Care · Health & Body · Free
Your doctors, and what to bring to each visit.
Keep your doctors, each visit, the questions to ask and what you were told, with to-dos that land in Tasks and a reminder before you go.
-
Questions that don’t get lostWrite a question the moment you think of it. Tick it in the room and write the answer beside it. One you didn’t get to waits for the next visit.
-
What you were told, keptEach visit holds the answers, what to watch for, the follow-up, the papers and the medicines, under the doctor you saw.
-
Against your own readingsIf a Health reading such as blood pressure has clearly moved since the months before, the visit offers it as something to ask about. It compares you with you, and never calls a number high or abnormal.
Before your next appointment
-
Add your doctor
Tap ⋯, then “Add doctor”. A name, what they are to you and the number to call is enough. Put the patient number the clinic asks for under “YOUR NUMBER THERE”.
-
Add the visit
Tap +. Say what it’s for, pick the doctor under “WITH” and set the day, or clear “WHEN” to leave it as one to book.
-
Write what to ask
Put one question per line under “QUESTIONS TO ASK”, and add to the list on the visit’s page as more come to you.
Every step, in detail
- 1 Open Care, tap ⋯ and choose “Add doctor”. A name, what they are to you (a GP, a dentist, a physiotherapist) and the number to call is enough. Tap “Save”.
- 2 Tap + to add a visit. Say what it’s for, pick the doctor under “WITH”, and set “WHEN”, or clear it to leave the visit as one to book.
- 3 Under “QUESTIONS TO ASK”, write one question per line. You can add more on the visit’s page any time before you go.
- 4 In the room, tick each question as it’s covered and write what you were told beside it.
Nothing forgotten in the room
A visit in Care is a page you fill over a few days. Questions gather on it as they come to you, along with any you didn’t get to last time, and an hour before you go, the reminder says how many are waiting. In the room, tick each one or write what you were told. Once the visit has passed, whatever went uncovered moves to “Still to Ask”, ready for the next one. Walk the annual physical through its three days, and watch the Care page beside it keep up.
Sample · the app’s annual physical with Dr. Amara Patel, read on Wednesday, October 21 · move along the days, bring a question, tick and answer, then add the follow-up as a task
Annual physical
Sat, Oct 24, 09:30 · In 3 days
Dr. Amara Patel · Elm Street Clinic
To Ask · 4
- Should I get the shingles vaccine this year?
- Could the iron tablets be why my stomach’s been unsettled?
- Is it worth retesting my iron now, or wait the full three months?
- Can you look at the mole on my left shoulder before the skin check?
To Ask · 4
Tick each one as it’s covered, and write what you were told beside it.
What You Asked
Still to Ask from Before
Is the brace still worth wearing?
From Knee follow-up · October 9
Is the sensitivity on the lower left anything to worry about?
From Cleaning · May 24
Before You Go
After
08:30
Saturday, October 24
Annual physical
Doctor’s visit
Today at 09:30 · Elm Street Clinic · 4 questions to ask
Care
Coming Up
Annual physical
Dr. Amara Patel · Sat, Oct 24, 09:30
In 3 days4 to askSix-week knee check
Sam Okafor · Thu, Oct 29, 16:15
In 8 days3 to askSkin check
Dr. Helen Moreau · Mon, Nov 16, 11:00
In 26 days3 to askCleaning and checkup
Dr. Lucas Chen · To book
2 to ask
Still to Ask · 2
Is the brace still worth wearing?
From Knee follow-up · October 9
Is the sensitivity on the lower left anything to worry about?
From Cleaning · May 24
To Do
Been · 6
Knee follow-up
Fri, Oct 9, 15:30
Blood test results
Fri, Sep 11, 11:15
Eye exam
Sat, Jul 18, 14:00
“Bring” moves the question itself onto this visit, so it is asked once, wherever it began. A question counts as covered when it is ticked or has an answer, so the room needs only one of the two. Care’s reminder is the only one it sets: an hour before a visit with a time, at 9:00 AM for one without, and none for a visit still to book. On a visit that has been, its to-dos, papers and medicines sit between “What You Asked” and “After”.
Against your own readings
Before a visit, Care looks at your Health readings with one careful question: has anything clearly moved? It sets the last four weeks against the six months before, and says something only when the change clears every bar in its rule. Most of the time nothing does, and the section isn’t there at all. In the sample, blood pressure rose at the end of September. Leave readings out, or move the last four weeks, and watch the rule decide.
Sample · the app’s 13 blood pressure readings from the last 208 days · tap a reading to leave it out, or move the last four weeks
Dots are the top number, the one the rule judges; the dashed line is each window’s middle reading, labelled with the pair. A hollow dot is left out.
The rule, in order
- ✓
At least 3 readings in the last 28 days
4 readings
- ✓
At least 3 in the 180 days before
9 readings
- ✓
The recent ones spread over at least 14 days
21 days, oldest to newest
- ✓
Middles at least 5% apart
136 against 121, 12.4% higher
- ✓
Two in three recent readings on that side
4 of 4 above 121
The annual physical · Worth Mentioning
Blood pressure has run higher since September 27
Around 136/86 mmHg, against 121/79 before — 4 readings since, 9 readings before that.
Against your own earlier readings.
