Glucose Buddy app

Glucose Buddy app

  • An app aimed at people with diabetes wanting to record and track their blood glucose levels, activity and nutrition.
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Glucose Buddy app By Azumio 

Features

  • Blood glucose diary.
  • Medication tracking.
  • HbA1c recording.
  • Food log.
  • Graphs and reports
  • Blood glucose check reminder.
  • Physical activity log.
  • Blood pressure log.
Clinical review 

3 star review


Read a clinical review below.

Security and privacy Does the app:
  • Collect medical information? Yes
  • Require a login? No
  • Have password protection? Yes
  • Have a privacy policy? Yes
  • Require internet access to use? Yes

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

Learn more about app charges

How to get the app

The Glucose Buddy app allows you to manually enter your blood glucose readings together with notes about food intake. You can pair it with your blood glucose meter if compatible. You can also enter your carbohydrate consumption, insulin dosages and activities. This can be automatically included from Apple Health Data if enabled. You can use the graph function to track your blood glucose levels over a selected period. Reports can be downloaded and shared.

The meal IQ section enables you to take photos of your meal, and then log your blood glucose. It will grade your meal depending on how it impacted your blood glucose to help you to make better food choices. You can share your results with other users, including your exercise and nutrition goals. 

For the complete app description, go to either Google Play(external link) (Android) or iTunes(external link) (Apple) and for a detailed review, see reviews below.

PROS CONS 

It is easy to view trends because the time frame for the graphs are flexible, showing 7 days, 14 days or a month. 

Takes a while to include nutritional information but if you have a regular diet you can copy previous entries.

✘ There are pop-up ads which are distracting.

Many additional functions and features are only available with paid upgrade.

User review

5 star review



Reviewer
: Member of the public, Auckland, New Zealand
Date of review: September 2021
Comments: Meal IQ gives carbohydrate calculations from a photo without leaving the app.


Clinical review

3 star review



Reviewer
: Angela Lambie, Pharmacist, Waitematā District Health Board
Date of review: April 2020
Platform: Apple

Version: 5.234
Comments: Many issues with the earlier versions have been resolved with upgraded versions of the app. The premium version enables an HbA1c calculator and more frequent blood glucose graphs and reports (default is weekly for the free version). 
Safety concerns: No.
New Zealand relevance: The app can pair with blood glucose monitors that are available in New Zealand. Units can be adjusted to suit New Zealand, eg, recording weight in kilograms and HbA1c in percentages.


Clinical review

2 star review



Reviewer
: Gail Keane, Registered Nurse, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Self-management Coordinator, Waitematā PHO
Date of review: July 2016
Platform: Android
Version: 1.0
Comments: Overall this app is not particularly helpful or easy to use and I would be hesitant to recommend it. It may have limited use in a younger user who is more technically savvy and has type 1 diabetes, although I think there would be better apps than this. For someone with type 2 diabetes who often already has established co-morbidities such as cardiovascular disease, I would more likely recommend the MyFitnessPal app as it gives a greater range of recording options in terms of recording portion size and calories, and provides comprehensive nutritional information. There also seems to be a better connection between exercise and food intake on MyFitnessPal in terms of overall management. The flow and navigation of the Glucose Buddy app is poor – it is tedious to constantly switch between screens to record information. It is frustrating that settings such as measurement in kilograms do not automatically carry across to the weight section as it defaults to pounds. On the whole the app is cumbersome and awkward to use. 
New Zealand relevance: Measurements can be stored as metric units such as kilograms and centimetres, as used in New Zealand, but this function does not appear to work very well. Has the option for the user to record blood glucose measurements in mmol/L and HbA1C as percentages – units used in New Zealand.

Related resources

This app has been reviewed by other independent websites.

References

  1. Rhyner D, Loher H, Dehais J, et al. Carbohydrate estimation by a mobile phone-based system versus self-estimations of individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a comparative study.(external link) J Med Internet Res. 2016 May 11;18(5):e101.
  2. Deacon AJ, Edirippulige S. Using mobile technology to motivate adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review of recent literature.(external link) J Telemed Telecare. 2015 Dec;21(8):431-8. 

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.

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Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ

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