My Health: BP & HR Log

This app is a health diary rather than a medical instrument, and understanding that distinction is what makes it useful. Its main job is holding numbers you measure elsewhere. Blood pressure readings from your own monitor, blood glucose from a meter, body mass index, daily steps and water intake all go into one place with dates attached. Individually these numbers say little. Collected over months they show trends, and trends are what a doctor can actually work with, which is why a tidy log beats a memory of roughly how things have been. Charts present the history clearly, and general lifestyle guidance accompanies the readings. Heart rate is the one measurement taken by the phone itself. Placing a fingertip over the camera and flash lets the app estimate beats per minute from the small colour changes caused by blood flow, a technique known as photoplethysmography. The developer is upfront that results vary by device and conditions and that it is for informational and wellness purposes, and that honesty is the right way round for anything touching health. Step counting and hydration reminders cover the daily habits that influence the readings you record, keeping cause and effect in the same app rather than in three separate ones.