The 10 Best iOS Health and Medical Apps

5) GoodRx- Prescription Drug Prices, Coupons and Pill Identifier

• Cost: Free
• Download Link
• Description:
  • Find the lowest price on prescriptions right from your phone or iPad.
  • Our free, easy-to-use mobile apps feature:
    • Instant access to the lowest prices for prescription drugs at more than 75,000 pharmacies
    • Coupons and savings tips that can cut your prescription costs by 50% or more
    • Side effects, pharmacy hours and locations, pill images, and much more!
• Features:
  • Every week we collect millions of prices and discounts from pharmacies, drug manufacturers and other sources. Here’s how you can use it to save:
    • Use GoodRx’s drug price search to compare prices (just like you do for travel or electronics on other sites) for your prescription at pharmacies near you. We don’t sell the medications, we tell you where you can get the best deal on them.
    • GoodRx will show you prices, coupons, discounts and savings tips for your prescription at pharmacies near you.
    • Download GoodRx’s iPhone or Android app to get drug prices and coupons on the go.
      • Instant access to the lowest prices for prescription drugs at more than 75,000 pharmacies
      • Coupons and savings tips that can cut your prescription costs by 50% or more
      • Side effects, pharmacy hours and locations, pill images, and much more!If you prefer, GoodRx can send you a discount savings card which you can keep in your wallet or purse.
    • Many folks have asked us how it’s possible that GoodRx can locate such huge savings. We can assure you that our prices are accurate and the discounts we find are based on contractual agreements. Every month, consumers save millions of dollars with GoodRx.
    • GoodRx is free for consumers, and we require no personal information to search drugs and receive discounts. We do not sell your personal health information to anyone. We make money from advertisements on our site and referral fees. This revenue enables us to continue to make the best, free product to help Americans afford the prescriptions they need.
• In-App Purchases: None
• Current version rating: 5 stars, 746 ratings
  • 5 star reviews: 694
  • 4 star reviews: 29
  • 3 star reviews: 9
  • 2 star reviews: 1
  • 1 star reviews: 13
• All time rating: 4.5 stars, 5,225 reviews
  • 5 star reviews: 4,640
  • 4 star reviews: 289
  • 3 star reviews: 54
  • 2 star reviews: 26
  • 1 star reviews: 216
• 5 most recent reviews:
  • August 2, 2016: 5 star- User thanks GoodRx for making meds more affordable since they don’t have insurance. Gets three months of meds for less than 1/3 of previous cost of one month’s supply.
  • August 2, 2016: 5 star- User thank “whoever is responsible” for the app, because they’ve saved so much money and time price shopping with the app.
  • August 2, 2016: 5 star- Used app for the first time today and saved $50.
  • August 2, 2016: 5 star- “True money saver, no gimmicks just download and truly save.”
  • August 1, 2016: 5 star- Uses the app for every medicine purchase. Works in healthcare and uses the app to find best prices for patients. Says difference in price from one pharmacy to another is “incredible.”
• Most recent critical reviews:
  • July 11, 2016: 1 star- “Hiding prices in Canada”
  • July 6, 2016: 1 star- “Waited 20 minutes for a prescription only to find out the price was $8.00 MORE than the app said. Pharmacist claimed its frequently wrong. I don’t get the good rating.”
  • June 19, 2016: 1 star- “Did not like”
  • June 10, 2016: 1 star- “Crash on almost every search”
• Most common complaints:
  • Several people (although a relatively small % of reviewers) reported that the prices listed on the app or often wrong.
  • In order to get the benefit, you need to use a pharmacy that accepts the coupon. Some users have reported that many don’t.

