FlashMed

MOBILE PHONE APPLICATIONS (apps) for kidney disease can be used to assist patients and clinicians alike. Renal-specific food diary apps empower patients to make better food choices by comparing their intake of protein, phosphorus, potassium, fluids, and other nutrients to their nutrition prescription. Clinicians will find the information from these food diaries invaluable when reviewing laboratory data and assessing which food items may be affecting a specific laboratory value. In addition, the data collected will allow patients and clinicians to work together to tailor the diet plan. Mobile phone apps can also be used as a reference to determine nutrients and ingredients in food items. This information assists clinicians and patients to find food items that can fit within the nutrition prescription.

According to a survey conducted by Nielson, as of June 2012, 54.9% of Americans own a smartphone, with 2 of 3 Americans choosing a smartphone over a feature phone.1 One reason to choose a smartphone is for mobile phone applications. Both platforms, Android and Apple, have mobile application stores, or App stores. Searching the Apple App Store2 with the terms ‘‘nutrition’’ or ‘‘kidney’’ will yield 1,232 applications and 119 applications, respectively.

Searching with the same terms in the Google play store3 yields at least 1,000 results for each term. Not all of the apps found pertain to renal patients or kidney disease. The following 8 apps described in this article are the most useful to renal patients. All of the apps described are available as a mobile phone app, with a few available on iPad. See Table 1 for an overview of the apps.