Medication tracker - appreciation thread

[ericg301]

I haven't seen a lot of talk about this, so I just wanted to chime in. Although it was presented as a Watch OS9 feature, you can still use it in the Health app on iOS16 even if you aren't running the betas on your watch.

It finally became my time in the COVID barrel a couple of days ago, and I've found the medication tracker invaluable in keeping me on schedule with all of the OTC and RX medications I'm now taking. I've paid for similar 3rd party apps over the years but nothing beats native integration. I will say the Health app itself is becoming pretty cluttered, and I need to see if there's a way to create a shortcut that launches straight to the med tracker, like you can do with sleep.

It is however very convenient to track my meds and vitals (temp and pulse OZ) in the same app.

One feature that it's missing though is "take every X hours." You can schedule a medication manually at 8, noon, and 4 for example, but there's no way to say "take every 4 hours," at least that I've found.

Now if I only had paid attention to my resting heart rate on Monday, my Apple watch could have told me that I was getting sick before I felt anything (normal RHR is around 55...Monday it was 90).

 

[fwmireault]

I like the feature so far, the notification on Apple Watch is useful to get reminders and log data without opening the Health app. I don't take a lot of medication, so maybe I don't see well the limits of this feature, but so far, it's a nice addition and integration to Apple Health.

 

[ericg301]

I like the feature so far, the notification on Apple Watch is useful to get reminders and log data without opening the Health app. I don't take a lot of medication, so maybe I don't see well the limits of this feature, but so far, it's a nice addition and integration to Apple Health.

Yeah when I'm not sick, I just take an allergy pill and vitamin every morning and dont need a reminder for it. But when I'm sick, it's handy to have for the next week or two to help manage all the medications.

 

[pdmpolishing]

It would be nice to have a pill count in medications, it’s good to know how many pills you have left.

 

[ct2k7]

I have daily medication, and it reminds me well.

I only have 1 daily, but am considering adding more which aren’t daily. I primarily use it via my iPhone.

as @pdmpolishing said, it’d be nice to track how many are left, so I can request more before they run out.

 

[Yptcn]

Can someone please tell me what are the intervals possible between takes ? I have a medication I must take once every 3 months , is that choice possible ? It is in Reminders .

 

[Southernguy]

Can someone please tell me what are the intervals possible between takes ? I have a medication I must take once every 3 months , is that choice possible ? It is in Reminders

The counter is in days and goes up to 99 so there’s no reason you couldn’t set it to 90 days if that’s any good for you?

It’s in the health app when on ios16, not in reminders. There should be an add medication option.

Hope this helps!

 

[achappy]

I'd have to agree that this feature may be one of my most favorite and long time desires (behind Messages mark as unread). I used to use the Reminders app and it worked well but having specific pill tracking is much better.

I haven't checked but hopefully with WatchOS9 I'll be able to mark "as taken" on the watch but I at least get the notifications now.

 

[jetsam]

I haven't checked but hopefully with WatchOS9 I'll be able to mark "as taken" on the watch but I at least get the notifications now.

On WatchOS 9 there is a “log all as taken” button as well as “taken” or “skipped” radio buttons for each individual drug.

 

[ericg301]

One feature that it's missing, and that I did submit to Apple (too little too late I'm sure) - is to auto-adjust based on X hours. For example, as part of my COVID recovery, I use an inhaler every 6 hours. So I have it scheduled in the health app at 8am, 2pm and 8pm. But if I log one occurrence late, say 8:30, the next two doses aren't rescheduled 30 minutes later either.

tldr - no way to schedule a medication "every X hours."

i've seen this in 3rd party app. oh well, maybe next year.

 

[NoBoMac]

I must take once every 3 months , is that choice possible ? It is in Reminders .

Can do this via Reminders. Create a reminder with an "Every 3 months" or a custom of "Daily, every 90" repeat value.

is to auto-adjust based on X hours.

Can't comment about 16 as not on it, but been doing this for a while now via Shortcuts. Usually only doing supplements, so not a big deal when taken, but when taking something on a schedule for the day, I have a Shortcut to prompt for a description, start time, and interval and then generate Reminders for the day for said doses. I'll run the Shortcut when I take the first dose of the day.

Prompt Description
Prompt StartTime, set variable CurrentHour
Prompt HoursBetween

Adjust Date: add 1 day to currendate
Adjust Date: Get Start of Day
Set Variable: Midnight

Repeat 23 times
    Adjust Date: add HoursBetween to CurrentHour
    Set variable CurrentHour to Adjusted Date
    if CurrentHour less than Midnight
        Create Reminder with Description, with Alert at Time CurrentHour
    else
        Notification "Reminders for <description> added"
        Stop Shortcut
    endif
end repeat

 

[Yptcn]

Can do this via Reminders. Create a reminder with an "Every 3 months" or a custom of "Daily, every 90" repeat value.

