There are hundreds of great apps related to pregnancy. Some of them are for women thinking of becoming pregnant or for women who already gave birth. Many others are for women who are currently pregnant. In this series, I review awesome apps that help pregnant women have a better experience. My evaluations are purely based on a thorough technical test of each app. I have no personal or business relationship with any of them. Please, feel free to share your thoughts below!
WebMD’s Pregnancy (iOS) is a free and comprehensive pregnancy app for expecting parents.
The menu includes:
- “Home”. Several sections are included here:
- Word of the Week. One medical word is explained every week (the app has a Pregnancy Glossary elsewhere).
- My Journal. When you tap here, a section opens where you can record one “Unforgettable Moment” and add photos or videos using your phone or from the library. This is part of the larger “My Journal” described below.
- Featured Article. One topic is described with the accuracy and detail you would expect from WebMD.
- Your Baby. This section shows a beautiful image of the fetus each week by trimester. Of note, each image has 3 or 4 circles that, when you tap on, a relevant tidbit pops up.
- Your Body. Similar to Your Baby above, this one shows images of the maternal body and the circles with interesting tidbits.
- “Pregnancy 101”. This nicely designed section includes a long list of topics (eg, Nutrition, Exercise, Labor and Delivery, etc.) with articles from WedMD.
- “Ask My Doctor”. This is a list of questions WebMD suggests you ask your doctor by trimester. You can also add your own questions.
- “Checklists”. These include various categories of items you should remember to prepare. For example, baby clothes, feeding supplies, hospital packing, etc.
- “Appointments”. Here you can schedule your doctor appointments.
- “My Body”. In this area you can record your weight and blood pressure.
- “Symptom Tracker”. You can track your symptoms from a list of 28 common ailments of pregnancy (and you can add new ones to the list). The symptoms are rated as “A Little”, “Quite a Bit”, and “A Lot”. You can also add your own notes.
- “Contraction Tracker”.
- “Kick Counter”.
- “My Journal”. This section has pre-set “chapters” (eg, Unforgettable Moments, My Experiences, etc.) where you can enter whatever you wish, including photos and videos. You can also create your own chapters.
- “Belly Photos”.
What I like about “WebMD’s Pregnancy”:
- Great for first-time moms who want to keep everything in one place
- Easy to use
- Free
- Filled with high quality articles written by doctors
- The Appointments section allows you to schedule meetings with more than one person (eg, doctor, dentist, friend)
- Great checklist section to bring to your doctor’s prenatal appointments
- Gorgeous journal section
- The contraction tracker may be useful when you are close to being in labor
What I do not like about “WebMD’s Pregnancy”:
- No Android version
- Diseases or medications during your pregnancy would have to be entered manually, since the app does not have any of those pre-installed
- Although the app is released by WebMD, there is no doctor available to ask a question
- The Appointments do not sync with your phone’s calendar
- The weight and blood pressure trackers in “My Body” do not graph your entries, which would be nice to see variations over time
- The Symptom Tracker does not have a calendar where you could see your symptoms by month, week, or day
- There are no social forums.
- There is no option to save all your information in one go (most women will delete the app from their phones soon after birth, they should not lose all their information!)
Have you used WebMD’s Pregnancy? If so, please share your experience. Leave a comment below. Thank you!
Dr. Diego Wyszynski is the Founder and CEO of Pregistry. He is an expert on the effects of medications and vaccines in pregnancy and lactation and an accomplished writer, having published 3 books with Oxford University Press and more than 70 articles in medical journals. In 2017, he was selected a TEDMED Research Scholar. Diego attended the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.