Here at Healing Boxes we’ve been testing and researching and we’ve rounded up our favourite apps for carers and people with chronic illness.
Part 1 of the app round up is here. Part 2 of the app round up is here.
Check out our list and let us know your favourites on Twitter.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness can have a hugely beneficial impact on health, wellbeing, pain management and living with challenges.
A friendly, simple tool to guide people of all ages and backgrounds through meditations for mindfulness and compassion.
This app is a favourite of Healing Boxes founder Grace Quantock for meditations on the move.
Accessibility: in English for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Android and Online.
Price: Free with in-app upgrades.
If you’ve wanted to try out different types of meditation, this is a great app for trials and tasters.
Accessibility: in English for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Price: Free with in-app upgrades.
A lovely meditation (or rest period) timer for those who would rather meditate without guidance or prompts.
Accessibility: in English for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Price: Free
Carer Support
CareZone makes it simpler to take care of yourself, an ageing parent, and other family members that need your help.
Features include:
Medication management:
• Take pictures of meds (prescriptions, OTC, and supplements) and the names, dosages, and other details are automatically added for you. (No typing!)
• Always have a list of medications, dosages, and schedules with you.
• Receive reminders when it’s time to take a med, or refill a prescription and track adherence progress by recording when doses are taken.
• Print a pre-formatted schedule to put on the fridge, or share a detailed med list with a doctor via email.
• Journal: document symptoms and privately share updates with family members.
• Calendar: keep track of appointments and share access with others.
• Contacts: organise & share info for doctors, pharmacies, and insurance providers.
• To-dos: keep a synchronized list of things that need to get done and assign tasks to others to get the help you need.
• Photos & Files: store important documents for easy access when you need them.
• Sharing: safely share access with others in case of an emergency, or to coordinate care for a loved one.
Accessibility: in English for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Android.
Price: Free
Calendar sharing for co-ordinating community care
Finally, an answer to ‘if there’s anything I can do, just let me know!’
“If there is anything I can do, please call.”
And nothing happens.
Friends, family and caregivers
Want to know how mom and dad or a loved is doing and you live far away?
Want to help but you don’t know what to do, how to do it and not be in the way?
Want to bring a meal but you don’t know what, where or when?
CareGivingApp is a new application that sets up and runs family and community care networks like a personal secretary for patients, caregivers, and healthcare agencies. It features interactive calendars, journal, messaging, shopping lists, medication reminders, and will track blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, and diet.
The patients can also be monitored through the app by medical supervisors from participating hospitals, nursing agencies, or insurance companies. www.caregivingapp.com
Accessibility: in English and Spanish for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Android and online.
Price: Free
Useful
An easy way to back up your contacts.
“No signing in, no accounts, no activations, just send your contacts in a universal format to yourself or others through the mail app. This app backs your contacts up, or simply transfers them in a simple, tangible way that just about every device can read. Bravo!”
My Contacts Backup is the easiest way to backup and restore your contacts all from your phone without needing a computer or synchronization. You can backup all your contacts with a single touch and send them to yourself as a .vcf attachment via email.
All contacts can then easily be restored any time by simply opening the .vcf file in your mailbox with iOS Mail app.
Accessibility: in
Languages: English, Bokmål, Norwegian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese for the iPhone and Android.
Price: Free
We’ve heard stories of patients coming out of hospital with massive phone bills – because in an emergency you might not be thinking about how many minutes you have left on your mobile phone data plan.
You can load up Onavo Extended now and save money on your mobile internet use.
Onavo Extend saves your mobile data so you can do more of what you love on your phone without spending more on your bill. Once the app is installed on your phone, it works in the background when you use mobile data to find ways to save. Onavo Extend:
• Loads images when you scroll down to them so you don’t use valuable data on images you’ll never see
• Balances image quality and data savings based on your settings so you’re always in control of how much data you use
• Automatically turns itself off when you connect to Wi-Fi
How it works
Onavo Extend compresses all the data you download over 3G, EDGE and LTE, including images and texts. The app gives you reports that break down how you’re using data by apps and other mobile activities so you can keep track of where you’re spending your monthly data allowance.
Accessibility: in English, Filipino, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish for the iPhone and Android.
Price: Free
Do you have any favourite apps we’ve missed? Let us know on Twitter.