There’s an app for that.
Mobile apps focused on health and fitness help users track their physical activity, monitor their diet, set fitness goals, and access workout routines
So what does an app designed for vestibular patients do?
It depends.
There are several options out there. Some have been developed by researchers to collect data while also supporting patients’ ability to track their symptoms, and others have been developed by patients themselves who wanted to give back to the vestibular community.
This article is not an exhaustive list of apps developed with vestibular patients in mind, but it will give you some options to choose from, depending on what your goals are.
Vertige
Vertige was created by Vestibular Migraine and Meniere’s patient, Kristy Carabello. During her recovery journey, Kristy began tracking her symptoms and triggers on paper. “I began noticing patterns and identifying triggers that exacerbated my symptoms, such as certain foods, hormones, and stress,” says Kristy. “Surprisingly, I couldn’t find an app specifically designed to track vertigo episodes, which inspired me to create one myself. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention!”
After answering five onboarding questions and entering your diagnosis the Freemium version allows you to track episodes by ranking the following symptoms low, moderate, high, or severe: vertigo, headache, dizziness, off-balance. It also provides you with daily and weekly summary reports and charts.
The Premium version, which is $7.99/month or $59.99/year, also includes health, environment, and food logs. Under “Health” you can track menstruation, movement/mindfulness, medication, and sleep. Under “Environment” you can track weather, screen time, stress, barometric pressure, allergy level, and pollen count. If you turn on “location tracker” all of these (except stress) will be filled in automatically. Under “Food” you can track caffeine beverage intake, water intake, and trigger foods. There are also additional fields in the episode log, including head pressure, tinnitus, ear fullness, ear affected, and nausea/vomiting.
Available for iPhone only.
Disclosures: Kristy Carabello is a VeDA volunteer. VeDA is partnering with Kristy in a clinical trial using the Vertige app to look at correlations between vestibular symptoms and environmental influences.
Bequalise
Bequalise is a holistic wellness app for women with balance disorders. Their program aims to create a community and guide users daily with personalized training, nutrition, brain exercises, and relaxation tools. Bequalise was founded by a team of healthcare and technology experts, including Dr. Vivianna Mucci, who has worked on MdDS during her PhD and Dr. Vishal Pawar neurologist as well as AI expert Luca Vajani.
Key features include a symptom checker, diary, personalized recovery plan, pill reminder for adherence programs, knowledge base, social support, and referrals to healthcare professionals.
Bequalise’s program includes medication reminders, as well as daily tips for lifestyle management, hydration, mental health, nutrition, breathing, fitness, and other educational resources.
The Bequalise app is currently free in beta testing mode. Freemium and Premium versions will be available upon the final version’s launch. Additional services planned for the future include a “Healing Box” that contains materials for collecting samples at home to send in for metabolic testing. The results of this testing will enable Bequalise to suggest a customized recovery plan, including nutrition, supplements, and exercise.
Available for iPhone and Android.
Disclosures: VeDA has a collaboration agreement with Bequalise to share information about their app with our community. In exchange, VeDA receives a donation for referrals.
Apo
The goal of Apo Tech Care is to reduce the burden of monitoring disease and facilitate collaboration between patients and their healthcare providers. Apo was created by a migraine patient in cooperation with vestibular healthcare professionals.
After answering a series of intake questions, you can record an episode by filling in start time, duration, medication taken, impact, triggers, and associated signs. The app then synthesizes this data and produces a report that can be printed out as a PDF and shared with your doctor, listing key indicators for monitoring vertigo and dizziness. A calendar and history of your episodes are also available, along with links to some patient education resources.
The app is available for free in several languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Italian; Portuguese and German are coming soon.
Apo aims to utilize anonymized patient-reported data for research in the future.
Available for iPhone and Android.
Steady Path
Steady Path is a free iOS app designed to help individuals manage vertigo and Meniere’s disease by tracking symptoms and identifying triggers. Developed by Javier Diaz, who personally experiences these conditions, the app offers a user-friendly interface for logging episodes, monitoring patterns, and visualizing data to understand the behavior of vertigo symptoms better. Its minimalist design ensures that users can focus on essential information without distractions.
The app emphasizes simplicity and personalization, allowing users to log episodes, track progress, and celebrate symptom-free days. By providing analytics to identify potential triggers, Steady Path empowers users to take control of their condition and regain confidence in their daily lives. As a project built by someone with firsthand experience, it reflects a deep understanding of the challenges faced by those dealing with vertigo.
Available for iPhone.
Which App Should I Choose?
Each app has slightly different goals and features, and the look and feel is different. All are available to try for free, so we suggest you download each and give them a try to see if they fit your needs.
