Top 5 Health and Personal Care Apps and Gadget
When the iPhone first hit the smartphone scene, it stirred the interest and imagination of developers, thousands of apps were developed each month. There are over 1 million apps in the AppStore (Oct 13) with no signs of slowing down. Gadget inventors are taking this one step further by introducing apps to communicate with their hardware.
Some more practical than others, these cool gadgets are taking advantage of App’s capabilities to track and record data as well as to communicate and control devices over the Internet. This article focuses on 5 gadgets in the health and personal care category.
Top 5 Health and Personal Care Gadgets
Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor
A device that lets you test your blood pressure at home with the help of an iPhone, iPad or Android device. The App lets you keep a record of your results for future reference.
Nest Protect Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Battery (Wired)
- Nest Wave- No more swinging brooms or towels. Silence alerts with a wave of your hand.
- Heads-Up- Get a friendly alert so you can handle burning toast before a piercing alarm goes off.
- Know from anywhere – Sends a message to your phone if the alarm goes off or if batteries run low.
- Nightly Promise – Nest Protect tests its sensors and batteries and lets you know it’s working with a quick green glow at night.
- Silence the chirp – Low-battery chirps ever rattle your dreams? Nest Protect shows you its batteries are good. Before you doze off.
Withings Pulse Wireless Activity and Heart Rate Tracker
- Activity tracking: steps, elevation, distance and calories burned
- Instant Heart Rate measurement
- Sleep quality monitoring
- Easy upload of your measurements using Bluetooth
- Free Health Mate app to visualise trends and improvements (iOS and Android)
Polar H7 Bluetooth 4.0 Heart Rate Sensor Set for iPhone 4S/5
- Gives you live heart rate on your mobile training application
- Uses coded 5kHz transmission to connect with the majority of Polar training computers and gym equipment
- The soft textile chest strap seamlessly adapts to your body shape
- Provides ECG-accurate heart rate to any Bluetooth smart ready device
- Makes it quick and easy to add heart rate to your smartphone
Withings Smart Body Analyzer
Monitors your weight, BMI, body fat, heart rate and air quality. Simply step on the scale and it does the rest. The CO2 tracker notifies you when you need to let some air in to improve the indoor air quality. The temperature sensor monitors variances throughout the day. The scale automatically recognises up to 8 people. Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity allows the data to be transfered to the Health Mate app, available free for iOS and Android
Top 5 FREE Health and Fitness Apps
Even if you don’t have the gadgets listed above, there are till some really good apps in the health and fitness category that are available for free. Let’s take a look at these.
Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker
Here is a calorie counter that comes with a big database of food types and calorie values. Use this app to easily calculate the calories consumed in every meal.
WiScale
Works with Withlings Smart Blood Pressure Monitor featured above, the app lets you monitor your blood pressure. The app also works with Wi-Fi Body Scale from WiScale to help monitor weight, fat mass and lean mass.
Moves (iPhone)
Here is the step counter or pedometer app for your iPhone or iPod. Leave it running in the background and it will monitor your steps each day including a geo-located timeline.
NHS BMI Healthy Weight Calculator and Tracker
NHS has a BMI counter on their website, but here is an app that does the same. It’s easy to use and convenient to have handy if you are watching your Body Mass Index. There is also a built in reminder to check your weight and update the BMI calculator for multiple users so every member of the family can use the same app. Finally, you can also switch between metric or imperial units depending on what you are used to.
Other NHS Apps: NHS Stop Smoking, NHS Health and Sympton Checker, NHS Drinks Tracker
Pillboxie
Think you forgot to take your pill but can’t be sure and don’t want to take a second dose by accident, here is a reminder app. Use the alarm or to-do list to remind you to take your medication.
Condition
Think of a personal nurse that reminds you to take your blood pressure, pulse, weight and temperature, here is an app that doubles up as a medical log that prompts you daily to take the measurements that matters to you and your health.
UPDATE: We have added two FREE apps below to replace those that have decided to charge.
Ab Workout Free – Abdominal Crunch Exercise Workouts
Here is an app that helps you shape and tone your abdominal muscles. Set your own goals and work toward it with the help of the app. As it’s on your phone or tablet, you can take it with you wherever you go, work or holiday and continue to work on it. You can even listen to your favourite music while you workout and follow the program’s audio guide to help you with your workout.
Better Health Channel – Health Information and Services
Here’s a free app from the Department of Health, Victoria (Australia). Packed with healthy living and medical information, the app presents useful information under the following categories; health conditions, healthy living, relationships and family, treatments and first aid and healthy recipe. While the help & advice as well as the find a health service may not apply for those outside Australia, Better Health Channel is still a very good app. For those in Australia, you can also personalise your own health alerts and notifications for heat, temperature, UV, smog and pollen.
OPENS IN IPAD
Remember to share this article with others or yourself to open on your iOS devices. Clicking on any of the links there will bring you straight to the AppStore to download these apps.
