Seems like every week we are hearing about new diabetes mobile apps coming out. But with so many to choose from now, how can we tell what’s really going to be helpful for us PWDs? It’s doubtful there will ever be an app that perfectly matches everyone’s needs, but there are certainly a lot of folks creating choices for us. We took a close look at some of the recent offerings:
EndoGoddess
Earning rewards for tracking your blood sugar? That’s the new twist provided by EndoGoddess, a new diabetes app from the “EndoGoddess” herself, Dr. Jen Dyer, an Ohio-based endocrinologist who’s deep into social media. Jen teamed up with eProximiti to build her diabetes app, which allows patients to earn points for every day they log their blood sugars four times. The points can be cashed in for songs on iTunes. Cool!
I found the interface for tracking your blood sugar very simple… almost too simple, IMHO. There are only four slots to enter your blood sugar: breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime. You can enter carbs and insulin as well, but you can only enter your insulin dose in whole numbers. For pumpers, that’s a no-go. As far as we could tell, there was no way to backdate entries. In “Reminders,” you can set phone alarms to remind you to test your blood sugar, but they are pre-programmed at specific times… which you can’t change to your own preference. Unlike other diabetes apps, like GlucoseBuddy or BloodWise, there are no graphs available to review, and the only “history” shown is the number of points you earned in past weeks.
Despite not being visible on the app, there are graphs you can share with your doctor or anyone else you’d like to send them to, a common feature in glucose logging apps these days. The app does also offer an educational component, with basic info on insulin, other diabetes meds, exercise and visiting your endo, plus recipes (although the recipes don’t come with carb counts).
This app seems quite useful for newly diagnosed PWDs, type 2 diabetics, or people who tend to test their blood sugar at the same very specific times of day (it’s not dynamic enough to handle the variety of life with type 1 diabetes).
The app itself is nicely designed and easy to read and use. We like the fact that the EndoGoddess logo even uses the diabetes “Blue Circle.” But as noted, it misses the opportunity to customize and provide enough information for the patient to see problem areas at a single glance. Note that this app just came out two weeks ago, so we’re hoping for those additions soon. The prospect of earning points for iTunes songs is a pretty tempting deal, though, especially since the app only costs $0.99! Nice to see an endocrinologist getting into the apps game 
Bant
Bant is another glucose logging app with a sleeker overall look, but the same simplistic logging set-up. It was designed by the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation in Toronto, Canada, in a team led by a type 1 researcher, and has been tested in a clinical pilot study with teens.
Like the EndoGoddess app, Bant is pre-programmed with four timeframes: breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime. However, in Settings, users can add various events, like Snack or Soccer, and select their favorite colors for each meal or category. Using their finger, users drag the appropriate circle to the corresponding time and blood sugar. The time is on the Y axis, and the blood sugar is on the X axis. I found it a bit counter-intuitive to how most graphs works, since the blue column indicating your target range is vertical, rather than horizontal like most logs.
If the whole finger-dragging option is too complicated, then “bant Book” gives you the option to do it the “old-fashioned” way by manually typing in BG readings and scrolling to the right date and time.
The trends option on this app is a breakdown graph that shows the number of times you hit “in range” in that particular category. So if you want to see how many times you’re in range after soccer, this feature definitely helps isolate those readings. Trends go back 7, 14, 21 and 90 days, so you can get a pretty good look at how you’re doing overall.
One useful feature for us “ePatients” — which Bant is specifically designed for — is the ability to tweet your blood glucose numbers directly from the app. Once authorization is set up, the app automatically feeds in tweets using hashtags like #bgnow, #bg and #diabetes, so we can see what other PWDs are talking about in regards to their blood sugar. Good stuff!
I liked that there is some customization allowed; you can pick the colors of your meal circles and indicate your own minimum and maximum blood sugar levels to widen or narrow the target range. Considering the level of “tight control” you’re aiming for depends on who you are, this is beneficial, and something you don’t see often in other diabetes apps.
Overall, we like this app! It’s free, so taking a test drive for yourself is easy. Bant is colorful and pretty easy to use, minus the whole circle-dragging log entry thing. As noted, we find that a little too cumbersome — I’d be more inclined to manually enter the numbers, and then watch the pretty circles populate.