6) Insight Timer- Meditation Timer

• Cost: Free
• Download Link
• Description: Insight Timer is the highest rated free meditation app on the App Store. More than 950,000 meditators call Insight Timer home.With beautiful Tibetan singing bowls and a dynamic worldwide community, Insight Timer is the fun and connected way to support your meditation practice. If you’re new to meditation you’ll find more than 2,000 free guided meditations and a supportive community to get started. If you’re an experienced meditator you’ll feel right at home with our beautiful Tibetan singing bowls and guided meditations by experienced teachers that you know and respect.
• Features:
  • The most popular free meditation Timer on the App Store
  • 8 deeply peaceful bells recorded with the highest quality digital audio equipment making them crystal clear with extra long fade outs.
  • Mesmerizing Ambient sounds which play in the background for a more relaxing meditation session
  • 2,000 guided meditations from your favourite teachers including Eckhart Tolle, Pak Merta Ada, Thich Nhat Hanh, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield and many more.
  • 1,000+ discussion groups ranging from Buddhism to Sleeping patterns and Rumi poems to Addiction.
  • 2,000+ local meet-up groups for connecting with people locally and enhancing your meditation practice
  • 8 different activities including Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Walking, Breathing, Chanting, Prayer, and Healing
  • Stats, Milestones, and Journal entries
• In-App Purchases:
  • Bell collection: $2.99
  • Calm collection: $1.99
  • Inspire collection: $1.99
• Current version rating: 5 stars, 1,477 ratings
  • 5 star reviews: 1,322
  • 4 star reviews: 128
  • 3 star reviews: 16
  • 2 star reviews: 5
  • 1 star reviews: 6
• All time rating: 4.5 stars, 12,333 reviews
  • 5 star reviews: 10,224
  • 4 star reviews: 1,378
  • 3 star reviews: 224
  • 2 star reviews: 135
  • 1 star reviews: 372
• 5 most recent reviews:
  • August 4, 2016: 5 stars- “Great must have app for meditators!”
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- Says the app helps make the most out of meditation time. Loves the chime sounds, and says it’s “just like my singing bowl!”
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- “This is one of my favorite apps ever!” Uses it daily and recommends it to everyone, beginners and seasoned meditators alike.
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- “Great for silent mediation and improvements keep coming.”
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- “Very user friendly. I use it every day.”
• Most recent critical reviews:
  • July 24, 2016: 1 star: “Not a good app. They have made it into a dating app. Horrible updates made regularly that makes the app function less effectively.”
  • July 23, 2016: 1 star- “Today, after using this app for 3+ years, I could no longer post comments. After doing some research, testing, and analysis, I determined that I had been deliberately censored. No one spoke with me. No one contacted me to work out whatever problem they felt was there. I have no clue why this occurred. But it did…”
  • July 20, 2016: 1 star- “I hadn’t used the app in a while. Tried to use it today and find I need to register and login to get into the app at all. I was someplace with no net access making the app completely useless.” (Continues on about registration annoyances)
  • July 20, 2016: 1 star- Likes the apps in a lot of ways, but doesn’t like the fact that the app gives people gold (and other color) stars or the social media element.
  • July 14, 2016: 1 star- Bought the app in 2013, but skipped updates to avoid creating an account. That is no longer an option, and now wants a refund on the original purchase. Also doesn’t like the “onslaught of navigation screens.”
• Most common complaints:
  • Most of the complaints are centered on the social media elements of the app. The complaintants don’t want to mix social media with their meditation.

