Empirical - Heart Health 17+

Finally an health app that’s actionable!

Love that this app uses my watch app data with an actual doctor to help me better understand and manage my conditions!

Please, don’t use an app to diagnose POTS…

It’s great that POTS is getting more awareness. However, POTS is more than an effect of long-Covid. It’s been glamorized since Covid because of the uptick in patients who present with it. Apps like these tend to offer “quick diagnoses and fixes” but in reality, if you do suspect you have POTS, it is better to go to an actual doctor (preferably cardiologist or neurologist) who specializes in autonomic testing. There are several other types of dysautonomia that have similar symptoms and these conditions are managed differently. These are physical tests, you can’t self-diagnose. It’s not a diagnosis you particularly want, either, if that’s not actually the condition you have. POTS patients are continuously gaslit and we have a systemic problem with getting doctors to believe our symptoms. Without the autonomic testing to back up your diagnosis, it will be much, much harder to find the right treatment that works best for you. There are also different subcategories of POTS. Some have low blood pressure, some have high. If you recommend “increase salt” to those with high blood pressure, it’s not safe without regular check-ins with your doctor to monitor your overall health in conjunction with any treatments you’re doing at home. Stay safe 👌🏻

Developer Response ,

Hi Mrs Jackson! Our POTS evaluations always include a medical evaluation from a real board-certified doctor. These programs also include physical tests: orthostatic vitals, ECG, and blood tests. Some of these can be performed at home with the aid of an Apple Watch or other smart devices, and some are performed at a local lab.

To address your specific concern about blood pressure, our at-home sit-stand procedure includes measuring blood pressure using a wireless cuff. This guides both the diagnosis and treatment decisions, such as what medication to prescribe. As for autonomic testing, our Chief Medical Officer wrote a more detailed guide on when people need to do a tilt-table test: https://data.empirical.health/p/do-i-need-a-tilt-table-test-to-confirm

Obviously, we believe medical care has to be rigorous and trustworthy. And we hear from many patients who are frustrated that they've been gaslit by the medical system--that's why we built this app, so that patients can get empathetic medical care and live their best lives.

Let me know if that answer makes sense! Feel free to email us: hello@empirical.health.

Too laggy to be usable

The data available looks great and is well presented. However, it’s impossible to scroll in the View Recent Workouts page. 2 workouts get loaded and the page ends up freezing when you try to scroll back to older workouts or even scroll to the 2nd page on a workout. Not sure if it’s just the app or iOS 18 because there are scrolling issues all over iOS 18. Definitely not paying for a non functional app but I do like the UI and would consider it if the app performed as expected. I’ve actually played around with d with the app a little more and it is just too laggy and unresponsive to use across the board. Once again, data looks amazing but app responsiveness is extremely poor. Also,

It’s a battery hog. I deleted the app.

Developer Response ,

Hey ECB71 -- we've found a bug affecting lag on the workout screen. If you send me an email at hello@empirical.health, I can add you to our TestFlight. I'd love your feedback on whether this solves the lag problem for you! Thanks for trying us.