That's what I've been doing in Reminders ! My OCD kicks in with 90 days as some months have 31 days..

Can't comment about 16 as not on it, but been doing this for a while now via Shortcuts. Usually only doing supplements, so not a big deal when taken, but when taking something on a schedule for the day, I have a Shortcut to prompt for a description, start time, and interval and then generate Reminders for the day for said doses. I'll run the Shortcut when I take the first dose of the day.

Prompt Description
Prompt StartTime, set variable CurrentHour
Prompt HoursBetween

Adjust Date: add 1 day to currendate
Adjust Date: Get Start of Day
Set Variable: Midnight

Repeat 23 times
    Adjust Date: add HoursBetween to CurrentHour
    Set variable CurrentHour to Adjusted Date
    if CurrentHour less than Midnight
        Create Reminder with Description, with Alert at Time CurrentHour
    else
        Notification "Reminders for <description> added"
        Stop Shortcut
    endif
end repeat

 

[twdawson]

I don’t know if it is fact but I have read that some of the features for this app are US only.
Can anyone confirm?

 

[shaown]

so looking forward to this

 

[addamas]

As far as I am testing it in Europe (Poland) it’s lacking the possibility to write down medicine name and get all data about it.

I could only:
- write full name if want and/or (if different) short name on how it will be visible
- write strength of medicine in g, mg etc.
- set timings and doses as reminders
- archive / unarchive medicine
- set color of pill (2 part colors), tablet (1 color) etc and background.

So it’s way less than this:

Improvements I would like to see and will feedback Apple about ?

- as mentioned counter of remaining doses and ability to fast add new + reminder that if below certain number to get a reminder

- integration with Shortcuts app (I use inhaler for asthma and some apps might also need this info to write an report)

- possibility to add several doses per vitamins tablets and adding these vitamins and I.e. caffeine to Health App as taken levels (these are there already, probably no one is using it but reachable by Shortcuts)

- Ability to generate health report from all data collected like in Heart Report app where I have pulse, Sp02, symptoms, sleep and activity all at once for each day (was extremely helpful after Covid)

 

[TripleP]

It would be nice to have a pill count in medications, it’s good to know how many pills you have left.

Try the Medisafe app. Been using if for a couple years and it’s great. Has the feature you’re looking for, including customizable refill reminders.

 

[bunnyechoes]

As far as I am testing it in Europe (Poland) it’s lacking the possibility to write down medicine name and get all data about it.

I could only:
- write full name if want and/or (if different) short name on how it will be visible
- write strength of medicine in g, mg etc.
- set timings and doses as reminders
- archive / unarchive medicine
- set color of pill (2 part colors), tablet (1 color) etc and background.

So it’s way less than this:

Improvements I would like to see and will feedback Apple about ?

- as mentioned counter of remaining doses and ability to fast add new + reminder that if below certain number to get a reminder

- integration with Shortcuts app (I use inhaler for asthma and some apps might also need this info to write an report)

- possibility to add several doses per vitamins tablets and adding these vitamins and I.e. caffeine to Health App as taken levels (these are there already, probably no one is using it but reachable by Shortcuts)

- Ability to generate health report from all data collected like in Heart Report app where I have pulse, Sp02, symptoms, sleep and activity all at once for each day (was extremely helpful after Covid)

Same issue here in another European country. I could type only the name of my meds and supplements but not take a photo of labels or get any information about the medicine I'm taking. I hope Apple will do something about it as this option would be really useful.

Otherwise, I'm very happy with the app and I like that it's not as obtrusive as Medisafe. Granted, Medisafe offers way more options but native integration is, in my opinion, better than 3rd party apps.

 

[addamas]

I have reported my suggestions in feedback app. Looks promising and I hope it will be continued in more ways than Shortcuts app which had only view changes (has not found any more improvements added, but changes in good direction).

Came with idea to add multivitamin pils to fill all stuff like potassium, iron etc in Health app where there is already place for it.

 

[AsherN]

I miss a nag for meds not taken. I take meds twice a day. I have them set for 0700 and 1800. morning is never an issue as that is part of a routine (get up, go to the kitchen to grab coffee, take meds). but the evening ones are the ones I miss most often because I can just forget. So i get a reminder at 1800. If I don't take it, I might just forget. I'd love a remind me every x minutes for Y hours until taken.

 

[Feek]

I'm not getting medication notification reminders on my watch at all. As far as I'm aware, I've turned everything on that should give me a notification but it's just not happening. Nothing on screen, no tap on the wrist, noting. It's also not really prominent enough on my phone to actually remind me.
I can manually go into the medication app and tap to say I've taken my tablets but without the notifications reminder, it's kinda useless. In the last few days, I've changed a couple of my tablets from morning to evening at a specific time and I need that reminder.

 

[Ansath]

The one thing that’s missing for me, is for it to let me put in how much I have, so it can remind me to order more. Preferably also with the ability to specify when that reminder pops up before running out (like a week, 2 weeks, etc), as some people might need more time than others.