7) Sleep Cycle alarm clock

• Cost: Free
• Download Link
• Description:
  • Waking up made easy.
  • An intelligent alarm clock that analyzes your sleep and wakes you in the lightest sleep phase – the natural way to wake up feeling rested and relaxed.
  • As you sleep you go through different phases, ranging from deep sleep to light sleep. The phase you are in when your alarm goes off is critical for how tired you will feel when you wake up.
  • Since you move differently in bed during the different phases, Sleep Cycle can use the microphone or accelerometer in your iPhone to monitor your movements and determine which sleep phase you are in.
  • Sleep Cycle wakes you when you are in your lightest sleep phase.
  • Sleep Cycle was developed using proven sleep science and years of research and development.
• Features
  • Included free with app
    • Sleep analysis with our patented sound analysis technology or if you prefer, the sensitive accelerometer in your iPhone
    • Detailed sleep statistics and sleep graphsFeatures:
    • Carefully selected alarm melodies
    • Snooze by shaking or double tapping the phone lightly
    • Fully integrated with Apple Health. Exchanges sleep analysis and heart rate
    • Customizable wake up window. From instant (regular alarm clock) up to 90 minutes
    • Background mode – set your alarm and exit Sleep Cycle – sleep analysis will continue in the background
    • Support for the M7 and M8 co-processor – measure your daily physical activity and see how it affects your Sleep Quality
    • Export sleep data to Excel for detailed analysis
  • Premium features available
    • Online backup – secure your data online to make sure it’s always with you
    • Long term trends – compare your sleep with the world
    • Sleep aid – helps you fall asleep faster
    • Sleep notes – see how events such as drinking coffee, eating too much or having a stressful day affect your sleep quality
    • Wake up mood – see how using Sleep Cycle affects your morning moods
    • Weather – see how weather affects your Sleep Quality
    • Heart rate monitor – measure your resting heart rate (RHR) every morning using the built-in camera in your device
    • Philips HUE light bulb support – simulate a natural sunrise to give you an even softer wake-up
• In-App Purchases:
  • Premium subscription is $23.99/ year
• Current version rating: 4.5 stars, 2,770 ratings
  • 5 star reviews: 2,232
  • 4 star reviews: 410
  • 3 star reviews: 44
  • 2 star reviews: 30
  • 1 star reviews: 54
• All time rating: 4.5 stars, 97,058 reviews
  • 5 star reviews: 73,678
  • 4 star reviews: 16,280
  • 3 star reviews: 3,072
  • 2 star reviews: 1,513
  • 1 star reviews: 2,515
• 5 most recent reviews:
  • August 4, 2016: 5 stars- “Really tells me what I need to sleep better.”
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- “Highly recommend for you who feel like you don’t get enough sleep!”
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- “Love it. The alarm really helps me wake up earlier and refreshed”
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- “Great app!! I’ve used it every night for more than two years probably. Very reliable and it’s good just as an alarm even without all the cool sleep tracking features.”
  • August 4, 2016: 5 star- “Great app, it does a really good job showing when I reach a ‘deep state’ of sleep. And is very accurate as to when I am awake and sleeping”
• Most recent critical reviews:
  • August 4, 2016: 1 star: Uses an iPhone 6 and says loved the app at first, but now the time changes itself at night causing the alarm not to be reliable.
  • August 3, 2016: 1 star- “In the old version you can actually hear yourself whil you where (sp) asleep and everything was free I enjoyed this app a lot but now you have to pay for most of the free stuff. Very disappointed with this app.”
  • August 2, 2016: 1 star- “The app worked flawlessly until the ninth night. Then the alarm portion failed to wake me up. Then nothing again on the ninth 10th, 11th, 12th… I know (sp) have to use my regular iPhone alarm to wake up. There is a serious bug in this latest release.”
  • August 2, 2016: 1 star- Used the app for travel and really liked the white noise feature, but now that is only available with the Premium version. As a result is no longer using or recommending the app.
  • August 1, 2016: 1 star- Loved the app at first, but the alarm didn’t make a sound even though the screen read “alarm.” Confirmed via testing alarms that it’s still not working right, so no longer using the app.
• Most common complaints:
  • Most of the complaints revolve around the alarm not going off for one reason or another. If using this app for an important wake-up time, might be best to have a backup.

