Apple periodically features groups of apps in its app store for particular use cases and audiences. Under “Apps for Patients” in its Medical section, the company highlights these 24 personal care apps, which range from well known apps like WebMD and Mayo Clinic to some more under-the-radar options. Some apps apply to people living with particular conditions, while others provide lifestyle help for anyone. Read on for Apple’s 22 picks for personal care apps.
Mayo Clinic
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The Mayo Clinic’s app is not just for Mayo Clinic patients, though it has more features for patients. It also offers educational content such as fitness videos, recipes, and wellness tips. Mayo Clinic patients can also get access to test results and radiology images and can even sync the app up with their Apple Watch to get appointment reminders on the wrist.
Pacifica - Anxiety, Stress, & Depression relief
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Pacifica is an app that promises to help users cope with stress, anxiety, and depression using tools based on cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and relaxation. The app offers audio tools for relaxation, tracking tools to track your health, mood, and even thought patterns. The app is free, but a premium version is available for $5.99 per month.
AskMD
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Sharecare’s AskMD is the digital health company’s flagship app and includes a variety of features to help users manage their health. The centerpiece is a symptom checker, but that is paired with a recommendation engine for doctors that takes into account location, insurance and specialty. Users can also use the app to track and organize their health information.
Simple Contacts
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This app, which is registered with the FDA, provides a digital eye exam for renewing contact lens prescriptions. The test, which is then reviewed by an ophthalmologist, is just designed to demonstrate whether the user’s current lenses are working, not to generate a new prescription if they aren’t. If the user can see, they can then choose and order lenses from within the app.
Iodine
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Founded a few years ago by former Wired editor Thomas Goetz, Iodine helps patients learn more about their prescription drugs by facilitating information sharing. People can post about their experiences with the efficacy and side effects of different drugs, and they can search drugs and learn about them — both from others and from professional pharmacists.
Cures
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Cures by Healtho is designed to put insights from medical journals into the hands of patients. The app lets users search for medical problems and read up on possible treatments — over the counter, prescription, and homeopathic — so they can explore them or mention them to their doctor. It also includes tools to track symptoms.
First Aid by American Red Cross
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First aid is an app designed to give users first aid advice in a crisis. It includes step-by-step advice, interactive quizzes, and video lessons. The app can be toggled between English and Spanish and allows the user to call 9-1-1 from right in the app.
MyChart
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Epic’s MyChart is the patient-facing app that goes along with its electronic health record. The app allows users to review test results, medications, immunization history, and other data. It can also connect them to their physician and help them manage their appointments. More recently, MyChart has integrated with the Apple Health app to facilitate tracking and uploading of health and fitness data.
Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal
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MyFitnessPal, which has been owned by Under Armour since early 2015, is a well-known and well-regarded app for tracking diet and exercise. It includes a database of more than 5,000,000 foods and connects with more than 50 apps and devices for tracking fitness. The app also includes a built-in activity tracker. It’s free, but the premium option costs $9.99 per month.
CareZone
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CareZone is an app for organizing medical information, especially managing medications. The app allows a user to take pictures of their medications and have the names, dosages, and other details automatically detected. It also includes medication reminders and other tools for staying on top of the user’s health.
mySugr: Easy to use daily diabetes logbook
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For people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, mySugr helps them to track their food intake and blood glucose levels. The pro version adds coaching services and a bolus calculator, as well as reminders. The app is registered with the FDA as a Class 1 device.
MyRA
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MyRA, from Crescendo Bioscience (now a subsidiary of Myriad Genetics) is an app aimed specifically at people with rheumatoid arthritis, to help them track their symptoms. The app shows a picture of a body on which the patient can record where they feel pain, when they felt it, and what they were doing. Crescendo says the data from the app can complement the company's main offering, the Vectra DA (disease activity) blood test, or a rheumatologist’s clinical assessment of the user's arthritis.
Medisafe Pill Reminder & Medication Tracker
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Medisafe’s app is part of the Israeli company’s cloud-based app system for medication adherence. Patients using MediSafe get a reminder to take their meds on their app, and are then prompted to record doses when they take them. If they don’t indicate that they’ve taken their meds, a series of friends and family members is informed who can then take action.
VueMe
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From MIM Software, VueMe is a patient-facing app for viewing radiological imagery. Patients can use the app to view X-rays, ultrasounds, and MRIs transferred into the MIMcloud by their provider. The data is encrypted and password-protected.
Walgreens
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Walgreens’ app includes a number of features for shoppers at the pharmacy, including some health-related ones: prescription refill, medication reminders, and even some telemedicine options through partnerships with partner MDLive.
Symple
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Symple is a symptom tracking app that helps patients record their symptoms to show to a doctor later on. A user can track up to 10 symptoms at a time and rate them on a 5-point scale of intensity. Users can also import data from Apple Health, take pictures where appropriate, and record other factors like medications that might yield insight into those symptoms.
HealthSpek
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The first personal health record app on the list, HealthSpek offers users a dashboard from which patients can add information that they find valuable, such as medication reminders, mammogram reminder, wearable activity information, and price transparency tools. They can also add family members and share the record with a doctor.
ZocDoc
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ZocDoc’s app, which is available on iOS and Android devices, asks for a user’s zip code and insurance provider and then lists nearby doctors and their availability, as well as information including reviews from other patients. Users can then select a time to complete the appointment booking. ZocDoc also offers a check-in feature so that patients can also send over a basic medical history before they arrive instead of filling out the medical history clipboard.
PillBoxie
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PillBoxie is another medication reminder app. It has an intuitive visual display that lets the user schedule a medication by dropping an animated pill into a pillbox. The reminders work even if the device is offline or asleep. At $1.99, PillBoxie is the only paid app on the list.
Mango Health
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With Mango's app, users enter their medications or supplements, timing, and doses. Mango can remind patients when it's time to take their medication. It also automatically alerts them to potentially dangerous interactions between medications, or with food and drink. The app also includes a personal health journal. It’s also gamified: The app has an in-game currency users can earn by taking medications on time, and a leveling up system. By leveling and saving up, users can unlock real-world rewards with Mango's partners, including donations to charities and rewards at stores like Target.
WebMD
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WebMD is famous for its symptom-checker, but the app is more far-reaching: it also includes medication reminders, habit and fitness tracking, first aid tips, a drug database, and educational content. Users can also use the app to find a nearby physician.
onPatient PHR
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onPatient is the personal health record offered my mobile-based EHR company drchrono. The app allows patients to schedule appointments, see their medical records, message with their drchrono-using doctor, and see their medication and allergy lists. onPatient also integrates with Apple Watch.
