How to Track Your Medications with iOS and Android

Keeping track of medications is vital in most cases , but it can be hard to do without alarms and an extra nudge to make it a habit . I ’ve personally had trouble continue on docket since I started taking daily medications decades ago . But these last few years , as more smartphones began to have the power ramp up - in , I finally institute a groove .

Most of that groove settle in when I switch taking pills to first thing in the morning . The body of water and tab are both there for me to take as directed . But then come the smartphone benefactor when I get downstairs . I take the air to my bureau and mark down my medication inSamsung Healthon myPixel 8andApple Health , which I have set up up on aniPhone 15 Pro Maxreview unit . That ’s when the day can officially get started .

Samsung Health , in especial , offers a cacophony alarm system and have you snooze for fifteen moment at a time . It ’s helpful when I have an off - schedule morning and ask to take my pills a fiddling later . If you have the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 paired with it , it ’ll buzz the wrist , too . Apple ’s Health app ’s medicine reminder does n’t chase you quite as sharply to take your pill , but it is first-class at helping you figure out what you may amalgamate on those days you postulate an Advil or Tylenol to get by .

Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo

You could use a third - company app to track your medication . But nothing outsmart structured functionality . With Apple Health , there ’s even Siri desegregation . It ’s too bad Google Fit and Fitbit have yet to offer medication tracking and reminder .

How to track medications on iOS

Apple has integrate the ability to track your medications into the Health app bundled on your iPhone . It ’s one of the more exploiter - friendly ways to trail your pills . It ’ll even tell you whether unpaid drugs interfere with your everyday ethical drug , though Apple emphasizes on itssupport pagethat it is “ not a substitute for professional aesculapian judgement . ”

In Apple Health , water faucet browsing at the bottom right and then tap Medications . Tap to add a medication , and then later , come to this same page to impart a unexampled prescription drug when it do through . you’re able to either discover the medication by name or utilise the camera . Then , follow the instructions to opt your dose and set a agenda .

How to track medications on Android

Google Fit , a universal app shipped on most Android devices , is often the default option wellness offering . The app does n’t yet support medication reminders , and usersyearn for the featurein the Google support forums .

Until then , there ’s always the Samsung Health app . I begin storing my data in this app when I switched to the Samsung wearable ecosystem for health tracking . I ’ve kept it going because I like the breadth of features propose on Samsung Health compared to Google Fit orFitbit , which mate with thePixel Watch . The only caveat is that you must log on with a Samsung write up to sync data , which can be a chore if you ’re not on a Samsung equipment .

Samsung Health only started offering medicine reminderslate last year , but the feature is already pretty robust . It even rent you add “ as needed ” medication to argue the days you take something for an acute ailment . Notifications can be typeset up for add-on .

Don’t forget to toggle this on in iOS if you want Apple to chase you down to take your meds.

Don’t forget to toggle this on in iOS if you want Apple to chase you down to take your meds.Screenshot: Florence Ion / Gizmodo

Like the Apple Health app , setup for medication reminders in Samsung Health is square from the onboarding process . Just search for your medication , brand name or generic . Then , input how you take the drug , the dose , and when the notification should pulse through .

The schedule is the key to Samsung Health ’s medication admonisher . Once you jell up that alert , there ’s no going back . At the same time every day , the Samsung Health app will bulge out up and take over your screen — no matter what you ’re doing — to ask if you ’ve get hold of your meds . you may cabbage up the choice that says you ’ve taken it or select the option to drowse . Samsung Health will then encircle back every 15 minutes . But if you drowse it too much , eventually , the reminder stops guide over your silver screen and summer camp out in your apprisal shade . I favor this because then I can score it as taken when I eventually get to it without launching an app .

Medication reminders should be easy to scar off ; this is the easy for me . What are some ways you chase after your pills ?

Samsung Health lets you mark medication taken as needed.