Index is the independent decision resource for online menopause and HRT care — comparing telehealth providers on clinical legitimacy, care quality, medication fit, price transparency, and access, with every claim verified and dated, so women can choose the path that fits their situation before their first consult.

Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator review: status at a glance

The product is discontinued, its companion app is no longer supported, and the manufacturer-reported commercial distribution end date is February 3, 2026. The app-store listings were still visible when checked, but we did not independently test whether registration, stage calculation, report export, or account deletion still works after support ended.

Question	What the manufacturer or official record says	What we independently verified on September 3, 2026
Is the product discontinued?	Clearblue's consumer product page says yes.	Confirmed on the live Clearblue product page.
When did app support end?	September 1, 2026.	Confirmed on Clearblue's page and the Apple App Store and Google Play listings.
When did commercial distribution end?	February 3, 2026.	Confirmed in the official AccessGUDID device record.
Can the sticks produce a stage without the app?	No. The leaflet says the app is required for a likely stage.	Confirmed in the package instruction leaflet. Without the app, each stick only gives a qualitative FSH result.
Can you still buy it online?	Clearblue still shows six retailer buttons below its discontinuation notice.	We found no confirmed online purchase path through the links we could verify. Walmart still displayed $19.98 but showed online stock unavailable. Local stock can differ.
Is the app completely dead?	Clearblue says support ended.	Not verified. We did not test the post-support app, so this page does not claim it is shut down or unusable.

That last row matters. A lot of pages will turn “support ended” into “the app is dead.” We didn't test that, so we won't say it. What we can prove is enough: Clearblue discontinued the product, the official device record shows distribution ended, and the company ended support for the software required to produce the stage result.

Before you go further: The right online HRT provider isn't the same for every woman — it depends on your symptoms, your age and whether you have a uterus, your medication route preference (patch, pill, gel, or vaginal estrogen), your risk history, your insurance or cash-pay situation, and your state. Some situations belong with an in-person clinician first. Because a general answer can't resolve those for you, use The HRT Index's Find My HRT Path tool to match your situation to the right provider — and to flag when online care isn't the right starting point — before your first consult.

Is the Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator discontinued?

Yes. Clearblue discontinued the Menopause Stage Indicator, ended support for the companion app on September 1, 2026, and the official FDA/NLM device record lists February 3, 2026 as the commercial distribution end date. What remains is old inventory, stale retail pages, or links that no longer lead to a purchasable product.

We didn't take a review site's word for this. We built the timeline from Clearblue's pages, the official device record, both app stores, and the retailer links Clearblue still publishes.

The discontinuation timeline

Date	What happened	Verification source
July 31, 2023	The device record was first published in AccessGUDID.	AccessGUDID
February 3, 2026	Commercial distribution ended.	AccessGUDID
February 4, 2026	The GUDID record was updated and now shows “Not in Commercial Distribution.”	AccessGUDID
June 24, 2026	Clearblue's consumer page shows this update date and now carries the discontinuation and app-support notice.	Clearblue consumer page
September 3, 2026	Clearblue's separate healthcare-professional page remained live, described the product in the present tense, and showed no visible discontinuation or app-support notice.	Clearblue professional page
September 1, 2026	App support ended.	Clearblue consumer page, Apple App Store, Google Play
September 3, 2026	We rechecked the manufacturer page, app stores, official device record, and all six retailer buttons.	The dated audit below

Read that mismatch again. The official record says commercial distribution ended in early February. Clearblue's consumer page now carries the warning, but even after app support ended it still displayed six “Buy” buttons.

The “Buy” buttons are still there — but the purchase paths have decayed

We clicked all six retailer buttons on Clearblue's own page. This is the current, reproducible snapshot.

Retailer linked by Clearblue	What happened on September 3, 2026	Price shown
Walgreens	Product page said it was no longer available on the site.	—
Rite Aid	We could not independently retrieve a working product page, so we are not claiming a current stock status.	—
Target	The manufacturer-linked page returned a 404.	—
Walmart	Listing remained live, but online shipping and delivery were unavailable; local pickup required a separate nearby-store check.	$19.98
Kroger	Listing remained live, but pickup and delivery showed unavailable in the checked session.	“Prices may vary”
Amazon	Listing said the product was currently unavailable.	—

The important result is not “four stores still sell it.” On the date of this audit, none of the five retailer paths we could verify produced a confirmed online purchase route.

We're not accusing anyone of anything sneaky. Retail listings decay, local inventory differs, and manufacturers do not control every shelf. But you're the one holding the credit card, so you should know that the live brand page can still send you toward a product whose required app is unsupported.

The healthcare-professional page still doesn't show the warning

Clearblue runs a separate page for healthcare professionals. On September 3, 2026, it still described the product in the present tense, including the five-test workflow, stage output, and laboratory-accuracy claim. We found no visible discontinuation or app-support notice on that page.

That does not mean a clinician has no other way to discover the discontinuation. It means a clinician who lands on that manufacturer page alone is not shown the same warning that appears on the consumer page. For a device whose stage result depends on software, that mismatch belongs in the review.

Check the core facts yourself in two minutes

1. Open the Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator page. The discontinuation and app-support notice is near the top.
2. Open the AccessGUDID record for primary device identifier 00633472602245. Look for “Commercial Distribution Status” and “Commercial Distribution End Date.”

Two tabs, two minutes, and you've verified the single most important fact about this product.

You came here to check whether this test was worth buying. It isn't — but the question underneath it still deserves a real answer. Use Find My HRT Path to see whether online care fits your situation, get a best-fit route plus two backups, and see the safety flags before you book anything. It takes about 90 seconds and does not require an email.

I already bought it. What should I do now?