8) Instant Heart Rate- Heart Rate Monitor Free

• Cost: Free
• Download Link
• Description:
  • Just featured in Apple’s new TV Ad “Strength” – use your iPhone to find out your heart rate in less than 10 seconds!
  • Also now supports Apple Health App, please enable in Instant Heart Rate Settings -> Health App Sharing.
  • You DON’T need a dedicated heart rate monitor to get your pulse, download Instant Heart Rate today and use your camera’s flash to see how healthy you are!
  • With over 35 million users, the award-winning Instant Heart Rate app is all over the web.
  • Featured in: CNN, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, and many more.
  • Instant Heart Rate is continuously rated as the world’s best mobile heart rate measurement app and is trusted by Stanford’s leading cardiologists for use in clinical trials.
  • How it works:
    • Place the tip of your index finger on the iPhone’s camera, and in a couple of seconds, your pulse will be shown!
    • Instant Heart Rate detects a color change in your finger tip each time your heart beats and uses an advanced algorithm to show you your heart rate.
    • A real-time chart will show you every heartbeat, similar to pulse oximeters used in hospitals.
• Features
  • Included free with app
    • Heart rate measurement
    • Heart Rate Activity Zone Calculator
    • Pulse waveform graphs
    • Real-time photoplethysmogram (PPG) graph
    • Continuous or Auto-Stop mode
    • Unlimited data storage and tags
    • Export data for registered users
    • StandUp test for fatigue and fitness testing
    • Sharing to Twitter and Facebook
    • Apple Health App Support (Instant Heart Rate Settings -> Health App Sharing)
  • Premium features available
    • Upgrade to Premium to receive unlimited access to Premium Programs and Playpen Freeplay workouts, HD videos, dynamic and motivational audio, workout email summaries with tips and advice on healthy living, priority support, and more through renewable iTunes subscription.
• In-App Purchases:
  • Premium subscription is $30/ year or $9.99/ month
• Current version rating: 5 stars, 116 ratings
  • 5 star reviews: 105
  • 4 star reviews: 7
  • 3 star reviews: 2
  • 2 star reviews: 1
  • 1 star reviews: 1
• All time rating: 4.5 stars, 13,198 reviews
  • 5 star reviews: 9,410
  • 4 star reviews: 2,180
  • 3 star reviews: 477
  • 2 star reviews: 292
  • 1 star reviews: 839
• 5 most recent reviews:
  • August 18, 2016: 5 stars- “Love this.”
  • August 18, 2016: 5 star- “Just as accurate as the strap on the chest. Truly amazing it works so well with just the flash on the phone’s camera.”
  • August 18, 2016: 5 star- “This app helps me monitor my heart rate.”
  • August 18, 2016: 5 star- “Always comes through”
  • August 18, 2016: 4 star- “East to use and reading is close”
• Most recent critical reviews:
  • August 18, 2016: 3 star- “Used to be great. The old free version kept your data so you could track your HR over time. They changed it  and now it’s advertising heavy, buggy, and not as useful.”
  • August 8, 2016: 1 star- User can’t get the app to work using iPhone 4 & 4s. App keeps saying “No Finger” and doesn’t give a reading.
  • July 27, 2016: 1 star- Says app has too many pop up ads that make it “not even functional” and annoying.
  • July 26, 2016: 1 star- Says the app has too many ads “with seemingly one goal, to up sell you.”
  • July 25, 2016: 1 star- “Constant redirects and ads”
• Most common complaints:
  • The vast majority of complaints revolve around ads in the free app. Some also complain about difficulty getting a reading.

9) WebMD – Trusted Health and Wellness Information

***WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek theadvice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on the WebMD mobile application.

