Tag: Health »

World No Tobacco Day takes place on May 31st. Thanks to this, many people will be attempting to give up smoking in order to enjoy healthier and cheaper lives. Giving up smoking is far from an easy thing to do, however, which is where new app Kwit features.

The app adds gamification elements to the process of quitting smoking in order to motivate its users to continue avoiding their addictive habit.

In all, there are 60 achievements to unlock as well as a form of levelling up system. Health, wellbeing, finances, free time and the amount of cigerettes smoked are all taken into account in order to devise the current level for the user with the level supplying useful information about what this means for the ex-smoker. There's also a timer function that informs them just how long they've given up for, right down to the second!

Motivation and determination is a big part of kicking the habit and Kwit should go a long way to keeping people away from smoking for good.

It's out now and it's currently free to download.

Anyone can start a diet, but sticking to it is a different story. Between watching what one eats, doing scheduled weigh ins and generally making sure that they are staying on track, a diet can be a hard thing to maintain. To make getting in shape a little easier, as well as prove that the internet can be used for more than just lazy web browsing, Body Chef has released Diet and Weight Loss Buddies.

The app calls itself "the world's first social network app for people who want to lose weight and feel great." Through the app, users can put in their personal diet information and schedule reminders to make sure they stay on the wagon. They can also look up new diets and strategies online by connecting with fellow dieters around the world. It has everything dieters need: information, encouragement, and support from others.

Diet and Weight Loss Buddies is available now on the App Store for free. It can help make up for that lost time spent sitting down, playing with an iPhone.

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Given that it's free, women in need of tracking their birth control medication may as well skip ahead and get downloading myPill™ - Birth Control Reminder immediately.

As the name suggests, myPill™ - Birth Control Reminder is an easy to use app that reminds women of when to take their next birth control pill. That's useful enough in itself but the app goes one step further. Easily set up, myPill™ - Birth Control Reminder can help women plan their schedule up to six months in advance at the swipe of a finger. This means that the user can track exactly when to expect their periods so they can plan their life and any big plans accordingly.

A built in notes facility ensures that users with any concerns can track any unusual changes in their cycle, ready to inform their doctor or gynecologist at a later appointment. Other events such as missed pills can also be easily tracked.

Even SMS and e-mail reminders can be configured for those who don't just want to be reminded by their iOS device.

myPill™ - Birth Control Reminder is an Universal app and available now.

This week at 148Apps.com we closed out the month of January, and thus our month of focusing on health-related apps, with a special article on iOS and special needs by Lisa Caplan. She writes, "In keeping with January’s health & fitness theme I’m taking a stab at some self-disclosure. I have a spinal cord injury with a host of related 14-karat diagnoses. I don’t use apps for the disabled, though, like those to help remind me to take my meds, find handicapped parking, get medical information or find online support communities. I don’t think anything on my iPad – including pictures – would hint that I have “special needs.” Nonetheless, iOS devices and apps have improved my health, both physical and mental."

Read all of Lisa's commentary at 148Apps.com.

Amy Solomon at GiggleApps.com reviewed Thumbnail Theater: Macbeth this week, and she had some very positive things to say about it: "Thumbnail Theater: Macbeth is an app that I greatly enjoyed, both on its own merits and also because apps for older children are not as common as I would like in iTunes. I highly recommend this app to any student who is reading Shakespeare as well as to adults who would like to know more about this time period in general."

Read more about this iOS adaptation of the "Scottish Play" at GiggleApps.com.

Finally, 148Apps.biz site editor Rob LeFebvre reported on recent trends in app costs. He writes, "Fiksu, Inc. released their latest report today on the mobile app economy, and found all time highs for marketing costs as well as iOS downloads in December. They attribute this data to advertising bidding wars to lock in top rankings before the App Store froze during the 3 day holiday."

Read the full report at 148Apps.biz.

That's another week down for the record books. Thanks for reading, and remember that you can keep track of all the latest reviews, news and contests by following us on Twitter or liking us on Facebook. See you next time!

Bloodnote isn't the most exciting sounding of apps but it is extremely useful for those people who need to keep an eye on their blood pressure.

The app provides an easy way of entering blood pressure measurements as and when the user wants them to. It's all laid out in a clear and concise manner so that the systolic, diastolic and pulse can all be consulted at a quick glance. All the user has to do is drag their finger to the relevant reading through a sliding scale. It takes seconds to enter figures.

Bloodnote keeps track of the readings according to the date so it's easy for the user to see how things have changed over the passage of time.

Besides being useful purely for personal reference, it's ideal for those who have been asked by their doctor to keep an eye on how things are progressing.

Bloodnote is out now and priced at $1.99.