If you already own a kit, check the printed expiration date before opening anything, then see whether the app still allows registration and result entry. An unexpired, correctly stored stick is designed to return a qualitative FSH result, but the app is required to combine five results with age and cycle history and produce a likely stage.

This is the group most pages forget. Here is the cleanest order of operations.

The remaining-kit checklist

1. Check the expiration date on the box and every foil pouch. Clearblue instructs users not to use expired tests. Distribution ending does not tell you whether your specific box is expired; the printed date does.
2. Check the app before opening a stick. Confirm that you can install or open it, create or access your account, enter the activation code, and reach the result-entry workflow. We did not independently confirm that those functions still work after September 1.
3. Read the suitability list before testing. Hormonal birth control, hormone therapy, pregnancy, breastfeeding, PCOS, certain fertility or FSH-affecting medicines, and surgery that changes the menstrual cycle can make the product unsuitable. The full decision table is below.
4. Try to export any existing report now. Clearblue's discontinuation notice tells users to use remaining sticks and download their personalized report before the sticks expire. Because support has ended, do not assume the export function will remain available.
5. Keep the box, product, and foil pouches if you contact support. Clearblue asks users to have them available. The U.S. line is 1-800-321-3279, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Clearblue also offers chat and email through its contact page.
6. Ask the retailer and Clearblue about a refund. We found no published product-specific refund promise for an unusable but unexpired kit. Give them the purchase date, lot information, expiration date, and a description of what failed. Keep the response in writing.
7. Do not let the result make a high-stakes decision for you. Not contraception, fertility, whether your symptoms are real, or whether to start hormone therapy. A home FSH result cannot settle any of those questions.

Timing rules that can invalidate a result

If you use unexpired sticks you already own, follow the package leaflet—not a review or a remembered instruction:

• Use the first urine of the day.
• Test on the days the app directs; the original workflow used five tests on alternate days.
• Hold the absorbent tip in the urine stream for 5 seconds, or dip it in a collected sample for 20 seconds.
• Wait 5 full minutes, read the result between 5 and 8 minutes, and disregard later changes.
• Enter the result on the same day; Clearblue's professional instructions say result entry closed at midnight on the testing day.
• Too much or too little urine can produce an error. A missing control line means the test did not work.

What was actually in the box, and how did it work?

The kit contained five qualitative urine tests for follicle-stimulating hormone, or FSH. You tested on alternate days, entered each positive or negative result in the Clearblue me app, and the app combined the five-result pattern with your age and menstrual-cycle history to estimate one of four likely stages. The sticks alone never produced a menopause stage.

The four app outputs were premenopause, early perimenopause, late perimenopause, and postmenopause.

Notice what's missing: a result called simply “menopause.” Menopause is the final menstrual period, but it is confirmed only after 12 consecutive months without a period; postmenopause is the time after that. Clearblue's four-stage language was trying to describe the transition around that retrospective milestone, not detect a single biological switch.

The intended workflow was:

1. Download the app before starting.
2. Create an account and enter the activation code from the package insert.
3. Use first-morning urine on five app-directed test days over roughly ten days.
4. Read each stick as positive, negative, or invalid and log it that day.
5. Add age, cycle information, and tracked symptoms.
6. Receive a likely stage and a personalized report after all five tests.

The app dependency is the whole story of this product. Clearblue's leaflet states that without the app you receive only FSH results, not a stage. The stage lived in software. Support for that software has ended.

What did a positive or negative result actually mean?

A positive stick meant urinary FSH was at or above the product's 25 mIU/mL cutoff in that sample. A negative stick meant it was below the cutoff. That is the complete strip-level claim: one hormone, one threshold, one morning—not a diagnosis, fertility test, treatment recommendation, or proof that symptoms are or are not caused by perimenopause.

Two lines meant positive even if the test line was faint. One control line meant negative. No valid control line meant the test failed.

Stick result	What it fairly meant	What it did not mean
Positive	Urinary FSH was at or above 25 mIU/mL in that sample at that time.	Not “you are in menopause,” “you are infertile,” “your ovaries have stopped,” or “you need hormone therapy.”
Negative	Urinary FSH was below 25 mIU/mL in that sample at that time.	Not “your hormones are normal,” “you are not perimenopausal,” “your symptoms have another cause,” or “you do not need care.”
Invalid	The control line did not appear, so the stick could not be interpreted.	Not a positive or negative biological result. Repeat only according to the package instructions.

This is why the box contained five sticks instead of one. FSH genuinely rises and falls across and between cycles during the menopause transition. Repeating a measurement was a reasonable response to a real biological problem. We'll give Clearblue that.

It just doesn't get you as far as the box implies.

How accurate was the Clearblue menopause test?

The strip and the app answered different questions, so one accuracy number cannot describe the whole product. Clearblue's “over 99% accurate” claim applies to laboratory classification of urine above or below the FSH cutoff. It does not establish that the app correctly assigned an individual woman's menopause stage, diagnosed perimenopause, or changed the right clinical decision.

“Accurate” is doing four different jobs in this conversation, and most reviews smush them into one. Here they are separated.