• Cost: Free
• Download Link
• Description:
  • WebMD for iPhone offers physician-reviewed health content and interactive tools in addition to on-demand healthy living information. The innovative design marries content and utility informed by more than five years of user insights and feedback.
  • WebMD for iPhone also features Healthy Target, an innovative health improvement program that will help you create and sustain healthy habits. By connecting an activity tracker, wireless scale, blood pressure monitor, or glucometer you’ll be able to view all of your data in one location and receive WebMD contextual content and insights. Additionally, Healthy Target allows you to use HealthKit to sync with the Apple Health app.
  • Get access to your favorite WebMD health tools like Symptom Checker and local health listings, in addition to the most up-to-date information about medicine and first aid essentials. All in one elegant app. From the most trusted brand in health information.
• Features
  • WebMD Symptom Checker – Select the part of the body that is troubling you, choose your symptoms, and learn about potential conditions or issues.
  • Medication Reminders – View daily medication schedules and instructions, pill images with dosage and timing information, and receive reminders for when it’s time to take a given medication.
  • Healthy Target – Create and sustain healthy habits by tracking your progress daily, connecting wearable devices, and getting actionable insights at the end of each week.
  • Healthy Living – Choose the healthy living interests that matter most to you to customize a daily lifestyle magazine of tips, fun facts, articles, quizzes, and slideshows.
  • Conditions – Find medically reviewed information about conditions relevant to you and learn more about causes, treatments, and related symptoms.
  • Medicine – Search our extensive database for information on drugs, supplements, and vitamins. Read about uses, side effects, and warnings, and access our Pill ID tool.
  • First Aid Essentials – Your handy guide for medical emergencies. From insect stings to broken bones, helpful treatment tips are always available, even without an Internet connection.
  • Local Health Listings – Find the closest physician, hospital, and pharmacy based on your current location or search by city, state or zip.
  • Customization: Create and save your conditions, medicine, first aid information, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and healthy living articles for secure, easy access and reference.
• In-App Purchases:
  • None
• Current version rating: 4.5 stars, 391 ratings
  • 5 star reviews: 299
  • 4 star reviews: 58
  • 3 star reviews: 10
  • 2 star reviews: 4
  • 1 star reviews: 20
• All time rating: 3.5 stars, 51,187 reviews
  • 5 star reviews: 18,147
  • 4 star reviews: 9,286
  • 3 star reviews: 10,235
  • 2 star reviews: 6,042
  • 1 star reviews: 7,477
• 5 most recent reviews:
  • August 18, 2016: 4 stars- “Always handy for a quick search.”
  • August 17, 2016: 5 star- “This app does what I need, helps me stay on schedule of my meds. Also nice to be able to look up medical info, without going to another app.”
  • August 15, 2016: 4 star- “I’ve used this app to get information on many difficult medical experiences and it’s been very helpful.”
  • August 13, 2016: 5 star- “I have it on my phone because I don’t want to leave home without it. It has information that I find useful.”
  • August 12, 2016: 4 star- “Is awesome, reminds me when my medication is due. Love it. thank you!!”
• Most recent critical reviews:
  • August 7, 2016: 1 star- User bought Fitbit app, Strava and the WebMD app at the same time to better track health and exercise. However, although “WebMD advertises that their app can sync data from Fitbit” the sync only worked for about a week and hasn’t worked since. Support has been slow in responding and no resolution has been found, nor is there any indication that it will be.
  • July 6, 2016: 1 star- “Does not work with Fitbit Charge HR.” User was able to get it to work for a while by specifying Fitbit Flex, but it stopped syncing and still isn’t working. Also stated that “support is apparently nonexistent.”
  • July 5, 2016: 1 star- “When linking to FitBit, I was given a warning that ‘HTTPS is not being used to protect this data’, and when I clicked anyway, I get a javascript error which makes me wonder where my data actually went. Trying to link to walgreens redirects you to striiv, but does not at all make clear what the relationship is, and visiting striiv’s page did little to clear this up. Uninstalling and changing passwords to any accounts I allowed WebMD to have access to quickly.”
  • June 21, 2016: 1 star- User downloaded the app to track their various physicians’ information in one place, but despite being able to look up physicians, they found no way to save them or add them to a favorites list.
  • June 8, 2016: 1 star- App crashes all the time and says it needs an Internet connection even when the phone is connected to the Internet.
• Most common complaints:
  • Most of the complaints are focused on poor Fitbit integration and the lack of more frequent updates (as of August 19, 2016 the last update was January 19, 2016)