App developer, Abvio, has a robust offering of workout apps tailored specifically for the iPhone user. These apps, including Runmeter, Cyclemeter and Walkmeter which respectively track running, cycling, and walking workouts. Each of these apps track and store workout data on the iPhone itself so there is no need for users to connect to any online database to upload or download their data. This can save precious KB for the more data conscious users out there. Users can also post their workout activity to Facebook, Twitter, or dailymile.com and when friends reply to these posts, the apps will report those responses to the user in real time using text-to-speech technology. One voice is included free and other voices are available via in-app purchase for $0.99 each.

As an added bonus, Abvio has recently announced that their apps now support many of the Wahoo Fitness products. Using these monitoring device with their devices, users can track detailed stats on their heart rate and calories burned during their workouts.

Good health is important for any adult but for a baby it somehow feels even more vital. As any parent with a baby knows, it's a scary time indeed when a child seems not at their best. Fortunately, popular medical site WebMD has iOS users covered with the release of WebMD Baby.

The app gives users quick access to some great advice from expert sources. Personalized for a baby's age, there's timely physician-approved guidance to ensure parents understand and can keep track of everything popular.

In the baby's first year, there are 52 weekly featured multimedia packages aimed at the baby's first year plus a daily tip for every day of the year. In the second year, this is brought down to 12 monthly packages and 84 tips.

Alongside such useful advice, there are trackers for growth, diapers, sleep and feeding. There's even a Baby Book section for the user to capture key memories and milestones via photos or videos.

With 400 articles, 598 tips, 70 videos and these useful tools, WebMD Baby should be indispensable for the new parent.

Whether your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, have more energy, or just take better care of yourself, the iOS App Store has lots of fitness and health apps to help. We've taken a closer look at the best from Apple's own New Year, New You list to help you pick the ones right for you.

P90X - By Beachbody, LLC
The P90X can be a punishing workout. Use this app to keep on track and keep the muscles burning with a schedule, track and sync progression with the P90X website, and purchase P90X workout bundles with video and audio guides.

Gorilla Workout : Athletic Fitness Training on a Budget - By Heckr LLC
Working out is great, but unless a substantial in-home gym is available, it usually requires a trip to the gym. However, this app will instruct users on tons of different workouts at 4 different levels that require no equipment at all. A great way to get fit on a budget.

Pocket Yoga - By Rainfrog, LLC
Yoga is a great way to workout out at home, but unless a trained yoga instructor is handy it can be hard to do it right. This app will guide users through various yoga workouts with voice instructions and illustrated instructions. Airplay can also be used to play on a larger screen.

There are even more fitness apps, after the break.

The award-winning Scosche MyTrek Pulse Monitor is an arm band that communicates wirelessly with the free myTREK health and fitness app. The app displays real-time pulse, target training zone, calories burned, distance and speed of run, total workout time and provides voice prompts during the workout. At $129.99, the pulse monitor works exlusively with the above mentioned app and seems to greatly reduce the bulkiness of the many chest and watch combinations.

With accurate pulse monitoring, the user can easily assess the intensity of their workout and adjust which training zone they're in by using the five color coded options to quickly identify the desired intensity level. Based on personal health information, each workout zone is represented in a different color, including Resting Zone (White), Weight Loss Zone (Green), Fitness Zone (Yellow), Performance Zone (Orange) and Red Line Zone (Red). Each training session can be customized by adjusting the type of activity, target training zone and type of workout all within the app. It also includes motivational voice prompts to get the user to the finish line as well as makes it easy to control music via the integrated buttons on the Scosche myTREK Wireless Pulse Monitor.

This week at 148Apps, we took your New Year's resolutions seriously and started our "Health and Fitness" month. Editor Rob LeFebvre writes, "We’ve already taken a look at some apps that help us all acheive our goals, and we plan to continue that trend for the entire month, with personal stories from our crack writing team, continued reviews, and focused features like our Favorite Four."

See our first group of Health & Fitness reviews at 148Apps.

Our apps-for-kids site, GiggleApps, offered a review of Odd Spotting. Reviewer Amy Solomon says, "Odd Spotting, developed by Micromicon Media Limit, is an “odd one out” game with 144 levels, the goal of each being to spot the object that is different from all the others in the group. As I began to explore how Odd Spotting works, I couldn’t help but to remember the lyrics from a classic Sesame Street song, “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.”

Learn more and read the full review on GiggleApps.

Finally, on 148Apps.biz, writer Jeff Hughes commented on Apple's recent (and quiet) changes to app categorization on the App Store, saying "Just like Google, when iTunes makes the slightest change to their App Store search algorithm, it has an impact on how many people see your app. The recent changes to the category ordering have also impacted sales for many app vendors for better or worse. Some developers have been helped because their app is now in a category that is displayed higher on the mobile screen...Other developers may be adversely impacted due to the decrease in exposure for their app because their category now appears further down the list."

Read more on 148Apps.biz.

And that, my friends, completes our rundown of happenings across the 148Apps network for the week of January 9-13. Keep track of all the latest news, reviews and contests by following us on Twitter or Liking us on Facebook. See you in a week!