What would you like to see in a diabetes app?

[benedict]

We'd like to hear your thoughts on what you'd like to see in a diabetes app for smartphones.

There are a number of great apps on the market but is there room for improvement and are there some areas that existing apps are not covering?

Let us know your thoughts

 

[borofergie]

Storage on the cloud, and not on the device itself.

I have some withings weighing scales (and a BP monitor) that are connected to the internet, and store my weight online, every time I weight myself.

This means that I have a record of my weight for the past 2 years, which I can access from anywhere, link to other applications and even share on social media. In contrast, my BG readings are split across three meters, and I never remember to upload them to my computer. If I lost my computer or the device, some of the readings would be lost forever.

Imagine the data analysis possibilities if we allowed researchers access to our logs...

 

[BlindFaith]

Storage on the cloud, and not on the device itself.

+1 this, definitely.

Ease of use as well - I've tried a couple of apps and they are so overloaded with "I can do this and this and this and THIS" and it just makes it so complicated to use.

 

[benedict]

Thanks BlindFaith and borofergie

 

[Terminator 2]

I use 'Sugar Log' on the Android platform, it suits my needs but has one failing, it doesn't have an option to tick/enable when the BG reading your entering has been a subject of exercise. Oddly enough it has this option to select when 'sick' (on entering any BG measurement it places a small pill/capsule graphic beside your reading), a similar 'exercise' tick box option that places say a wee runner gfx would be ideal and imo would be of more use than the current 'sick' option.


Hope that came across ok :think:

I also agree with the above cloud storage/sync

 

[SophiaW]

I'd like to see an app that can suggest how many grams of carbs are necessary to cover different intensities and durations of exercise. In the book Pumping Insulin there is a table that gives a rough guide to how many grams of carbs are necessary per 100lb, 150lb and 200lb of body weight per hour of activity. It then lists lots of different activities e.g. cycling (with different speed choices), dancing, walking, running etc. Next to each of those activity types is a column for the three different body weights and within each of those columns it suggests how many carbs are needed for an hour of that type of exercise. Obviously this is a guide and each person will be a little different but it's a good starting point for a suggestion of what to eat. If it was possible to customise the app by adjusting the suggested amount based on testing and experience of the user then that would be even better. For example, the chart suggests 15g of carbs for my chosen activity, I eat that and do the exercise and discover that actually I only needed 10g of carbs, I then have the option to edit the suggested amount and it's remembered for next time. If this could be turned into an app where you enter your body weight, select your activity type and duration and then the app suggests the amount of carbs you need to eat. I'm assuming this type of app is going to be more useful to type 1's or those on insulin so not necessarily an app for all diabetics but one I'd find useful particularly for children to use. If my daughter is at school and PE this lesson involves running for 20 minutes it would make it easy for her to work out how much carb she needs to cover that. Right now she has to guess and sometimes she'll get it wrong because she lacks the experience and knowledge to work it out accurately herself.

 

[F-o-r-d-y]

I use the app rapid calc, when set up correctly you enter you BG level and carb intake and it calculates recommended units of insulin, there are settings for planned exercise etc where the insulin dosage is reduced depending on the intensity and time of the planne exercise.
I often weigh my food work out how many cabs are in 1g of the product im eating then multiply this number with the total number of grams of the food ive weighed, I then do this for the other different sources of carbohydrate in my meal and add them all together resulting in the total amount of carbs in the meal.
I would like to see an app which gives a list I common food products and tell you how many carbs are present in one gram if the food item. Also I would have space to enter the weight of the food im eating for example mashed potato and then the app can work out for me exactly how many carbs are in my portion of mash. It would be helpfull in working out something like a roast dinner with different food items containing different carb quantities.
If this facility was added into the rapid calc app it would be the perfect app.