The four layers of “accurate”

Layer	The real question	What the evidence supports	What it does not establish
1. Strip classification	Did the stick correctly classify the sample around its cutoff?	Clearblue reports over 99% laboratory accuracy when classifying positive and negative urine samples around 25 mIU/mL. The FDA separately says home FSH tests detect elevated FSH about 9 out of 10 times.	Neither number tells you whether a woman is in perimenopause. They are different claims from different sources, not competing scores.
2. Serial measurement	Does several days of FSH data separate stages better than one test?	A 2026 prospective urine study found that five consecutive days of laboratory-measured urinary FSH differentiated stages better than a single measurement, especially in long cycles.	It did not test the consumer sticks, the product's alternate-day schedule, the app interface, or real-world user error.
3. App stage assignment	How often did the algorithm assign the correct stage to an individual woman?	Clearblue says its algorithm combines serial FSH results, age, and cycle history and is aligned with STRAW+10 staging criteria.	The manufacturer materials and 2026 study reviewed here did not report sensitivity, specificity, a confusion matrix, or an individual-stage error rate for the commercial app.
4. Clinical usefulness	Did the output answer “Am I in perimenopause, and what should I do?”	The app could organize results and symptoms into a report for a clinician.	The FDA says a home FSH test does not detect menopause or perimenopause, cannot determine fertility, and should not be used to stop contraception.

The FDA's consumer page is blunt: a home FSH test is qualitative. It can show elevated FSH, but it does not detect menopause or perimenopause.

What the 2026 serial-FSH study actually found

The strongest dataset now available is a peer-reviewed study published in 2026. Researchers analyzed 114 women aged 45 to 60 across 133 menstrual cycles. Participants with cycles collected first-morning urine daily for up to 90 days; postmenopausal participants collected for 30 days. FSH was measured in a laboratory, and stage was assigned using STRAW+10 cycle-history criteria.

The study compared a single measurement with any five consecutive days. That matters: Clearblue's consumer product used five tests on alternate days. The paper supports serial measurement as a concept; it is not a direct validation of the exact retail workflow.

The counts below are individual urinary FSH observations, not cycles.

Stage	Urinary FSH observations	Median urinary FSH	Median share of measurements above 25 IU/L within a cycle or collection period	Single-day positive test vs 5-day window with at least 2 elevated results
Premenopause	1,232	6.4 IU/L	3.7%	9.4% vs 9.5%
Early perimenopause	1,044	10.6 IU/L	7.8%	21.5% vs 29.8%
Late perimenopause	2,725	32.8 IU/L	37.6%	25.0% vs 64.7%
Postmenopause	1,039	45.7 IU/L	95.0%	76.5% vs 85.5%

The study defined elevation as greater than 25 IU/L. Clearblue's leaflet defines a positive consumer-stick result as at or above 25 mIU/mL. Those unit scales are numerically equivalent, but the boundary wording is not identical, so we are keeping each source's language rather than pretending they are the same protocol.

Now look at early perimenopause—the stage the product had to clarify to earn the purchase. The median urinary FSH was 10.6 IU/L, and the median cycle had only 7.8% of measurements above 25 IU/L. In early perimenopause, 29.8% of five-day windows contained at least two elevated readings—better separation than the 21.5% single-day positive rate, but nowhere near a stand-alone stage detector.

Late perimenopause was not a guaranteed positive either. In the subgroup with typical-length late-perimenopausal cycles, 9 of 17 cycles had no FSH reading at or above 25 IU/L. The authors themselves said partial-cycle collection may have missed peaks. That is exactly why a negative home result cannot rule out the transition.

The study still gives Clearblue credit where it is due. Five-day serial testing separated early and late perimenopause better than one measurement, especially in long cycles. But the separation came from serial FSH plus cycle length. The calendar was not an accessory to the answer; it was part of the staging engine.

There is another reason to read the paper carefully. Four authors were employees of SPD Development Company, the Clearblue manufacturer. Two other authors reported consulting relationships, one reported paid content review connected with the product, and medical-writing support was funded by SPD. That does not invalidate the data. It does mean the commercial connection belongs beside the conclusion, not buried away from it.

Our editorial conclusion: the hormone result was strongest when FSH was consistently high, while cycle history did much of the work in the ambiguous middle. When the app said “early perimenopause,” a meaningful part of that answer came from information the user typed in herself.

That's not fraud. It's not even bad science. It's just a much smaller product than the box suggests — and you should know which part of the answer you were paying for.

If what you actually wanted was to walk into an appointment and be taken seriously, a strip was never the strongest tool for that. Start with The HRT Index perimenopause symptoms checklist, then use Find My HRT Path to see whether an online menopause clinician or an in-person starting point fits your situation.

What do the current star ratings tell you?

The ratings show positive sentiment around parts of the product and app experience; they do not validate the stage algorithm or prove medical accuracy. The clearest provenance signal was that the first three Walmart reviews displayed by default were marked as collected as part of a promotion. That disclosure changes how the headline rating should be read.

Clearblue's Target link no longer led to a live product page when checked, so old Target sub-scores, recommendation percentages, review counts, and quotes are not being treated as current evidence.

The live review snapshot on September 3, 2026

Platform	Rating shown	What else the page showed	What the rating can support
Apple App Store	4.6/5 from about 2.8K ratings	Listing still visible; support-ended notice present	App usability and user sentiment—not stage accuracy
Google Play	4.4/5 from 544 reviews; 50K+ downloads	Listing still visible; support-ended notice present	App adoption and user sentiment—not medical validity
Walmart	4.0/5 from 1,091 ratings	Product out of stock online; the first three default “most relevant” reviews were tagged as promotional	Shopping experience and expectations—not diagnosis

One App Store reviewer put the underlying need plainly:

“I need a good way to track my cycle and symptoms because it has been a nightmare.”

— Apple App Store reviewer, January 12, 2024

That is not evidence that the stage output was correct. It is evidence of the job women were hiring the product to do: organize a confusing pattern and create something concrete enough to discuss.

The transferable rule is simple. Scroll past the big star number. Read the disclosure tags, sort by recent and critical, separate app usability from medical claims, and check whether the product is still supported before treating thousands of old ratings as a current buying signal.

Who was this test never suitable for?