DiabetesIQ
Produced for UCSF by QuantiaCare, the new app DiabetesIQ is an educational tool on your phone. It primarily provides knowledge quizzes, video presentations and content covering a variety of important topics, like subtracting fiber and hidden carbs when evaluating food. However, the presentations don’t offer a ton of detail. Each presentation asks the viewer to download a PDF for more information. The videos are rate-able, share-able and also allow comments, which hopefully will improve the offerings over time.
In addition, this app provides standard logging capabilities, with a couple of graphs showing averages and fluctuations. One problem I encountered, though, was that after entering one blood sugar reading, it automatically takes you back to the main screen, which makes adding multiple entries time-consuming! There’s also a section for recording exercise, but it focuses on time only, rather than incorporating type of exercise (unless you make a manual note in the notes section).
DiabetesIQ is free, so it’s good app for people who are starting out with diabetes or are looking to learn the basics and do some simple logging. But on the logging side, it’s not as dynamic or customizable as some other apps. One plus is that signing up for QuantiaCare, which designed DiabetesIQ, also gives you access to two other apps that we love: DailyCoach with Gary Scheiner, which provides insights into exercise; and EatSmart with Hope Warshaw, which helps focus with nutrition. Both of those apps offer regular tips for incorporating exercise and healthy eating into your daily routine, and are also free.
D Sharp
We just got a head’s up from a husband and wife developer team out of Ontario, Canada, about a brand new diabetes app they’ve created in response to preparing for a diabetic pregnancy: D Sharp is a web-based blood sugar logging application that’s accessible from any mobile device you’re using, so you can switch from your laptop to your mobile phone to your iPad and back again. It’s very focused on identifying BG trends.
We haven’t had a chance to check it out yet personally, but based on screenshots, D Sharp looks pretty robust, offering multiple blood sugar graphs and analysis, SMS reminders, and even an estimated A1c feature (though we’re unsure how accurate that is, since BG readings are notoriously difficult to use in predicting an A1c).
The downside is that this app costs $6.99 a month, which is pretty steep considering there are plenty of competing apps for free… But we do like the interface from the pictures we’ve seen. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial to give D Sharp a whirl, and who knows…? Maybe investing that money each month is just the impetus you need to motivate yourself to use the program. Here’s a preview:
Similar to glucose meters and insulin pumps themselves, logging apps all tend to do pretty much the same thing, but come with different “bells and whistles.” Logging is a challenge for most PWDs, so finding a user interface that fits your personal preferences is really The Big Thing — something you’re going to like using enough to really make a difference in your diabetes management. Anybody found their personal Diabetes Killer App yet?
Not yet…but I’m working on it:
http://diabetty.tumblr.com/post/11186911496/so-i-had-this-idea
As a Type II who uses oral meds and diet/exercise, my needs are a little different than the target audiences for most existing apps, I think. Now I just need to learn how to develop software…
Hope there will be Windows Phone versions – not everyone has Androids or iPhones
Thanks for this summary! I can’t believe how many apps lack what I’d consider absolutely necessary features–backdating entries, insulin in decimal increments, easy and fast logging and navigation, etc.
Thanks for the round up of Apps. This is exactly the kind of innovation that Mobile can offer to D care. Also this kind of review is how markets can help such sort out the most productive apps.
These are also the kinds of things that we as a community can point to and say ‘Hey We Want That Stuff!” to the FDA. The current docket on mobile medical apps has the potential to stop this kind of innovation before it gets started.
Pages 13 define examples of mobile apps the FDA considers subject to regulation. Specifically on page 14, “Mobile apps that allow the user to input patient-speciffic information and – using formulae or processing algorithms – output a patient-specific result, diagnosis or treatment recommendation…”
The preceding paragraph specifically mention glucose monitors.
You can read the Draft here: http://ow.ly/6M9lJ
or you can read my blog post about it here: http://www.ydmv.net/2011/10/hi-fda-its-me-again.html
You can comment here: http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FDA-2011-D-0530-0002
Kathy: D Sharp works on windows phones and blackberrys too. You should give it a try!
Kathy: D Sharp works on Windows Phones (as well as Android, iPhone/iPad, Desktops, etc).
I could not find any of the free apps on the android marketplace…
is it free? wow it’s so cool. So usefull application.
I’ve been using the app log frog and I love it. It’s sort of expensive (4.99 I think), but it’s so worth it. They’ve already improved it several times since I’ve had it- in the case of apps I really think you get what you pay for.
It has an intuitive user interface that’s actually fun to use, and it generates helpful graphs- you just turn the phone and it appears. Highly recommend it!
I’ve been using Glucose Buddy and like it very much.
