How to set medication reminders on your iPhone
One of the most useful additions to iOS 16 and watchOS 9 is the ability to log medications in the Apple Health app.
The update allows users to manage meds, vitamins and supplements under one roof, with regularly scheduled reminders tracking when you’re on and off your meds, along with a 10-minute snooze button if you’re busy when you receive them Alarm.
If you’re in the US, you can even scan medications with your iPhone camera, search Apple’s database for medications, and gain insight into possible drug interactions.
Hopefully these features will be available in the UK in the future but for now we’ll just focus on the basic logging features which include reminders and medication history to monitor how often you take your medication over a 28- day period.
Scroll down to learn how to set medication reminders on your iPhone with iOS 16.
What you will need:
- An iPhone running iOS 16
The short version
- Open the Health app
- Tap Browse
- Choose medication
- Tap Add medication
- Enter the name of your medication
- Choose the type and strength of your medication
- Set the frequency
- Customize the icon shape, color and background
- Tap Done
How to set medication reminders on your iPhone
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Step
1Open the Health app
First, make sure your phone is running iOS 16 to access the new medication tracking feature.
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Step
2Tap Browse
This is in the lower right corner.
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3Choose medication
You should find this option in the middle of the list of health categories.
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4Tap Add medication
If you’ve added a drug in the past, your screen may look different than ours.
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5Enter the name of your medication
Then tap Next.
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6Choose your medication type
This can be a capsule, tablet, liquid or more.
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7Add the strength of your medication
You can skip this step if you are unsure.
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8thChoose a shape for your medication icon
You can also skip this step.
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9Choose how often you take this drug
You can tap Add Time to choose a specific time for your reminders.
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10Customize the colors of your medicines and the background
Tap Next when done.
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11Click Done to save
You can also review your reminder and add optional details at this stage.
Troubleshooting
The Health app allows users to search Apple’s database for their medications and even use their iPhone’s camera to scan the back label. However, this feature is only available in the US.
This is another feature only available in the US.
If you are in the United States, you can tap Drug Interactions in the Your Medication section of the Health app to view any moderate, serious, or critical interactions between the medications you are taking. However, only drugs in Apple’s database are included here, which means you can’t view possible drug interactions with unlisted drugs.