Clearblue's own instructions excluded pregnancy, breastfeeding, hormonal contraception, hormone therapy, PCOS, medicines that affect FSH, and surgery that disrupts the cycle used for staging. Those are not edge cases. They include many of the women most likely to want an external answer because their bleeding pattern is hard or impossible to read.

If this is you	What Clearblue says	What actually answers the question
Using hormonal birth control, including a hormonal IUD	The product is not suitable.	Hormonal contraception can change bleeding and the hormone signal the test uses. NICE says not to use FSH to identify menopause in people using combined estrogen-progestogen contraception or high-dose progestogen. This needs a clinical history, not a home strip.
Already using hormone therapy	The product is not suitable.	Treatment is adjusted from symptoms, risk, response, and the prescription plan—not from a home FSH threshold. Talk to the prescriber rather than testing through treatment.
Pregnant or breastfeeding	Do not use the product.	Pregnancy and postpartum or lactation changes require their own clinical context. A menopause-stage strip is the wrong tool.
PCOS	The product is not suitable.	Irregular cycles and altered reproductive-hormone patterns make the product's staging inputs unreliable. Use a clinician-led assessment.
Hysterectomy or endometrial ablation	Surgery affecting the cycle is an exclusion.	Without a dependable bleeding pattern, a clinician decides whether history, symptoms, prior records, or targeted blood tests are useful. A home strip cannot rebuild the missing calendar.
Bilateral oophorectomy	Listed among surgery-related exclusions on Clearblue's professional page.	Removal of both ovaries creates an induced-menopause pathway. There is no reason to buy a home strip to “stage” it.
Taking medicines that contain or affect FSH	The product is not suitable.	Ask the prescriber how the medicine changes interpretation before doing any hormone test.

This is exactly where a glossy front-of-box promise can fail the woman who needs it most. The more your cycle is masked, absent, surgically altered, or biologically atypical, the less a consumer stage algorithm has to work with.

A few minutes of checking beats opening a kit that was never designed for you. Find My HRT Path asks about the factors that change the route and flags when online care is not the right starting point.

Was there a good reason to buy it anyway?

Yes. And we'd be dishonest if we skipped it. The Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator gave women a structured ten-day task, symptom tracking, a named stage, and a report to bring into an appointment. That emotional and practical job was legitimate—even though the product was a weak way to answer the medical question printed around it.

The test did not measure menopause stage independently of your own cycle history. If you wanted a stage answer that stood on its own, this was never that, and no single urine FSH threshold can provide a stage independently of cycle history.

But the product gave a woman something to hold. A report. A vocabulary. A reason to book an appointment and a page to put on the desk. Read the app reviews and the value underneath the chemistry becomes obvious: it was the feeling of not being dismissed.

Clearblue's professional materials lean into that purpose. The app tracked up to 19 symptoms and generated a report intended to support a healthcare conversation. That is genuine utility. Organizing symptoms and dates can improve the appointment even when the hormone threshold adds little.

So the honest verdict isn't “this was a scam.” It's this: the job that box was doing was legitimate, and the box was a weak way to do it.

Because the useful part—the symptom record, the cycle dates, the shared language, the permission to say “something changed”—does not require a discontinued test or an unsupported app.

If you have no readable cycle because of hysterectomy, ablation, hormonal contraception, or another reason, a calendar alone will not solve it either. That is where the honest answer becomes “this needs a clinician, not a stage.”

Does that sound like your situation—you don't need a number, you need to be believed? Complete the perimenopause symptoms checklist and take it to a clinician. Then use Find My HRT Path to see which care model fits before you pay.

Can any test tell you what stage of menopause you're in?

For most otherwise healthy women aged 45 and over with menopause-associated symptoms, routine hormone testing is not needed to identify perimenopause or menopause. Age, symptoms, and cycle change usually do the diagnostic work. Blood testing has a real role under 45, in suspected primary ovarian insufficiency, or when a clinician needs to investigate another cause.

This is where the guidance lands:

• Age 45 or over: NICE recommends identifying perimenopause from new symptoms and cycle changes, and menopause after at least 12 months without a period when hormonal contraception is not affecting bleeding. It says not to use routine laboratory tests—including FSH and AMH—to identify menopause in this group.
• Age 40 to 45: A clinician may consider a serum FSH test when menopause-associated symptoms occur with a change in the menstrual cycle.
• Under 40: Suspected primary ovarian insufficiency needs a specific workup. NICE says diagnosis should not rest on one blood test; it uses two elevated FSH samples taken 4 to 6 weeks apart, interpreted with symptoms and cycle history.
• Using combined hormonal contraception or high-dose progestogen: NICE says not to use FSH to identify menopause.

The Menopause Society describes the same cycle markers used by STRAW+10: variation of 7 days or more as the transition develops, and gaps of 60 days or more in the late transition. Those patterns are useful because they describe what the ovaries are doing over time, not what one morning's urine happened to show.

When clinician-ordered testing earns its place

Testing is not “never.” It earns its place when the result can change the next decision:

• You are under 40 with absent or very irregular periods.
• You are 40 to 45 with symptoms and a cycle change.
• You have no reliable menstrual marker after hysterectomy or ablation, so a clinician decides whether targeted testing helps. If hormonal contraception masks bleeding, use a contraception-specific clinical pathway rather than interpreting a home FSH strip.
• You may have induced menopause after ovarian surgery, chemotherapy, or pelvic radiation.
• Your symptoms or bleeding pattern call for evaluation of pregnancy, anemia or iron deficiency, thyroid disease, prolactin disorders, or another condition.
• A clinician needs a baseline or monitoring test for a specific treatment or risk—not merely a number to label the life stage.

What about AMH?

