I love the fact somebody cared enough to offer such an easy way to check hemoglobin. For those of us who are anemic, constant blood draws and highs and lows are a part of life. I love the idea of it. That it’s offered for free is wonderful, but it’s not quite ready. I had this app for a few days before I was due to have a blood draw so I started testing daily. My first few tests said 14.4. Give or take a few points. 14.2 etc. Then 13. Next day 12. With anemia those two points are very important. They make a huge difference. Difference between 6 and 8 can be life and death even. This is what I’ve discovered. Your test will be most accurate if you snap the pic outside or very close to a sunny window that is NOT in direct sun. Just bright natural light, but not full force sun. These tests I got 12.2. My hemoglobin via blood was 12.2. I did get a few that said 13.3 but not many. Most were very close. So that’s your best bet. I think once this app matures its going to be invaluable, just not quite ready yet. Still mad respect to the creators. I hope they continue to invest in it. But if you are severely anemic don’t rely on this.

As the developers have stated there’s room for improvement with this app, and I’m excited for a day when it does provide reliable results. For a healthy individual, this is a great option to give you an idea. Unfortunately, for those that actually need this, it’s not reliable yet. I have faith that maybe someday it will be though!As a mom of a kiddo with hemolytic anemia, conditions with the same symptoms, on top of delicate and difficult veins; this would be an absolute game changer. We’re only a month into this nightmare, and truthfully I haven’t really known when it was time to take her in since the first time she was hospitalized. That was only because she was ghost white with a yellow tinge and couldn’t keep anything down. Four transfusions and two hospitalizations later, I’m constantly second guessing myself. Is it her POTS, autonomic dysfunction, or is she hemolyzing again?? This poor kid is a tough poke, her veins go flat or blow extremely easily; so her poor arms are covered in bruises from draws and IV’s. When we tried the app we had decent natural lighting, her first reading was 11.3 the second a few minutes later was 14.5. When I tried myself it said 10.3, which I know from recent bloodwork is no where close to accurate (not even the +\- 2.4 points). I’m hopeful that development and research continues because this would be so amazing for IMHA and anemia patients in general.

I love the concept of this but found it can become inaccurate. For example. I get a cbc ran often as I have Polycthemia Vera. I also have blood removed routinely because of my disease over producing red blood. I was trying to use this as a additional tool but find it becomes inaccurate over time. When I input my labs it then requires me to calibrate by taking another picture of my nails. Which for me is a problem as I also had a phlebotomy (blood removal) after my cbc. I can’t get around the calibration which also changed future readings to be higher than they are as the app can not differentiate the fact that I had 500 ml blood removed. What would be helpful as someone who really wants this to work due to a chronic blood cancer, would be to bypass calibration if needed. Perhaps a check box to skip calibration. Because once you input labs you have to do calibration and when I do that it messes with all future readings. So to bypass this I have had to create a whole new account with no calibration history. I really want this tool to be beneficial to me as having a chronic blood cancer where I make too much blood. I do not substitute this for Dr Care. I use in conjunction. The only work around I have for now is to do new account and make sure when entering lab results that I also do the calibration immediately when I get the lab results. Which is fine but now I have to do this at Dr Office right before they take 500 ml of blood. If I forget because I am being drained of my blood there is no way to bypass this calibration. Even reset the data feature in app might be useful. Deleting each input does nothing to correct. I’ve already tried.

I first downloaded this app about a year ago and quickly realized the readings were very inaccurate. The tests always showed me in the healthy range, though I struggle constantly with iron deficient anemia. Today, my doctor ordered a blood transfusion after getting my lab results back. I decided to try the app to see if it detected the low levels. Nope, it gave me scores of 14+ both times I tested.I can’t understand how they advertise this app as being effective if it’s so far off. Obviously it’s not meant to be diagnostic, but I can’t see it being helpful at all. I have read that these types of tests can be less accurate for people of color, but they should include a disclaimer if that’s the case. Bent fingers also have more pigment in the nail bed than when they are straight, so I wonder if that leads to higher readings.Either way, I have no use for this trash app, so I deleted it today. Just want to warn people not to rely on it, especially if you are anemic.