Blood pressure is judged on its top number and quoted as the pair. The same rule runs for resting heart rate, waist, cardio fitness, HbA1c and LDL, and never for weight or blood sugar. The words are only ever “higher” or “lower”, never “raised” or “abnormal”. “Not this visit” puts it away for this visit alone, and “Ask about this” adds the sentence to the visit’s questions, where you can edit it. Three older readings in the sample, from more than 208 days ago, fall outside both windows and count for nothing.
A to-do that knows what it’s about
A Care to-do is an ordinary task in Tasks. What makes it Care’s is a small stethoscope chip naming the visit or doctor it is about, and that link is the one part of it that stays on your iPhone. Its date decides where it waits. Write one, give it a when, say what it’s about, and see the chip it gets and where it lands.
Sample · New To-Do, from the app’s Care page · change the when, and what it’s about
No date: it waits in Tasks under No date, not on Today.
Picking a visit brings its doctor along, and a doctor narrows the visits to theirs.
Tasks · the row it makes
Wash the knee brace
No dateSix-week knee check
- Tasks
- Under “No date”, with every to-do that has none
- Today
- Not on Today until you give it a date
Through iCloud, like any task
“Wash the knee brace”, its date, and whether it’s done.
Only on this iPhone
That it’s about the six-week knee check with Sam Okafor.
A to-do linked to a visit is named for the visit, and one linked to a doctor alone for the doctor. One about no one in particular reads “Care”. If the visit is deleted, the chip falls back to the doctor, and if both are gone it disappears. On the task’s own page the chip sits under “Link”, and tapping it opens the visit in Care. Done to-dos fold under “Done” on the Care page for 14 days.
Everyone you see, and how to reach them
The Care page keeps the rest in order. Questions that went unasked wait under “Still to Ask” until you bring them or let them go. Each doctor is listed with what they are to you, the clinic and the last time you saw them, and someone you stop seeing folds under “No Longer Seeing”. “Been” holds every visit that has happened, latest first, five at a time. A doctor’s page has a button for each way to reach them that you filled in, the patient number the clinic will ask for, and every visit and to-do with them.
Medical appointments logged in Health appear under “Been” too, marked “Logged in Health”. On a paired Mac, Care has its own screen; a visit’s papers stay on the iPhone and read “On your iPhone” there.
Tips
- Add a visit as soon as you know you need one, even before it’s booked. Questions gather on it as you think of them.
- A question counts as covered when it’s ticked or has an answer, so you can leave the tick off and just write what you were told.
- Fill in “Your number there” once. It’s the number the clinic asks for every time you call.
- Medical appointments you log in Health appear under “Been”, marked “Logged in Health”.
Questions
About Care day to day.
-
Are my doctors and visits in iCloud?
No. Doctors, visits, questions, papers and medicines stay on your iPhone. “Sync with Mac” carries them to a paired Mac over your Wi-Fi, and “Back up health records” includes them. A to-do you add from Care is a task in Tasks and syncs like any task; which doctor or visit it is about stays on the iPhone.
-
What happens to a question I didn’t get to ask?
Once the visit has passed, any question with no tick and no answer moves to “Still to Ask” on the Care page. Open your next visit and tap “Bring” under “Still to Ask from Before” to add it there, or choose “Let go” if it no longer matters.
-
When does Care remind me about a visit?
An hour before a visit with a time, or at 9:00 AM on the day of an all-day visit. The reminder names the place and how many questions you have to ask, and opens the visit. A visit with no date has no reminder.
-
What is “Worth Mentioning”?
On a visit coming up, Care compares your Health readings from the last four weeks with the six months before. If blood pressure, resting heart rate, waist, cardio fitness, HbA1c or LDL has clearly moved, it says so, with both figures and how many readings each rests on. “Ask about this” adds it as a question. Weight and blood sugar are never flagged.
-
How do Care to-dos show up in Tasks?
As ordinary tasks, with a small stethoscope chip naming the visit or doctor they are about, or “Care” if they are about neither. An undated one waits under “No date”, one due within a week or a month under “Sometime”, and one with a day is on Today that day.
-
Can I keep visits for someone else?
Yes, for someone you have added in People as a family dependent. New Visit then shows a “For me” chip under “WITH”, where you choose whose visit it is.
-
Is Care part of Premium?
No. Care is free, and so is Worth Mentioning.
Works with
Where Care hands off to the rest of HourLife.
-
Tasks
A to-do added in Care is a task in Tasks, with a stethoscope chip naming the visit or doctor it is about. Tapping the chip on the task’s page opens that visit in Care.
-
Health
“Medical” in Health has an “Appt” chip that opens a new visit in Care. A medicine’s “Remind me” sets it up in Health, and Worth Mentioning reads your Health readings.
-
Today
Visits appear on the day timeline in the Health lane, dashed until they have happened, and to-dos with a day are on Today that day.
-
Calendar
Day by day lists each visit as “Care” with its time, and visits can be included when you export to your calendar.
-
People
For someone you have added in People as a family dependent, a new visit can be “For” them instead of you.
Already have HourLife?
Care is under Health in the module list, and it is free. Its ⋯ menu holds “Add doctor”, and + adds a visit. Health’s “Appt” chip, under “Medical”, opens a new visit too.
Care is in the Library, under Health & Body. If it isn’t there, turn it on in Settings → Look & Feel → Modules.
What would you like to know?
Ask a question about this feature or tell us what’s missing.