AMH can answer ovarian-reserve questions in fertility care, but it is not a routine consumer test for deciding whether common midlife symptoms are perimenopause. NICE specifically says not to use AMH to identify perimenopause or menopause in people aged 45 or over. Buying a broader hormone panel does not automatically make the answer more clinical; our guide to signs perimenopause is ending explains what AMH can and cannot add.

Can a home FSH result tell you when to stop contraception?

No—and this is the safety point we won't bury. A home FSH result must never decide when contraception can stop. The FDA says ovaries can keep releasing eggs while hormone levels change, so pregnancy remains possible. The reverse matters too: a low FSH result does not make symptoms unreal or rule out perimenopause.

Clearblue's own leaflet carried a “not for contraceptive use” warning. A high result on Tuesday does not prove that ovulation is over. Perimenopause is the window in which cycles become less predictable, and less predictable still includes pregnancy.

Contraception decisions belong with a clinician who can use age, method, bleeding pattern, medical history, and current guidance together.

There is a second safety line no stage test should blur: bleeding after menopause needs evaluation. ACOG says it is especially important to report bleeding after menopause so the cause can be assessed. Do not run another strip, wait for a stage label, or route that through a quiz.

Newly heavy or prolonged bleeding, bleeding between periods, or bleeding that is otherwise outside your usual pattern also deserves a clinical conversation. The stage label does not explain it away.

What should you use instead of the Clearblue menopause test?

If you still have natural menstrual cycles, use a cycle-and-symptom record rather than another home FSH strip. It will not diagnose you, but it gives a clinician the longitudinal evidence the staging framework actually uses. If your cycle is masked, absent, surgically altered, or you are under 40, skip self-staging and start with a clinician.

The STRAW+10 reproductive-aging framework is built around two observable cycle changes:

• Early transition: a persistent difference of 7 days or more between consecutive cycle lengths. “Persistent” means the pattern recurs within the next ten cycles; one odd month does not establish it.
• Late transition: a gap of 60 days or more without a period.

Those rules are not a diagnosis app. They are a way to describe a pattern. They are also the same kind of cycle information the Clearblue app needed before it could turn five FSH results into a stage. For worked examples, edge cases, and the exact persistence rule, see the stages of perimenopause.

What to track starting today

• The first day of every period. This gives you cycle length.
• Bleeding duration and change from your own baseline. Note heavier, lighter, prolonged, or between-period bleeding.
• Symptoms and frequency. Hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disruption, mood change, brain fog, joint pain, vaginal dryness, urinary symptoms, libido change, headaches, and anything else that affects daily life.
• What the symptoms disrupt. Sleep, work, exercise, relationships, sex, driving, concentration, or caregiving.
• Context that changes interpretation. Hormonal contraception, hormone therapy, new medication, pregnancy possibility, thyroid disease, surgery, major illness, and large weight changes.

Start with three months because it creates a useful appointment record. Keep going if you can: the formal early-transition definition may require recurrence across as many as ten cycles, so three months is not a promise that you can stage yourself.

The goal is not to produce a perfect label before anyone will listen. The goal is to arrive with enough structure that the conversation cannot collapse into “come back when it gets worse.”

Get the useful part without buying another box. Use the perimenopause symptoms checklist to organize what changed, then take Find My HRT Path to identify the right type of care and the situations that need an in-person start.

Are other at-home menopause tests worth buying in 2026?

Most are weak answers to “Am I in perimenopause?” because the result rarely changes what happens next. A test can be useful when a clinician recommends a specific measurement for a specific decision. For curiosity, buy only after you can name the marker, exclusion list, action the result unlocks, and what either result cannot tell you.

Use this four-question filter before buying any hormone test:

1. What does it actually measure? One FSH cutoff, a laboratory concentration, or several hormones?
2. Who does it exclude? Hormonal contraception, hormone therapy, pregnancy, PCOS, irregular cycles, surgery, and medications can make a result hard or impossible to interpret.
3. What do you get back? A line, a number, a reference range, an algorithmic label, or interpretation from a clinician who can act on it?
4. What changes after the result? If the same symptoms lead to the same appointment and treatment conversation either way, the test is a purchase—not a plan.

Test category	What you receive	Main limitation for menopause staging	The only buying question that matters
Urine FSH strip	Positive or negative around a cutoff	FSH fluctuates; neither result confirms or excludes perimenopause	Will this threshold change a clinician's next step?
Mail-in blood panel	Laboratory values and reference ranges	A larger panel can still be a snapshot, and cycle timing changes interpretation	Who interprets it, and can that person order follow-up care?
Saliva or dried-urine steroid-hormone panel	Hormone values or a pattern report	ACOG says there are no FDA-approved salivary or urinary tests for steroid-hormone measurement used to dose compounded menopausal therapy, and saliva testing is not recommended for that purpose	Is this being used to sell or adjust compounded hormones without validated clinical guidance?
App or algorithm without clinician review	A stage, score, or predicted window	Output quality depends on the inputs, validation, exclusions, and whether the software remains supported	Is the algorithm independently validated, and can you see when it refuses to answer?

The ACOG point above is about steroid hormones such as estradiol and progesterone in compounded-therapy dosing. FSH is a pituitary glycoprotein hormone and sits in a different device category. We are not using ACOG's warning to claim that every urine hormone test is the same thing.

More data can feel like more certainty. Sometimes it is only more numbers. Do not pay for a panel until you know who will interpret it and what decision it can change.

What happens to the data you put in the Clearblue app?

The app collected or derived consumer health data including cycle information, symptoms, and test results tied to an account. App support ending does not automatically delete that account or prove the app is insecure. It does make this the right time to export what you need and submit a documented access or deletion request under Clearblue's consumer-health-data policy.

