"Women using the app will be better informed and already have a baseline knowledge about what they're looking for when they see their doctors," said Sridhar, who is completing her master's degree at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. "That way, doctors may need less time to explain the different birth control methods, and can spend more time focused on a more narrow discussion tailored to the individual patient and her particular needs."

Available in iTunes , the app lists the top 10 forms of reversible birth control from most to least effective, ranging from the IUD to hormonal treatments to the female condom. Sridhar drew the content for Plan ABC from respected family-planning websites and vetted it for accuracy. One of her goals in creating the app was to ensure that women could easily access the most current, medically correct information, because much of the information on the Internet is either unreliable or dated, she said.