Vratislav Holub The new operating system iOS 16 brought a number of great innovations. However, in connection with this version, the redesigned lock screen is most often talked about, while the rest of the features rather remain in the background. One such feature is a new option to keep track of your medications and see if you're actually taking them. At first glance, this may seem like a relatively uninteresting change. But the opposite is true. Apple users, who regularly take some medication, liked this novelty almost immediately and won't let it go.
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Why is medication tracking so important?
As we have already mentioned above, the possibility of monitoring medicines may seem like a complete trifle to some apple growers. However, for those who are affected by it on a daily basis, it is the complete opposite - in which case it is a great novelty. Until now, these users had to rely on their own memory or on third-party applications. Now that the software is becoming part of the operating system and is directly behind Apple, Apple users have more confidence in it. Apple is generally known to pay more attention to the privacy and security of its users as much as possible, which can be expected in this particular case as well. All the data about the medicines you use are thus safely stored and under your own control, when you more or less do not have to worry about their misuse.
Monitoring of medicines in practice
Apple has also prepared a relatively simple and practical user interface for these purposes. You can easily keep track of all medications and their use. In the first stage, of course, it is necessary to write down in the iPhone which medicines you actually take. In this regard, too, users praise the extensive option. When adding a medicine, they do not just write its name, but also fill in what type it is (capsules, tablets, solution, gel, etc.), what strength the given medicine has, when and how often it must be taken, and what shape or color it has. So you have all the necessary information on your phone about each medicine. This can be especially useful for people who take several drugs - adjusting the shape and color can help them a lot in this regard. It is these extensive options and independence from unknown developers that make this news one of the best features ever. In addition, if you would like a really high-quality application for these purposes, you will usually have to pay for it.
There is still room for improvement
Although the ability to track medications is a success among the target group, there are several areas for improvement. As we mentioned above, the whole function works quite simply – you just need to enter the medicines you regularly take in the native Health, create a schedule and you're done. Subsequently, your iPhone or Apple Watch will remind you of itself. At the same time, it is necessary to click that you have actually taken the medicine - if you do not do so, the notification will remain active. However, some apple growers would like to take it a little further. According to their topic, the best solution would be if another, completely new notification came when you forgot to take the medicine, or if the phone made a sound or vibrated again, reminding you with a sound signal.
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Some apple users would also welcome a directly specific widget related to drugs and their use. Thanks to this, they could always see on the desktop, for example, a brief overview and information about upcoming usage. However, whether we will see such news is unclear for the time being. Whether Apple takes up the ideas from the apple makers themselves would definitely push this news a step forward.
What bothers me about the app is that you can't set something like an alarm in it, the reminders are bland and can be overlooked/overheard. Otherwise it would be fine.
For years I have been using the free version of the Medisafe app, which has far more functions than the one from Apple. For example, I am missing the option to put the total number of medicine with a reminder about a low balance and the need to order a prescription and refill it... and another reminder as described by p .Peter