I have been a beta tester for Massive Health’s (http://massivehealth.com/) new D app, “Penguine” (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/penguine/id458371817?mt=8) and I have been fairly impressed. I’m sorry, but the people at Massive Health put everyone else in the D app field to shame when it comes to tech and design. With co-founders hailing from senior positions at Mozilla (think Firefox), these guys know what they’re doing, and they do it well.
The only thing they might be lacking in comparison to the other offerings is their understanding of life as a PWD. But again, this is a beta version, so it will only improve with time.
So Evan, MassiveHealth puts everyone in this field “to shame”, yet you state they are “lacking” in “their understanding of life as a PWD”? And it will only “improve with time”? Which is it then?
The trouble with Silicon Valley startups flush with VC cash is that they are looking for a quick win. MassiveHealth is all about “The Eatery” now, which has a much better chance of mainstream adoption. They need to show their funders a quick results and I’m sure all of their resources are going into “The Eatery” and not Penguin. Penguin requires to much work and has too small an audience for them to see it through. Watch them pivot soon.
Building a solid diabetes app is hard work and requires the tenacity of keeping at the details, not just producing a flashy demo.
I use On Track. It’s great – has all the features and it’s free. It also includes backup and export options, so I won’t loose data if my phone dies. Only thing I wish it had is a way to enter data online as well as on the phone.
Sophie, Type in search term “diabetes” and you’ll find lots of these apps.
The tracking function is fine. There needs to be a behavioral modification tool involved with all of these to entice people to want to check & track & log. Without those types of features, longterm it’s not sustainable unless you’re extremely type A in your management anyways. Best scenario: links you BG tester with your pump (if you have one) wirelessly so you don’t have to input anything anyways…but, alas, we have an FDA…
[...] B. and Amy Tenderich review numerous new mobile apps for managing diabetes. Their reviews “Diabetes? There’s An App For That“ and “Glooko: iPhone Diabetes Logging Made Super-Easy” may help to choose [...]
I have tried manual logging into Iphone applications and can’t manage it. Since my meter records my results and has the ability to dump out data I started looking for a tool that would take this data into a mobil app. I had a windows phone but recently went to an Iphone after using an Ipod Touch for a year. I found SI Diary – it may be considered expensive but it will take data from such a wide range of meters. http://www.sidiary.com/ It also seems to have the widest version of clients – Iphone, android, Pocket Pc and even non smart phones. It also has a web component. A PC client is used with meters and their cables then you sync it with the web component and your mobil client. So I can see my data on the Iphone. One thing I did like about it was trending – how am I doing on ensuring I’m taking my blood sugar and are numbers going down. You can even buy a USB stick that allows you to basically use the software on any PC. So this allows me to see trending, I’m a Type 2 so not sure about pumps but it does connect to a large number of pump types. Check out the list here http://www.sidiary.com/sidiary-supported-meters-140.asp?IDSprache=2&idMenu=3. Also will import data from the a select number of scales and pedometers.
Also being a type 2 I have a large set of oral drugs and I am taking some suppliments. One thing I found with many apps is that they were not flexible enough to manage differeing doses of pills multiple times of the day. I findally found one that fits my needs – but it was expensive – Medimemory – its a $14 product but dues have a free light version. It allows me to keep a history and alarms when to take it, I can group my pills and select as taken all at the same time. I enter how much I take (including insulin) per day and how it tracks how many days are left with the amount of insulin or pills I have left. It allows me to create a shopping list so you know when you need to buy more and it can warn you about 7 days in advance. It has a travel calculator that I can enter the dates and it will tell me how many pills or units of insulin I need to pack. It now has multisync – allowing me to sync between my iphone and IPad and there is a new Family Upgrade that allows you to handle multiple family members. $14 is expensive for an Iphone app but if it fits your needs then I think its worth it.
I love OnTrack Diabetes (android only I think, sorry). It’s my personal favorite! But glucose buddy is pretty awesome too.
dbees.com is the best of all I think because ir syncs across multiple devices and allows you to set up a profile on their website. You can add all medications being taken, doctor profile, basal rates (for pumpers) and preprogram activities to be entered in the app automatically, or you can manually enter activities such as bg, exercise, carbs, bolus, basal rates temporary changes, etc. And the best part of it is that its totally free! Not sure if its available for Windows phones and blackberries but its available for iPhone, iPad, android phones and tablets.
I was a little surprised not to see dbees.com on here.