Do these in order:

1. Try to export your personalized report. Save it locally if the function still works. We did not independently test report export after September 1.
2. Submit a privacy request through Clearblue's contact channels. State that you are requesting deletion of the Clearblue me account and associated consumer health data. Include the email address tied to the account and enough information for the company to identify the record.
3. Ask for written confirmation. Keep the request date, case number, and response.
4. Allow for the published response window. Clearblue's policy says it may take up to 45 days to respond to a verified request.
5. Separate account deletion from legally retained records. Ask what was deleted, what must be retained, why, and for how long.

Clearblue's consumer health data policy says users can request access and deletion and withdraw consent, subject to stated exceptions. It also describes service-provider and legal disclosures. Read the current policy rather than relying on an app-store privacy label alone.

When is your next step a clinician, not a test?

Your next step is a clinician when symptoms are disrupting sleep, work, sex, relationships, or daily functioning—or when bleeding, age, surgery, medication, or missing cycle data makes self-staging unsafe or meaningless. The stage label does not have to be settled before symptoms can be assessed and treated. What changes is which care setting can do the job.

Start in person when you have:

• Bleeding after 12 months without a period.
• Newly heavy or prolonged bleeding, bleeding between periods, or a pattern that needs examination.
• Absent or very irregular periods under age 40.
• A need for a pelvic exam, cervical screening, imaging, biopsy, or hands-on assessment.
• Symptoms that could be urgent or that cannot be safely assessed through a standard telehealth intake.

Those situations need the right examination or workup. Not another strip, not a stage calculator, and not an affiliate link.

For a non-urgent menopause or perimenopause evaluation that can start virtually, the table below compares two different care models. We checked each against The HRT Index Verification Standard and kept provider-stated facts separate from our editorial fit judgment.

The links in this section are affiliate links. If you use one, The HRT Index may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That does not change the facts, the exclusions, or the order of the recommendations.

Decision point	Midi Health	Sesame's menopause subscription
Care model	Visit-based, virtual women's midlife clinic; no required subscription.	Dedicated virtual menopause subscription with video care and messaging. This is not the same as Sesame's broader one-off-visit marketplace.
Published price, verified September 3, 2026	$250 first self-pay visit; $150 returning visit. With insurance, copay, deductible, and coinsurance depend on the plan.	$59/month. Medication costs are not included.
Insurance	In-network with many PPO plans; exact participation and patient cost must be checked by state and plan. HSA/FSA accepted for visits and services.	Sesame does not bill insurance for the program. Medication or separately billed lab costs may be covered by the user's plan.
State access	Publicly says menopause care is available in all 50 states.	Availability depends on a clinician licensed for the user's state; confirm in the live booking flow.
Labs	A clinician may order targeted labs; coverage and separate lab cost depend on the test, facility, and insurance.	CBC, A1c, TSH, lipid panel, and comprehensive metabolic panel are included if the provider orders them, with direct-payment exceptions in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and North Dakota. Lab networks also vary in Arizona, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Hawaii.
Medication path	Midi's public menopause page emphasizes FDA-approved hormone prescriptions plus nonhormonal options. The clinician determines what is appropriate; medication cost can be separate.	Sesame lists commercially available prescription products and, separately, compounded BHRT as a possibility. Compounded medications are not FDA-approved and are not presented here as equivalent to FDA-approved products. Confirm exactly what is being prescribed and where it will be dispensed before paying.
Medicare / Medicaid	Medicare is out of network; Medicare beneficiaries may self-pay but cannot submit Midi-related claims. Midi does not accept Medicaid or Medi-Cal patients.	Cash-pay only; Sesame's terms say it does not accept Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party insurance.
Cancellation	No recurring membership fee to cancel; visits are booked individually.	The service page says cancel before the next billing cycle, while Sesame's general terms require membership cancellation at least 48 hours before renewal. Use the stricter 48-hour deadline and save confirmation. No first-month refund after the initial visit occurs.
Best fit here	You have a participating commercial plan or want a specialized, visit-based evaluation with targeted testing when indicated.	You want a predictable cash-pay subscription and ongoing messaging, understand that medicines cost extra, and have checked the exact medication and cancellation terms.
Not the right door if	You need an in-person exam, have Medicaid/Medi-Cal, or need care billed to Medicare.	You want insurance-billed visits, a guaranteed one-off menopause appointment, or an FDA-approved-only program without confirming the prescription path first.

Where Midi falls short, stated plainly: it is virtual-only, self-pay visits are expensive if your plan is not in network, and it cannot accept Medicaid or Medi-Cal. If you need an exam, imaging, or biopsy, Midi is the wrong door. But because it uses a visit-based model, publishes self-pay prices, serves all 50 states, and can order targeted testing when indicated, it is the cleaner fit for the woman who wanted an actual evaluation rather than another consumer hormone reading.

If you have commercial insurance and want a specialized virtual evaluation, check your current coverage and booking cost with Midi before committing. Do not assume “covered” means a fixed copay.

Where Sesame falls short, stated plainly: the dedicated menopause product is a monthly subscription, not a one-off menopause visit. Medicines are extra, it does not bill insurance, and its service page and general terms use different cancellation timing. It can still fit someone who wants a transparent monthly cash-pay model—but only after she checks the licensed provider, exact medication route, state-specific lab rules, and the 48-hour cancellation deadline.

If the $59 monthly model fits what you're looking for, review Sesame's current menopause-program terms and state availability before the first charge. Confirm whether the clinician plans an FDA-approved product or a compounded preparation; they are not interchangeable categories.

