Healthful Reminders for Medications, Beyond an Apple a Day

By BOB TEDESCHI

It’s probably not wise to boast about how many pills you can take at once, but I just scored a personal record of 10. I forgot to take one morning’s worth of supplements prescribed by my doctor (and my wife), and my lunchtime reward was a mouthful of badness.

I suspect it was not the most healthful thing to do. Wishing to avoid repeating the incident, I tried some apps that remind users to take their medications, including MedsLog, Medsy, MotionPHR Health Record Manager and others. Appropriately enough, the experience was like ingesting medicine — an unpleasant chore, but good for you.

MedsLog ($4, with a free Lite version, only for the iPhone) was the most full-featured app I tried, but it was harder to use than many others. Still, if you have complex medication needs, and you spend enough time with the software to understand its foibles, it’s worth the work.

If you do not already take heartburn medication, you may occasionally need it as you navigate MedsLog. At first, it was easy to use; I opened the app and started typing in “Glucosamine,” and MedsLog sweetly finished the task after just a few letters.

Then came the “Consumed by” box. I expected to type my name, but instead the app presented me with a screen that read “No person” and a blank blue box, with no place to add information. I searched around for a button to push, then gave up.

Later, on the home page of the app, I found the “People” tab, where I could type in my name. Only then did my name appear beneath the “No person” tab I’d seen earlier.

I complain about this at the risk of obscuring one of the app’s best qualities; it lets you track medications of more than one person. (The free version works for two people; the paid tracks unlimited people.) For parents, adult children or other caretakers, this can be extremely useful.

After you enter the medications, you set the alarm down to the minute. MedsLog requires you to connect the app with your iPhone’s calendar, which is a hassle other apps avoid. But because my iPhone’s calendar is linked to my Google calendar, that step allowed me to receive alerts at any computer.

As a medicine tracker, the app brimmed with useful features. You can customize the medication page to include information about peak air flow for asthmatics, for instance, or blood sugar for those with diabetes. MedsLog will also predict when you’ll run out of medication, and you can record where you bought the medication, among other things. Finally, you can set a passcode and keep a medication log that you can e-mail or download to your computer.

MotionPHR Health Record Manager ($10 for full version on Android and iPhone, $2 for a Lite version on iPhone) is a similar app that received good reviews from iPhone users until recent weeks, when users began complaining about flaws in the reminder system and a service that backs up user data.

The company acknowledged those problems and said it was working on fixes.

Medsy ($2, only on the iPhone), meanwhile, was more user-friendly than MedsLog or MotionPHR Health Record Manager, but had many fewer features. Touch the “plus” symbol and tap in the name of your medication. (The auto-fill feature from MedsLog is, sadly, missing here.) Next, choose the quantity and frequency of dosages.

It’s a nice touch, but what sets Medsy apart from MedsLog and others is that it will — with no added steps — push alerts even when the iPhone is locked, when other apps are running and when you have no cellular or data connection. If the ringer is off, the phone vibrates until you respond.

Medsy is, however, limited in one important respect. Most of my medications are supposed to be taken with meals three times daily, which is a common enough prescription. I could not set the alerts accordingly.

Dosecast, a new app, is perhaps the best of the iPhone-only offerings. The application is free for the first month, and $4 after that, but it will be worth the price for most users. It lets you set reminders according to your own schedule, or, if specific intervals are paramount, it will set a schedule for you. You can turn off the interval reminders during bedtime, if you wish.

You may also e-mail a list of your medications and your compliance history to anyone you wish. One drawback is that users will miss a reminder if they do not have a 3G or Wi-Fi connection.

BlackBerry users have fewer options, as usual. MediRemind ($3, for both BlackBerry and Android devices) is the most highly rated medication tracker in BlackBerry’s App World, but those ratings are based on just a few reviews.

As with Medsy, the app allows for “push” notifications when other programs are running, or when the device is locked. The software has a longer list of features than Medsy, however. Among other things, it can store all of your medical contacts and make a phone call with a single push of a button.

It’s a highly useful feature when you’re on your last pill and you want to call for a refill before you forget. Or, perhaps, when you have a fistful of pills and a nagging suspicion that swallowing them all at once may not be such a great idea.

Quick Calls

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