As Needed - Medication Tracker

Privacy-first, always free, and open source medication tracker to help you understand how you take "as needed" medication.

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Inspiration

I take "as needed" medication to manage my panic attacks, so I wanted a way to track how often they were occurring, and how I was taking my medication. I wanted a tool that would give me trends so that I could have informed conversations with my doctor. The idea was born in 2022 to simply provide myself with a tool that (at the time) could only track one medication! When I heard about the Shipaton I thought it was finally time to clean up the code and make the app available to anyone else who may find it useful, completely free & open source!

What it does

  • List current medications you are taking
  • Add new medications with RxNorm autocompletion
  • Set up medication reminders on a recurring or one-time basis
  • Log doses of medications and add notes such as side effects or other thoughts
  • View a detailed history of how much and when you took a given dosage
  • View Statistics, Trends, and Visualizations about how you have been taking your medication
  • Import, Export, or Clear all data associated with the app.

How I built it

  • Like I mentioned, it started with handling one medication, with all data stored in UserDefaults. This was a very alpha version.
  • Once I learned about the Shipaton this year I set up a SQLite database and used "Boutique" as an abstraction layer for the data.
  • I built a few Swift packages to serve as the base layer for the application: SwiftRxNorm would handle the RxNorm API to get medication typing suggestions (spelling is hard), and ANModelKit would be the data models that the app would be built around.
  • Once I had my foundation, I used Swift and SwiftUI to write the UI and all logic in the app!

Challenges I ran into

  • Apple App Store Review: This was my first indie app, so navigating two rejections and implementing feedback was the hardest part of this process.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  • Privacy First: The app is privacy focused, with the ability to export all your data with medications or notes redacted, or, completely clear all of your data off the app. I like it when the user has complete control of their own data.
  • Always Free: I chose not to charge a one-time or subscription fee, nor am I running ads. I accept tips or monthly support, but my main goal was not to earn revenue from this app.
  • Open Source: This is my first indie app and my first open source project, because it's something that I use personally, I just wanted to make it available for anyone else to use or modify for their purposes.

What I learned

  • Releasing an app is a lot harder than developing an app

What's next for As Needed

  • HealthKit integration! iOS 26 added a Medications API to the health app, so I will be working on that next
  • Growing a Community: I hope that by making this app free and open source, I may find more people who find this app useful and could submit feedback, development support, or just inspire someone else to make their app free and open source.

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