If you have Medicare, Medicaid, or Medi-Cal: do not force either path to fit. Midi's published rules exclude Medicaid/Medi-Cal and make Medicare self-pay only without claim submission. Sesame is cash-pay and does not bill those programs. Start with an in-network primary care clinician, OB-GYN, or menopause-focused clinician and bring your symptom-and-cycle record.

We left compounded-first providers out of the recommendation. That is not a claim that compounded therapy is never appropriate. It is a refusal to turn a page about diagnostic uncertainty into a shortcut that blurs FDA-approved and compounded medication. Compounded preparations are not FDA-approved, and this page never presents them as equivalent.

How did The HRT Index verify this review?

We checked the manufacturer notice, leaflet, professional page, official device record, FDA classification, app stores, retailer links, privacy policy, peer-reviewed serial-FSH study, clinical guidance, and current provider terms. We did not use a product sample or claim firsthand app testing. The page-specific evidence is the dated retail audit, four-layer accuracy analysis, study-to-cutoff comparison, and verified provider table.

The HRT Index Verification Standard evaluates care options on five pillars, always in this order: clinical legitimacy, care quality, medication fit, price transparency, access.

For this page, that meant:

• Clinical legitimacy: We separated a qualitative home FSH device from diagnosis, checked the official device classification, and used primary clinical guidance for when testing is and is not recommended.
• Care quality: We looked for clinician involvement, the ability to investigate other causes, and the point where virtual care must defer to an examination or procedure.
• Medication fit: We kept FDA-approved and compounded options in separate categories and refused to imply equivalence.
• Price transparency: We replaced stale stock claims, dated the only current retailer price we could verify, and corrected the Midi and Sesame care-model prices.
• Access: We checked insurance, Medicare and Medicaid limits, state-specific lab exceptions, virtual-only limits, and cancellation language.

What we directly checked on September 3, 2026

• Clearblue's consumer product page and discontinuation notice.
• The full package leaflet, including the cutoff, timing rules, app dependency, and exclusions.
• Clearblue's healthcare-professional page and its missing visible discontinuation notice.
• AccessGUDID primary device identifier 00633472602245 and FDA product code NGA.
• The FDA consumer page for home menopause tests.
• Apple App Store and Google Play listings.
• All six retailer buttons still displayed by Clearblue.
• Current Walmart review counts and promotional-review tags.
• Clearblue's consumer health data policy and support instructions.
• The full 2026 peer-reviewed serial-FSH paper, including methods, limitations, funding, and conflicts.
• Current NICE, The Menopause Society, ACOG, and STRAW+10 guidance used in the medical sections.
• Current Midi and Sesame pricing, insurance, lab, medication, access, refund, and cancellation pages.

What we did not do

We did not receive the product free. We are not paid by Clearblue. We did not open or use a kit, test the app after support ended, confirm local shelf stock, or attempt a privacy deletion request. We are telling you what the live sources and dated checks support—not converting “support ended” into “the app is dead,” and not converting a laboratory cutoff claim into stage accuracy.

Retail stock, ratings, app availability, provider prices, insurance participation, lab rules, and cancellation terms can change. Recheck those dated elements before relying on them. Found something we got wrong? Email partners@thehrtindex.com.

Frequently asked questions

The questions below cover old-kit use, birth control, hysterectomy, result meaning, accuracy, FDA status, refunds, contraception, data deletion, and the next practical step. Each answer keeps the central distinction intact: the sticks measured an FSH threshold; they did not diagnose menopause or perimenopause.

Is the Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator still available?

It is discontinued. Clearblue still displays retailer buttons, but on September 3, 2026 the verifiable paths showed unavailable, out of stock, or a broken page rather than a confirmed online purchase. Walmart still displayed $19.98 and required a separate local-pickup check.

Why was the Clearblue menopause test discontinued?

Clearblue has not published a reason on the consumer product page. The verified facts are the discontinuation notice, February 3, 2026 commercial distribution end date, and September 1, 2026 app-support end date. Anything beyond that would be a guess.

Can I still use Clearblue menopause sticks I already own?

Check the printed expiration date and the current app workflow before opening anything. An unexpired stick is intended to provide a qualitative FSH result, but the app is required for the five-test stage output. We did not independently verify post-support registration, result entry, calculation, or report export.

Does the Clearblue menopause test work on birth control or with Mirena?

No. Clearblue excludes hormonal birth control and names hormonal IUDs on its professional page. Hormonal contraception can change bleeding and the signals used for interpretation, so use a clinician-led pathway instead of a home FSH stage result.

Can you use the Clearblue menopause test after a hysterectomy?

No. Clearblue excludes surgery affecting the menstrual cycle, including hysterectomy. A hysterectomy ends periods but does not itself prove the ovaries have stopped functioning, so a clinician has to interpret symptoms, ovarian status, surgery history, and any targeted tests together.

What if both ovaries were removed?

Bilateral oophorectomy creates induced menopause and is listed among Clearblue's surgery-related exclusions. A home strip is not needed to “stage” the loss of ovarian function after both ovaries are removed; care should follow the surgical and medical history.

Does the Clearblue menopause test measure estrogen?

No. Each stick measured FSH around a 25 mIU/mL cutoff. It did not measure estradiol, progesterone, AMH, ovarian reserve, fertility, or whether hormone therapy was appropriate.

What does a positive Clearblue menopause test mean?

It means urinary FSH was at or above the product cutoff in that sample. It does not confirm perimenopause or menopause, prove infertility, or show that contraception can stop. It also does not select a treatment.

What does a negative Clearblue menopause test mean?

It means urinary FSH was below the cutoff in that sample. It does not rule out perimenopause. In the 2026 study, more than half of the typical-length late-perimenopausal cycles analyzed had no FSH value at or above 25 IU/L.

How accurate was the Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator?

