It’s important that we start the New Year with perhaps the most important resolution: taking care of our health. It is high time that health becomes the first priority for everyone considering what we have been through in 2020. So if you want to stay healthy, we’re going to recommend here a few top-notch heart health apps that’ll help you keep fit, on the go, and healthy.
In the interest of justifying the entries on this list and avoiding personal bias, let’s quickly establish some criteria. First, we have identified the purpose an app serves (i.e. does it cater to any niche, or works for multiple groups). Second, we have considered how well it complements the said purpose, and finally is it worth the price tag, if any. With that in mind, in no particular order, here are some of the best apps out there.
PulsePoint Respond
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death worldwide, with a report from 2016 citing 85% of those deaths linked to heart attacks. Keeping the fact in consideration, we’re starting off the list with a strong entry, the community-oriented PulsePoint. This app focuses on are people with debilitating cardiac disease that are at risk of emergencies such as heart attacks. In case of an emergency, the app will immediately notify all potential responders within the vicinity and, upon approaching a patient, the app will instruct them about CPR while providing directions to the nearest available external defibrillator. So, the immediate plus is that the app is free! It’s also an all-too-easy way of letting families keep a watchful eye on each other without being together at the same time. While with a limited niche and function, its quick execution and easy-to-use interface is a handy tool for individuals and families in need.
SmartBP
Hypertension is an ever-present threat in the current world. Afflicting 1.13 billion of the world’s population (with that number projected to further climb), it mandates a careful, if not constant, eye on one’s own BP. And SmartBP is just perfect for it. While it relies on the Apple HealthKit or Microsoft’s HealthVault in order to obtain BP measuring data and then apply its own mechanism to give you an almost accurate reading. Moreover, it can easily record and calculate other variants such as BMI or even measure improvement over a period of time. The daily records can be shared with a doctor for further opinions and analysis. So, quite a well-spread niche that is, but it loses a few marks due to its reliance on other apps. But it’s free and a great way to keep your health in check.
Cardio
Now here’s the closest entry we have to what may be considered a controversial take. Let’s look at the bad first. Cardiio is only available on the Apple Store, therefore limiting its user base. While the app itself is free, a myriad of its functions relies on purchases as opposed to just being ad-free. With those out of the way, however, we find ourselves with an app both useful and boasting a rather surprising amount of accuracy, even when paired against an actual pulse oximeter. Other than simply checking pulse pre-and post-exercise, which can be checked by both a finger test as well as the iPhone’s face camera, it calculates the calories burned post-exercise, endurance scores and has the ability to print out and forward results. Moreover, it has a fitness schedule of its own, and the list goes on. A useful app, with the premium version only costing $6.99, it is perhaps the most versatile of all heart health apps on this list.
FibriCheck
This entry on our list has a lot of discourse around it. Other than being approved by the FDA for consumer usage, it has been tested and reviewed by medical journals in attempts to scourge the accuracy of low-cost mobile apps as opposed to an actual ECG. This app works great because, as it turns out, ECG machines are both expensive and difficult to install. At any rate, what FibriCheck does is measure heart rate in attempts to gauge and detect diseases such as atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, and more or less anything related to heart rate. While costing €3.99 per month, without the 24 hours free trial period, its entry on this list is entirely justified by the FDA approval, as well as the effective functioning that makes it stand out from the other heart health apps on this list.
Our health is an all-too-important part of our daily lifestyle. Letting it go to waste is letting genuine pleasure and happiness fall by the wayside, as any number of researchers could tell you. So, let us actively look after ourselves this year with the above-mentioned heart health apps.