There’s an app to address every concern these days. Instead of being a slave to work on your phones and tablets, you can put your smart devices to better use. Be it a food–logging app like Mindful Eating or the diabetes–monitoring app like dLife, there are several apps that highlight the future of mobile medicine. With stressrelated lifestyle ailments on the rise, students and young working professionals can tap into technology to keep themselves fit. Here are five must–have medical applications to download.
WATERBALANCE

About 60 per cent of our body and 70 per cent of our brain is water. Yet few of us remember to cultivate the critical habit of drinking water frequently, hurting our health in the long run. With an easy interface, this smartlydesigned app by Stanfy tells your body’s water requirements and tracks the water balance, by factoring in your height, weight, age, lifestyle and of course all your fluid consumption you log in. This means tea, coffee, beer or water; all get counted to tell you (expect to be reminded throughout the day) how much H2O love you need to soak your body in.
PLATFORM: Android and iOS PRICE: Free
VITAL SIGNS CAMERA

Turn the camera on your iPhone or iPad into a mini doctor with this rather futuristic tool. Simply by using the camera of your device, this Philips app measures your heart and breathing rate from a distance. To accurately assess your heart rate, it picks on subtle colour changes in your face known as micro–blushes (caused by the rushing in and out of blood) and analyses them. To find your breathing rate, it tracks the movement of your chest and shoulders when you sit in front of the camera. Though not a diagnostic tool, it paints a good picture of how your vitals are faring.
PLATFORM: iOS PRICE: Rs 55
FIRST AID

App addicts will tell you that this app deserves a compulsory spot on your device. Designed to instruct a layman through the critical procedure of giving someone first aid, its three equally informative versions lay down step–by–step instructions on what to do in a medical emergency by using illustrations, pictures, videos and easyto–follow text. While the zanier apps – American Red Cross First Aid and British Red Cross First Aid — are designed for both platforms, the stripped–down one by Health Team is only for android devices.
PLATFORM: Android and iOS PRICE: Free
VISION TEST

You may be certain that your eyes are at their sharpest best, and yet you may be unable to explain some vision issues you may occasionally encounter. And if you haven’t had them checked for ages, this app is a great starting point. It is loaded with numerous eye tests like visual acuity, astigmatism test, duochrome test, colour test, and questions to assess your eye sight. This won’t replace your full eye examination at an optician, but you will have a fair idea of how strained or relaxed your vision is so that you know their health.
PLATFORM: Android and iOS PRICE: Free
MEDSCAPE

Possibly the most recommended and popular medical app for doctors and medical students, Medscape is largely insightful for the medi–curious layman too. While physicians hail its exhaustive Drug Reference section, its library of expert advice on almost any disease or condition and daily dose of fresh medical news makes this the boss of all medical apps. It also affords users the option of accessing its contents offline, enhancing its reliability.
PLATFORM: Android and iOS
PRICE: Free