It is very common to see someone approach a doctor regarding healthcare consultations, issues, etc! But with the drastic shift of environment to ecommerce in many sectors, healthcare too is seen rolling the ecommerce style. Although it is in its nascent stages but the users seem to-be loving the idea! I mean who would want to visit a doctor for every petty issue and pay big bucks when they can just get the solution through an app.
Now, since the masses have started to become health conscious, many new areas of opportunities have started to open up too.
As per the report submitted by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics which includes an analysis of 40,000+ healthcare apps available for download from the U.S. Apple iTunes app store. This report was conducted to assess the potential value they provide throughout a patient’s voyage. And it clearly showed that most of these apps were focused towards diet & exercise and offered a relatively simple and affordable functionality.
On the other-hand, Flurry Analytics did their own research and found out that health and fitness app market was getting pretty huge with every passing day. It also said that within six months since December 2013 this genre grew 62% in usage as compared to overall apps growing @ 33%. To get a clearer view a detailed research amongst roughly 7,000 health and fitness apps in 100,000 devices was also conducted which stated that 62% users were females where as only the rest 38% were males using these apps.
Now with these stats, it was pretty clear that healthcare apps are in huge demand. One of the other reasons these apps have been gaining popularity is that it very easily helps you keep a track of your body in multiple ways like keeping a track of your exercise with suggestions, tracking your sleep and providing best solutions to cut down or increase, diet plan with recopies, etc!
We have jotted down some apps which are extremely popular and hold different areas of expertise. Their popularity is based on multiple things such as accessibility, user ratings, format, affordability, relevance and functionality to healthy living and the healthy living society’s needs.
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Pocket First Aid & CPR
iPhone – 3.5 stars with 1,125 ratings – USD 1.99
Android – 4.4 with 154 reviews – USD 1.99
One of the best apps you will ever come across! That’s majorly because it is an emergency guide or you can also call it a virtual first-aid kit with all possible information about First Aid Basics, CPR, automated external defibrillators (AED), medical, injury, environmental emergencies, etc. It can be trusted because all the steps mentioned are suggested by AHA (American Heart Association).
P.S.: You never know when you may need it, so keep this one handy!
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Drugs.com
iPhone – 4.5 stars with 88 ratings – Free of Cost
Android – 4.3 stars with 2,059 reviews – Free of Cost
As the name itself suggests, the app is like the encyclopedia for medicines. When you need genuine information about a particular medicine, this is the app you go to!
Using this app you can do a lot of things such as personalizing your drug list and by doing so you can also keep a track of it too; check for medical information about different medicines for trusted results; browse through their extensive database of medicines; identify medicines by giving their imprint, shape, or color; etc. and a lot more! All-in-All its like a virtual drug store.
P.S.: Although you might not be on medicines but someone somewhere maybe, suggest this one to them!
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iTriage
iPhone – 4.5 stars with 26,696 ratings – Free of Cost
Android – 4.5 stars with 69,186 reviews – Free of Cost
iTriage is one app that we personally love, mainly because of its uniqueness. The app helps in searching for symptoms and finding potential causes; it recommends treatments and also suggests the best qualified doctors and facilities near your area. This app is so well equipped that if you’re in an emergency situation and need to rush for the ER or urgent care then this app will provide you with the average waiting time.
The app is also a database for the numbers of emergency hotlines, physician and nurse advice lines. You can also save all the information on the app itself for future use. So it contains information about almost everything from Health, Doctor, Symptoms to Healthcare Search. All-in-All, it’s like a virtual doctor.
P.S.: You need it or don’t, keep it handy; it’s always good to be prepared.
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My Diet Coach
iPhone – 4.5 stars with 956 ratings – Free of Cost
Android – 4.4 stars with 16,886 reviews – Free of Cost
This app is like a god sent angel for all the ladies because it acts as a virtual diet coach in many ways! When you decide to take up a weight loss plan, often it may so happen that you may feel demotivated and that’s exactly when this app will be of help to you.
Once you download the app you can, upload photos and notes that act as an inspiration for you, set reminders about what you have to eat & what you have to avoid and weight loss &/or fitness goals. To top that, you can also create a food and exercise journal and in all probability receive virtual prizes on achieving your targets!
P.S.: If you’re health conscious, then this is by far the best app you can get!
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Lumosity
iPhone – 5 stars with 80,817 ratings – Free of Cost
Lumosity is this uniquely impressive app which is a training program designed by neurologists to analyze your brain and then to help you improve your cognitive abilities. It does that with the help of its series of fun and challenging games by exercising different parts of your noggin. What is even better is that you can customize the experience and also keep a track of the progress of your brain profile. Unbelievably, the app has more than 40 games, 60 million members and paid subscribers from more than 180 nations.
P.S.: If you think you need something to keep your brain at its toes then this is “the app” for you!
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Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock
iPhone – 4.5 stars with 67, 134 ratings – USD 0.99
Does it so happen, you’re not able to hear the alarm and sleep you tend to sleep longer and when you wake up you feel even more tired and drowsy? Well that’s because when the alarm goes off your in the deepest moment of sleep hence you don’t hear it and feel tired after waking up. Well this app truly deserves a clap because it closely monitors your sleep movements and wakes you up when you’re in the lightest sleep phase. Once you’re awake it also provides you with sleep statistics and graphs to help you monitor your cycles and make notes.
Thus, you don’t have to worry about over sleeping and reaching work late. It also comes with a customizable window of 90 minutes.
P.S. If over-sleeping is your concern, then this your solution.
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HealthTap
iPhone – 4.5 stars with 919 ratings – Free of Cost
Android – 4.4 stars with 12,830 reviews – Free of Cost
Why limit yourself to one doctor when you can talk to 50,000 doctors in 137 specialties. This app is a database for doctors who contribute to discussions and providing suggestions apart from daily health tips.
So with the help of this app you can actually get the best path you need to follow and what makes it even more reliable is that it’s coming from an trusted source. Apart from the users the app has also received extremely positive reviews from Wall Street Journal and New York Times and to top that it is also listed on the Top 10 lists from CNN, CBS, and ABC.
P.S.: A handy doctor, can always come of use to you!
Now if you see, healthcare is one market which has yet not been fully tapped by technology from a user point of view and as a small opening has been seen by them, slowly techies are finding their way in. On the other-hand, there are millions of people who take health and fitness very seriously and don’t mind paying big bucks for it too, so these apps are turning out to be really beneficial for such. Thus it is obvious that the VC’s are bound to invest in such a market which is yet not cluttered and holds so much potential.
But what we now have to see is that; will the incoming of such apps wipe-out the existence of the physical doctors or will it create more opportunities for doctors and get them closer to each other?
What do you think? Share your views with us.
