If you’re living with diabetes, you know that keeping track of your glucose levels, diet, exercise, and medications is a lot to keep straight. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps available today to help. With the right app, you can monitor all of these things and more from the palm of your hand. But how do you know which app is right for you?
We’ll walk you through some of the best apps for diabetes type 2 and tell you what each one does best. Then we’ll list some other great apps to help keep you on track with your health goals.
BEST APPS FOR DIABETES TYPE 2
apps for type 2 diabetes
5 Apps That Help Me Manage Type 2 Diabetes
When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2006, my initial reaction was denial. I was young and I thought that type 2 diabetes showed up only in older adults. I kept asking questions like “How could this happen to me?” and “Could I have prevented this?” I was naive and I didn’t understand how diabetes would affect my everyday routine. It took a while for me to accept that I have diabetes and that it’s a chronic condition that needs to be managed.
Having type 2 diabetes means you’ll need to closely manage your blood sugar levels, and change your eating and exercise habits. I currently follow an intermittent fasting diet and a ketogenic diet that’s low-carb, high-fat, and moderate in proteins. Both of these diets help me manage my diabetes. This approach may not be the right fit for everyone, but it works for me. Even so, as a full-time career mom, it’s still easy to forget to check my blood sugar levels or stay active. This is when apps can come in handy!
Here are five apps that help me manage my type 2 diabetes on a daily basis.
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1. MyFitnessPal
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Android rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free with in-app purchases
I have been using MyFitnessPal (MFP) for a long time. In my opinion, it’s one of the best food log apps on the market. I’m able to log my calories and macronutrients — protein, fat, and carbs — and can even view them in graph formats. With MFP, I get a macronutrient breakdown of certain types of food, such as “Highest in Carbohydrates” and “Highest in Protein.” Knowing what types of food affect my blood sugar makes it easier for me to make better dietary decisions. If your goal is to lose weight, MFP will help calculate how many calories you’ll need to reach your goal. You can also pair your device with MFP to add exercise calories, or you can add them manually. Managing my weight and staying healthy makes it easier to live with type 2 diabetes.
2. mySugr
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Android rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free with in-app purchases
mySugr is my favorite blood sugar logbook app because of its easy-to-use, streamlined interface. My personalized home screen is tailored to my needs, including blood glucose numbers, carb count, and more. I have to check my blood sugar four to five times or more daily — especially if I’m trying out something new — and mySugr makes it so easy to log! I can view my daily, weekly, and monthly stats, which give me an estimate of my HbA1C. I usually need to show my doctor a log of my blood sugars every two to three months, so I download a CSV file to print and bring with me to my appointment.
If you’d like to make your testing and logging more seamless, you can order the mySugr bundle from their website, which includes a Bluetooth-enabled blood glucose meter. These mySugr features make it easier for me to manage my diabetes. This is one of the apps that really helps me get through the day.
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3. Zero Fasting Tracker
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free
Zero Fasting Tracker is my favorite no-frills app for keeping track of my fasting. I use intermittent fasting to keep my blood sugar steady during the day. Zero is very easy to use — just tap on Start Fasting and you’re ready to go! You can change your intermittent fasting goal in the settings, and it will notify you when your fasting period is over. It also shows your eating activity during the night, which may help you gather some insight into your morning glucose readings.
Intermittent fasting has been helpful to me, but it may not be the right approach for everyone. If you have type 2 diabetes, be sure to speak with your doctor before you try to follow a diet that includes fasting. Certain medications may make long periods of fasting dangerous and lead to low blood sugar levels.
4. 7 Minute Workout
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Android rating: ★★★★★
Price: Free with in-app purchases
A combination of eating healthy and exercise helps me manage my type 2 diabetes. With a busy schedule, it’s easy to forget to stay active. But, if you have 7 minutes to spare, you can get a quick little workout in for the day. This app lets you browse many different 7 minute workouts, such as 7 minute abs and 7 minute sweat. It even comes with instructional videos to help you as well! Using 7 Minute Workout helps motivate me to get active, even though it only takes 7 minutes out of my day!
5. Big Oven
iPhone rating: ★★★★★
Android rating: ★★★★✩
Price: Free with in-app purchases
A big part of managing type 2 diabetes is knowing what kind of food I can eat without spiking my blood sugar. Sometimes, I run out of ideas of what to cook and with Big Oven it’s easy to find new diabetes-friendly recipes. I love their search function for finding new recipes. Since I follow specific diets to help manage my type 2 diabetes, I look for terms like “low carb” or “keto.”
When you find a recipe you like, you can add it to your favorites and even add it to your grocery list. Every recipe has a Nutrition Facts panel, which helps me count carbs and keep them in a manageable range. Also, adding your own recipe is so easy! I use Recipe Scan so that I don’t need to manually type it up on the app. I also love using their Meal Plan function to help me sort out my recipes for the week. With the help of Big Oven, I can try out new low-carb and keto recipes while keeping my goals on track.
The takeaway
Using apps to manage type 2 diabetes has made a huge difference to me, and I hope you find my perspective useful. Over the past few years, apps have helped me lose more than 80 pounds and kept me motivated to manage my blood sugar levels. Whether it’s keeping logs of my glucose numbers, finding new ways to stay active, or even something as simple as finding a diabetes-friendly recipe, these tools may help. And anything that can make it easier to manage type 2 diabetes is worth it to me.
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