In the last week, 250 apps published to the health and medical categories of Apple's AppStore. By our count, 134 belonged to the health & fitness category, while 116 were found in the medical category of the AppStore.
We found eight apps of those 250 that launched this week to be noteworthy. They include offerings from three big name consumer brands, one from a well-known medical association, an ECG viewer app, a marathon training app, and more.
Both apps for medical professionals and consumers will continue to grow in the coming year. MobiHealthnews' Professional Apps Report predicts that more than 5,000 apps will arrive by next summer. Our Consumer Health Apps Report estimates that the number of consumer Apps will exceed 13,000 apps by next summer.
e.p.t. Ovulation Calculator - Free
Pregnancy test manufacturer e.p.t has created an ovulation tracker, Our Ovulation Calculator, for pregnancy planning. Women can track their cycles by enter the start date of their last period, average cycle length, and a preferred due date if so desired. The app will show you, in calendar and list views, which days you will be menstruating and ovulating. There is also an email reminder feature that sends a message one day before you the beginning of ovulating so that you can take advantage of this fertile time. You can add an additional email address, such as that of your spouse or significant other, that will also receive the reminder. In addition to or instead of the email reminder, you can add an ovulation notification to your phone's calendar.
In our latest consumer apps report, MobiHealthNews found that ovulation calendar apps account for more than 4 percent of all women's health apps with more than 30 apps.
Get Hydrated - Free
The Thermos company has created a simple, but effective app, Get Hydrated, that allows users to meet their daily criteria for healthy water consumption (using, the company would hope, a thermos mug to store the water). Users input their weight, activity level and the time range of their day. The app then reminds users to have a glass of water over the course of the day using sound alarms, and shows the water consumed so far by filling up an on-screen water glass. The app is an interesting example of a health and fitness app being developed and released by a consumer company not directly involved with the industry.
Robitussin Relief Finder 2.0 - Free
Pfizer's Robitussin Relief Finder 2.0 allows users to track flu activity nationwide and also find nearby stores that sell various types of Robitussin products. The app enables users to find Robitussin products tailored to their flu symptoms via an in-app questionnaire, locate stores nearby selling Robitussin products, and receive coupons. A flu alerts tracker shows the level of flu activity in the user’s area in an interface similar to Google’s Flu Trends. The first version of the app, released earlier this year, offered limited features: the product finder and store locater based on zip code only. (See a slideshow of the app's features here.)
Dialysis Finder - Free
Dialysis Finder locates the nearest Dialysis clinics to the user using the iPhone's GPS. Over 4800 dialysis centers and facilities in the US are listed in the app's database. Each listing includes the number of dialysis stations, as well as types of services offered, at each facility.
Glooko Logbook - Free
Glooko Logbook is a diabetes management app that syncs readings from a variety of glucometers via a sync cable that plugs into the iPhones dock connector. Users can annotate, review, and share their results with a physician and record carb intake, insulin dose, and activity level. The Glooko cable is sold separately, of course, for about $40 on Amazon.com.
Glucometers that connect directly to the iPhone -- no cable required -- such as the Agamatrix Jazz nugget, have yet to be released in the US and are still pending FDA clearance.
fastECG for iPhone - Free
The fastECG app allows patients to take a picture of their electrocardiogram (ECG), in concerned, to send to a physician for review. After taking the an image of the ECG printout using the iPhone's camera, the picture is automatically resized and uploaded to the fastECG website; users then receive a code that can be sent to a cardiologist to view the image online.
One device that looks to take one step out of this process is iPhoneECG, which makes it possible to read an ECG using a special iPhone case.
YES WE RUN - $0.99
YES WE RUN predicts the competition time for a runner of a marathon, half marathon, and 10k using a series of specially-tailored tests. Users compete in the 2000 meters, "'800 Yasso Test", and "Cooper Test" to estimate how well they will perform in the long-distance running of a marathon. The app also includes tools for calculating the users' VO2max (maximal oxygen uptake), target heart zone rates, average running speed, calories burned, BMI, and body fat percentage. Apps that help users track their runs, like RunKeeper, are still the dominant type of app in the cardio fitness category, consisting of more than 27 percent of the almost 1,500 cardio apps available.
My Medications - $0.99
My Medications, the American Medical Association’s (AMA) first consumer app, allows patients to manage their medications, immunizations, allergies, and to access their medical team’s contact information. With the app, the AMA has created a consumer health app intended for use by their members’ patients. It follows then that the AMA would expect physicians to start recommending the use of consumer health apps to their patients. More on the AMA app in our article from earlier this week here.
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You can check out last week's apps roundup here.
