Health and fitness: There’s a local app for that

Boulder has been a hotbed of innovation in the medical industry and for app development. Those industries are starting to merge, as a number of health and fitness apps have been built in the Boulder Valley recently.

They range from trackers for both fertility and pregnancy to anatomy encyclopedias and an app that’s designed to keep runners safe at all times. 

The app industry is exploding not only in Boulder but worldwide. The University of Alabama-Birmingham predicted that app downloads will produce upward of $77 billion in revenue in 2017, and the tech magazine Wired reported that the total market size for the industry will approach $143 billion this year.

With that in mind, here are a few of the best from the Boulder Valley:

Kindara  is a fertility app, designed to help women better understand their bodies and plan either when to get pregnant or avoid pregnancy. Users input data, including body temperature, the consistency of their cervical fluid, their menstrual cycle and their sex life. Kindara then uses that data to track on a day-by-day basis when each user is fertile, or not. Women also can connect with each other on the app for pregnancy advice, or simply to share stories or get support. Kindara is free in the App Store.

If Kindara is about helping women get pregnant, iBirth takes over from there. Designed for doctors, midwives and patients, it aims to be a comprehensive, upbeat pregnancy resource. iBirth sends users daily inspirational notes from leading pregnancy doctors, tracks contractions so expectant moms don’t have to, provides full nutrition guides and meal plans (even for vegetarian, gluten- or dairy-free diets) and compiles questions for their doctors. iBirth is free in the App Store, but offers in-app purchases.

Fitter Faster was developed to make getting in shape quick and simple. It’s an audio workout program, marketed as a “personal trainer in your ear.” Its exercise programs are tailored to users’ needs and are designed by top exercise scientists. Fitter Faster is still in beta but can be downloaded from its website.

Biophone Field, developed by Broomfield-based Novum Concepts, is designed to connect first responders such as firefighters or emergency medical technicians in the field with the hospital to which they are sending their patients. The first responders capture photos, video and patient information such as EKGs, injuries and more on their cell phones, then transmit that data to the hospital using a secure, HIPAA-compliant transmission. Biophone Field is free in the App Store, but the receiver must have downloaded the client Biophone Base, which is a subscription service.

Genes for Good is a Facebook app developed to aid a study by the University of Michigan, with the goal of getting tens of thousands of people involved in genetic research for medical advancement. Users answer health-related questions, input information about their background and track their health through the app. In addition to the medical research, researchers will tell users about their genetic history through the study.

AnatomyMapp is designed to be a comprehensive educational resource for anyone — including doctors, nurses and students — who needs to know human musculoskeletal anatomy. It features 364 flashcards that cover every part of the human anatomy, with multiple styles of built-in quizzes to accommodate different learning styles and audio pronunciations of every muscle. AnatomyMapp is available for $19.99 in the App Store and on Google Play.

Fit Trip was developed to take people’s stationary bike, treadmill or rowing workout out of the gym and to wherever they want it. Users choose what visual track they want the app to display — hiking in the Alps, running on the beach, biking through rolling hills — and lose themselves in that and their workout. It also features a heart-rate monitor that tracks all workout-related measureables. Fit Trip is free in the App Store.

RunRaegis is a running app that has all of the conventional distance, heart rate and calorie tracking, but its bread and butter is its safety features. It’s designed to make sure users are safe when they’re running. Users input emergency contacts who automatically are notified every time the user goes out for a run. The contacts can track the runner on GPS and be alerted if the runner isn’t back by a predetermined time. There’s a panic button for runners that will immediately alert 911 and their emergency contacts, and broadcast that alert to other users of the app. RunRaegis is subscription-based. It costs $4.99 a month, $19.99 for six months and $24.99 for a year.

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