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Bowelle - The IBS tracker

Bowelle - The IBS tracker app

Bowelle is useful for individuals who have IBS and are having difficulty managing their symptoms. Using the app to track relevant information allows an individual to get more insight into trends and patterns with their symptoms over time and share those with their health professional.

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Bowelle – The IBS tracker app	By Bowelle AB
	Features Tracking – daily tracking of how you feel, bowel movements, food eaten (including adding photographs) and stress levels. Graphs and reporting – the app then provides daily averages for this data entered. Data exports.
Country of origin	Sweden
Clinical review	Read a clinical review below.
Security and privacy	Does the app: Collect medical information? No Require a login? No Have password protection? Yes Have a privacy policy? Yes Require internet access to use? No Read more about safety and security when using apps. Brochures: Tips to improve your privacy and security [PDF, 65 KB] Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ Staying safe online(external link) Netsafe, NZ
Cost	Basic is free, but there is a paid upgrade version.
Advertisements	This app contains no ads.
How to get the app	(external link) (external link)

Bowelle is mainly a food and symptom diary app for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other gastrointestinal issues. The app allows you to track and keep a record of:

how you feel
what you eat
your water intake
stress levels
bowel movements

It also has notes and custom information to learn more about your bowel patterns and possible triggers.

For the complete app description, go to the app website(external link), App Store(external link) or, for a more detailed review, see reviews below.

PROS	CONS
✔ Thorough FAQs on the website to support the use of the app. ✔ Can connect Bowelle to Apple Health to bring in steps, sleep, weight and water intake data. ✔ Tracking of how you feel, bowel movements, food intake and stress levels. ✔ Well-designed tracking options, easy to input. You can create custom fields for tracking other aspects such as sleep. ✔ Onboarding tour shows clearly how to use the app. ✔ Available in 12 languages. ✔ Simple food tracking using photos as well as written text. ✔ Paid version only: 1 month $5.99, 3 months $11.49 and 12 months $24.99. ✔ Has the option to create a report and email to health professional, or print and take along to the appointment. ✔ Can create custom fields, bowel movement tags, sync to iCloud, CSV export for reporting, password protect account, customization of menu, water targets and top chart.	✘ Only available on iPhone, not currently available on Android. ✘ Purely used for tracking and providing trends. No educational content. ✘ Paid version includes many of the features of benefit, particularly for sharing with health professional. ✘ Unable to track other gut symptoms on the free version, can only track bowel movements. Custom fields such as bloating, pain etc for other IBS symptoms are only available to add into the Premium option. ✘ Stool tracking only uses 1 to 5 rating for consistency of stool, which is not in alignment with the Bristol stool chart which healthcare providers will refer to when discussing bowel movements.

PROS

CONS

✔ Thorough FAQs on the website to support the use of the app.

✔ Can connect Bowelle to Apple Health to bring in steps, sleep, weight and water intake data.

✔ Tracking of how you feel, bowel movements, food intake and stress levels.

✔ Well-designed tracking options, easy to input. You can create custom fields for tracking other aspects such as sleep.

✔ Onboarding tour shows clearly how to use the app.

✔ Available in 12 languages.

✔ Simple food tracking using photos as well as written text.

✔ Paid version only: 1 month $5.99, 3 months $11.49 and 12 months $24.99.

✔ Has the option to create a report and email to health professional, or print and take along to the appointment.

✔ Can create custom fields, bowel movement tags, sync to iCloud, CSV export for reporting, password protect account, customization of menu, water targets and top chart.

✘ Only available on iPhone, not currently available on Android.

✘ Purely used for tracking and providing trends. No educational content.

✘ Paid version includes many of the features of benefit, particularly for sharing with health professional.

✘ Unable to track other gut symptoms on the free version, can only track bowel movements. Custom fields such as bloating, pain etc for other IBS symptoms are only available to add into the Premium option.

✘ Stool tracking only uses 1 to 5 rating for consistency of stool, which is not in alignment with the Bristol stool chart which healthcare providers will refer to when discussing bowel movements.

Clinical review

Reviewer: Nickie Hursthouse, Registered Dietitian
Date of review: September 2024
Platform: Apple
Version: 1.24.3
Comments: Bowelle is a well-designed, user-friendly app for tracking mood, food and bowel movements. The premium version is more useful for an individual and comes at a relatively low cost of $24.99 for 12 months. The reports are visually well presented including both data entered, and graphs to show trends – providing an excellent tool for health professionals to use in the management of the individual’s condition. This app is a helpful tool to gain further understanding of symptom patterns and trends, as well as bringing awareness of the impact of food and mood on the gut. It is an app that should be used in conjunction with support from a health professional.
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: Yes
Concerns: None.

Consumer guide – how to choose a health app
Clinicians guide – how to choose a health app
Irritable bowel syndrome apps
New Zealand-based apps
NZ Health App Library
Irritable bowel syndrome

Disclaimer: The NZ Health App Library is a free consumer service to help you decide whether a health app would be suitable for you. Our review process is independent. We have no relationship with the app developers or companies and no responsibility for the service they provide. This means that if you have an issue with one of the apps we have reviewed, you will need to contact the app developer or company directly.