10) Smoke Free – Quit smoking now and stop for good

• Cost: Free
• Download Link
• Description & Features:
  • This is the stop smoking app that science built. Over 20 different, evidence-based, techniques to help you become – and stay – smoke free. See how much money you’ve saved, how many cigarettes you’ve not smoked, how long you’ve been smoke free, how much life you’ve regained and how your health is improving.
  • Log your cravings, get tips on dealing with them, use the map to see where they congregate, the notes to see what patterns can be identified and the graph to see how they’re decreasing.
  • All this is free to use and entirely free of ads. If you need extra help giving up smoking our missions could be just what you need, as they’ve been proven to double your chances of quitting. No other app can promise you this.
  • We proved the missions worked by performing a rigorous scientific experiment. As far as we know, this is the first ever randomised control trial run entirely within an app. Its success means we want to run many more and our goal is to constantly make our app more effective
  • This is all entirely voluntary and you can download the app without taking part in the experiment. Your data will be kept anonymous and you can delete it at any time. But we really hope you do take part because everyone who does will help the quitters who follow. So do yourself a favour by quitting smoking. And do your fellow smokers a favour by helping them understand how it’s done.
  • Smoke Free Pro additional features
    • Over 1 month of daily missions scientifically proven to increase your chances of success
    • Customise the dashboard with your progress as you want to see
    • Choose a treat to buy with your savings and watch the time count down until you can afford it
    • Get help with cravings. Identify triggers and locations. Personalise tips to get you through difficult times
    • A clock that displays your time smoke free beautifully
• In-App Purchases:
  • Smoke Free Pro: $4.99
• Current version rating: 5 stars, 78 ratings
  • 5 star reviews: 66
  • 4 star reviews: 9
  • 3 star reviews: 2
  • 2 star reviews: 1
  • 1 star reviews: 0
• All time rating: 4.5 stars, 1,331 reviews
  • 5 star reviews: 1,104
  • 4 star reviews: 151
  • 3 star reviews: 35
  • 2 star reviews: 19
  • 1 star reviews: 22
• 5 most recent reviews:
  • August 18, 2016: 5 stars- “Smoked about a pack every day and a half for the past three year, after quitting once for two….I didn’t want to stop but was lately have been feeling extra exhausted and then scared by how out of breath and how bad my lungs hurt after attempting a HIIT workout. I’m on my 4th day. Day 3 was horrible, and if I didn’t have this app I know from experience I would have 100% cracked. You give up your best friend when you quick and this app is literally that- a really great, encouraging friend, there to talk you trough (sp) cravings and send you up to the minute progress reports. It’s also a super easy and cool way to share your progress and journey with loved ones. Every time I want a cigarette I send my mom or boyfriend the up to minute progress page and their responses are always super supportive which really helps. Still discovering more of the app, there’s really so much! Highly, highly recommend this for anyone that just quite or wants to. A real lung-saver!”
  • August 17, 2016: 5 star- “Helps remind me every day”
  • August 16, 2016: 5 star- This avid smoker just downloaded the app, and will start in the morning. Eager to earn badges and says it looks promising. Wishes the app had an “I smoked” button showing negative health effects and some badges that relate to the health bars.
  • August 16, 2016: 5 star- “This app is super motivating if you’re ready to quit. Not only does it show you all your heath benefits but it’s basically a little life coach in an app. I’ve been recommending the crap out of this app and use it everyday. It’s been 20 days since my last smoke and I feel great.”
  • August 16, 2016: 5 star- “It has helped me and motivated me to stay off the cigs.”
• Most recent critical reviews:
  • July 1, 2016: 2 star- “This app is ok for trying to quit smoking, but it is a RIP OFF. They trick you into spending $5 for almost ZERO change. Almost nothing is different than the free portion of the app. It’s wrong and plain not fair! Seems like they care more about taking money than helping people quit smoking honestly!! I’m very frustrated”
  • June 25, 2016: 3 star- Says it’s alright but not impressed because you have to pay for everything. “It’s like one big advertisement”
  • June 5, 2016: 1 star- “Paid for upgrade immediately. Only giving a star because zero stars isn’t an option. Doesn’t update progress if you slip & smoke. Free apps offer better”
  • June 1, 2016: 1 star- “This used to be a great app. Then they decided making money was more important than helping people, so they locked up most of the features. Unless you want to spend $5, get a different app.
• Most common complaints:
  • Vast majority of the complaints related to the $5 charge for the Pro version. Either they don’t think it’s worth the fee or are upset that there is a fee at all.