Clearblue reports over 99% laboratory accuracy for classifying samples around the FSH cutoff. That is strip-level analytical accuracy, not proof that the app assigned the correct menopause stage to each individual. The manufacturer materials and published study reviewed here do not report individual-stage sensitivity or specificity for the commercial app.

Was the Clearblue menopause test FDA-approved?

No. The official record identifies it under FDA product code NGA, a Class I over-the-counter FSH test category that is exempt from 510(k) premarket notification. Device registration and listing are not FDA approval, and the record does not provide a product-specific premarket submission number.

Can I get a refund for an unused kit?

Clearblue does not publish a product-specific refund promise for this discontinued kit on the pages we reviewed. Contact the retailer and Clearblue, keep the box and foil pouches, provide the lot and expiration date, and ask for the answer in writing.

Do I need a hormone test to get treated for perimenopause symptoms?

Usually not if you are 45 or older and otherwise healthy. Symptoms, age, and cycle change generally guide identification and treatment discussions. Testing is more likely to matter under 45, when primary ovarian insufficiency is suspected, when the cycle cannot be read, or when another condition needs investigation.

Can a home FSH test tell me when to stop contraception?

No. The FDA and Clearblue both warn against using the result that way. Ovulation and pregnancy can still occur during the transition, even when FSH is intermittently elevated.

How do I delete data from the Clearblue app?

Use Clearblue's contact channels to request deletion of the app account and associated consumer health data, identify the account email, and ask for written confirmation. Clearblue's policy allows up to 45 days for a verified request and describes exceptions where some information may be retained.

What is the better alternative to another home FSH test?

Track cycle dates, bleeding changes, symptom frequency, and what the symptoms disrupt. Take that record to a clinician. When you are unsure which care model fits, use Find My HRT Path to identify an online route or the reasons an in-person start is safer.

Where this leaves you

You came here to check a discontinued consumer test. The app it depended on is unsupported, the current retailer paths are decaying, and the best available serial-FSH data shows that the ambiguous part of the transition still depends heavily on cycle history. The strip was never the permission slip your symptoms needed.

That's frustrating. It's also useful, because the thing you actually wanted—to know where you are and to be taken seriously when you say something has changed—was never going to come from one threshold.

It comes from dates, symptoms, context, and one good appointment.

Still not sure which HRT program is right for you? Take the free Find My HRT Path quiz. It takes about 90 seconds, does not require an email, and returns a best-fit care route plus two backups while flagging when online care is not the right starting point.

Sources

1. Clearblue — Menopause Stage Indicator consumer page. Discontinuation notice, app-support date, app dependency, stage descriptions, symptom tracking, and retailer buttons. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
2. Clearblue — Menopause Stage Indicator package instruction leaflet, P/N 450038-02. FSH cutoff, alternate-day workflow, timing, errors, exclusions, and contraception warning.
3. Clearblue — healthcare-professional product page. Laboratory-accuracy claim, app workflow, detailed exclusions, and professional-facing content. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
4. AccessGUDID — Clearblue device 00633472602245. Commercial distribution status and end date, device identifiers, product code, and premarket-submission status.
5. FDA — product classification for code NGA. Class I, over-the-counter FSH test, 510(k)-exempt classification.
6. FDA — Home-Use Tests: Menopause. Qualitative FSH testing, approximate detection performance, diagnostic limits, fertility limits, and contraception warning.
7. Weddell S, et al. Variability in follicle stimulating hormone levels in the menopausal transition, 2026. Prospective urine-collection methods, stage-specific FSH results, serial-testing analysis, limitations, funding, and conflicts.
8. The Menopause Society — Perimenopause. Cycle changes, 7-day variability, 60-day gaps, symptoms, and value of calendar tracking.
9. The Menopause Society — Menopause Glossary. Definitions of menopause, postmenopause, hysterectomy, induced menopause, and primary ovarian insufficiency.
10. Harlow SD, et al. STRAW+10 executive summary. Reproductive-aging stage criteria and persistence definition.
11. NICE guideline NG23 — Menopause: identification and management. Clinical identification by age, limits on routine testing, contraception rules, and primary ovarian insufficiency testing.
12. ACOG — Perimenopausal Bleeding and Bleeding After Menopause. Abnormal bleeding and the need to report bleeding after menopause.
13. ACOG — Compounded Bioidentical Menopausal Hormone Therapy. Limits of salivary and urinary steroid-hormone testing for compounded-therapy dosing.
14. Apple App Store — Menopause Stage, Clearblue me. Current listing, ratings, support-ended notice, and quoted user feedback. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
15. Google Play — Menopause Stage, Clearblue me. Current listing, ratings, downloads, and support-ended notice. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
16. Walmart product listing. Current displayed price, online-stock status, ratings, and promotional-review disclosures. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
17. Walgreens product listing. Current unavailable notice. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
18. Kroger product listing. Current listing and fulfillment availability. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
19. Amazon product listing. Current unavailable notice. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
20. Clearblue — Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy. Access, deletion, consent, disclosure, and response-time provisions.
21. Clearblue — Contact Us. Support channels, hours, and packaging information to keep available.
22. Midi Health — pricing and insurance. Self-pay prices, insurance, HSA/FSA, Medicare, Medicaid, and Medi-Cal rules. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
23. Midi Health — how care works. Virtual workflow and clinician-directed testing.
24. Midi Health — menopause care. All-state availability and published treatment model.
25. Sesame — menopause treatment subscription. Monthly price, virtual model, included labs, medication costs, medication categories, state exceptions, and refund language. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
26. Sesame — Terms of Service. Insurance exclusion and 48-hour membership-cancellation requirement. Retrieved September 3, 2026.