 

[Psychbum]

As expected this is useless in the uk.

I use Medisafe and it’s a fantastic app.

 

[Ansath]

As expected this is useless in the uk.

I use Medisafe and it’s a fantastic app.

I don’t think it’s useless, it lets me add my meds, pick how the medication looks, it reminds me and I can log what I’ve taken.

It just doesn’t auto suggest the meds when typing in the UK yet (it does in the US) and doesn’t have a way to remind you when pills running out. Medisafe was unreliable/buggy for me when I used it.

The US only stuff will expand to the UK, once it’s approved, same as other health things we’ve seen over the last few years.

That means, these bits….

 

[polyphenol]

This applies to Medications in Health on IOS 16.0.2 in the UK.

Just updated to 16.0.2 yesterday. I didn’t wait for 16.1 because I am deeply involved with some aspects of medicine (from a patient perspective - not a professional) and wanted to be able to investigate and discuss the features.

I focussed on the real medicines that I use/take.

The app doesn't support scanning data matrix code, OCR or any other automated entry of medicines. A major omission. Real people find medicine names and details at the least awkward. Often odd spellings of unfamiliar words.

There isn't even, it appears, an enhanced vocabulary to include medicine names. Just seems to use the default dictionary.

Physical description is going to be very tedious if, as many of us do, we get products from different manufacturers which might be different in shape and colour.

It would be good to be able to note the start of a new pack/end of an old pack.

It should allow recording of batch numbers, and dates (especially expiry date).

It should allow recording of manufacturer/repackager/own label supplier. (But not as part of the name of the medicine. Needs to be an additional field.)

Should support tablet markings.

A medicine with a strength of 0.075% was changed to 0.08%. Pretty obviously a rounding issue - and possibly only for display. But it is unnecessary to do so! Let it remain as displayed on the product and the documentation. It is just a potential source of confusion.

Worse, if you enter a tablet dosage as 0.025 milligrams, it displays (or is changed to) 0.02 milligrams. (Levothyroxine is widely, but not yet universally, dosed in micrograms. Several USA products continue to display the dosage in both micrograms and milligrams. And milligrams are still the standard in some countries.) That change represents a 20% reduction in apparent dose. And could be misleading.

There seems no way to enter a strength as 100 micrograms per 5 mL. (A standard way of expressing potency for levothyroxine oral solutions in EU and UK. But there are some which are micrograms per 1 mL. So the "per nn mL" is vital information.)

The range of colours has 12 options. Which seems incredibly limited on devices capable of Wide Color (P3).

The colours are not named. So anyone who has impaired colour vision might have difficulty. At least if it displayed standard names, someone could cross-reference the medicine information and get it right.

Below is the manufacturer's colour information for one medicine which is supplied in 12 dosages, each produced in a different colour.

25 mcg Orange/Round “SYNTHROID” and “25”
50 mcg White/Round “SYNTHROID” and “50”
75 mcg Violet/Round “SYNTHROID” and “75”
88 mcg Olive/Round “SYNTHROID” and “88”
100 mcg Yellow/Round “SYNTHROID” and “100”
112 mcg Rose/Round “SYNTHROID” and “112”
125 mcg Brown/Round “SYNTHROID” and “125”
137 mcg Turquoise/Round “SYNTHROID” and “137”
150 mcg Blue/Round “SYNTHROID” and “150”
175 mcg Lilac/Round “SYNTHROID” and “175”
200 mcg Pink/Round “SYNTHROID” and “200”
300 mcg Green/Round “SYNTHROID” and “300”

Even for a medicine which has exactly 12 dosages, each with a different colour, linking the displayed colour with the name is not entirely obvious.

The list has two green-ish colours (a pale lime/olive and a somewhat turquoise-y shade).

The list has red and grey which are not colours of the actual product. Hence at least two colours don't map well. And they do not offer brown. And I don't know how I'd choose for pink and rose.

If you have not yet received the medicine, you cannot take a tablet out and see which is the best match. Indeed, if it is your "next pack", you might well not want to break the seal/take a tablet out of the blister, and risk deterioration.

If you do have the medicine in your hand, let the phone get the colour from the camera!

If you enter a product such as Tirosint, the capsule colour is amber for all dosages. But a colour is associated with the packaging for each dosage. However there is nowhere sensible to add that information. (I suppose you could use the background colour. But, again, a mismatch on colours used for the product against those offered by Apple Medications.)

And why, having said it is a capsule, do you get offered several ludicrous options for shape!

While we are at it, let us manage medications from macOS and iPadOS.

 

[polyphenol]

I use Medisafe and it’s a fantastic app.

As I have never used Medisafe, I thought I'd have a look.

Was somewhat disappointed to see that it may collect Health & Fitness, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data (and Diagnostics). Whilst it claims "Data Not Linked to You", how can Contact Info not be linked to me?

I'll give it a miss.