Apr 3rd 2025
iOS Today 746
Managing Health & Illness
Hosted by
Mikah Sargent,
Rosemary Orchard
Visible, Plume Labs, Pedometer++
New episodes every Thursday.
Struggling with allergies, symptoms, or invisible illnesses? Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard explore a range of iOS apps and features designed to help you track your health, monitor symptoms, and manage illness right from your iPhone and Apple Watch.
- Built-in Health app features - Apple has added an extensive list of symptoms you can track directly in the Health app, from abdominal cramps to sore throat, allowing users to log severity and duration.
- Peak app - A widget-focused app that displays your health metrics on your home screen, with options to track heart rate, blood oxygen, time in daylight, and other metrics related to health conditions.
- My Pollen Forecast Pro - A $4.99 app that shows local pollen counts with color-coded indicators and forecasts, plus a diary feature to help correlate symptoms with specific pollens.
- Plume Labs - Free air quality tracking app that provides localized air quality index measurements, pollution maps, and recommendations for outdoor activities based on current conditions.
- Pedometer++ and Sleep++ - This pair of David Smith apps track your steps and sleep patterns, with badges for achievements and integration with Apple Health data to monitor trends and potential health indicators.
- Visible - A subscription service using a Polar armband to track heart rate and daily exertion, designed for people with long COVID or invisible illnesses, providing "pace points" to help manage energy throughout the day.
Feedback
- Separate volume controls - Robert shared a tip about iOS having separate volume channels for Siri/navigation and media, explaining how to adjust the Siri volume by asking Siri to read a message and then changing the volume while it's speaking.
Shortcuts Corner
- Symptom logging shortcut - Rosemary created a simple one-action shortcut to log health symptoms directly from your home screen, using the "Log Health Sample" action with customizable options for tracking different symptoms.
Contact iOS Today at iOSToday@twit.tv.
Download or subscribe to iOS Today at https://twit.tv/shows/ios-today
Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit
Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.