Can an App Improve Your Fertility? Inside the Rise of ‘Spermaxxing'

Men are starting to treat fertility like fitness, tracking sleep, stress, exercise, and even sperm health through apps designed to optimize conception.

A new app called Batch wants to turn sperm optimization into a daily wellness habit, combining fertility science with wearable health data and at-home testing.

Batch, was developed using the in-depth knowledge of fertility experts, nutritionists, and sports medicine pros to help men better understand their health before trying to conceive a child with a partner or donating their sperm.

What Affects Fertility?

Many factors can affect fertility.

These include hormone imbalances, physical injury to the testicle, exposure to toxic chemicals, physical blockage of sperm delivery routes, smoking, alcohol use, stress, and poor diet, according to Yale Medicine.

"Men don't realize the things that can affect semen quality," said Michael Eisenberg, MD, a urologist at Stanford University. Testosterone is one factor, and more is not always better. Dr. Eisenberg said that getting more than you need "shuts down the body's own production of testosterone" and sperm along with it.

According to the CDC approximately 11.4 percent to 12.8 percent of men in the U.S. experience some form of infertility and in about one-third of infertile couples, the cause is attributed to the male partner.

Busting Fertility Myths

Batch also aims to help break down stereotypes and bust myths about nutrition and men's health.

Why Batch Was Conceived

When Batch founder and CEO Lauren Silva discovered from an at-home DNA test that she and her sister were conceived from sperm donors, she asked her parents why they kept it a secret. Shame was the primary reason that sent this former Wall Street Journal reporter down a path to learn more and work hard to end the stigma.

"It's been my personal mission to stop shaming men and also create a safe space to learn about their health," she said.

Invest in Your Sperm and Overall Health

The Batch app works with health apps, including a version that links to an Oura ring, to collect information about sleep, stress, exercise, and physical activities to give you a sperm estimate, "spestimate" as they call it, for two reasons.

One is for men who want to know more about their overall health to provide the best quality sperm. The other is for potential sperm donors. In the old model of sperm donation, men who don't are paid a fairly low amount of money for providing the DNA to create a baby.

Batch connects potential sperm donors with people who are looking for donors. The "spestimate" is the amount of money the sperm recipient will directly pay the donor. No middleman.

Three Versions of the Batch App

The Batch app includes science-backed information about men's and women's health, sperm, genetics, and sex and dating. Perhaps you are looking for a fertility doctor or want to find out information about genetic testing.

There's a free version, where you can get your "spestimate" and content from The Stream media page, which publishes fresh content daily, and The Lab science page, which is a living update on the most recent research.

There is a Batch+ plan for $149/year, where you can get your "spestimate", all the content in the Lab and the Stream, three sperm tests (so you can test every four months), plus the 90-day look back (and automatic update) sync with your Oura ring.

Then there is a Batch+ pro, where you can get everything in the plus version, but an extra three tests, so you can test every other month. That's $229/year.

As fertility rates decline and conversations around reproductive health become more open, apps like Batch reflect a broader shift in how men think about wellness. What was once treated as a private or even taboo subject is increasingly becoming part of the larger health-optimization movement, alongside sleep tracking, fitness monitoring, and nutrition data.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 3:00 AM.