Latest News
Version 5.16 released
24 Mar 2025
Hi spoonies, I’m so happy to announce the release of version 5.16 of Chronic Insights, because this comes with a major new development: the launch of my new ‘❤️ 10% for charity‘ initialtive! Also, a few extra features, including the ability to record custom measurements.
Initially 5.16 is only available people who have signed up to the beta version for Android. The plan is to release it to everyone on 1st April 2025.
❤️ 10% for charity
When I first started developing my symptom diary app, it was just a hobby. I looked at all the symptom diary apps on the app store, and I just didn’t like any of them. So, I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to try making my own. I had no idea that years later it would grow into what it’s become: a passion project, launched on the Play Store and the App Store and used by people from all over the world to help manage their chronic illness.
Part of the reason I’m still working on it today is the unbelievable feedback, encouragement and support I’ve had from people who write to me with suggestions, ideas and bug reports, and the connection I have felt to people who live with chronic illness every day. So, even though most days it’s difficult to sit for longer than an hour or so at my computer because of my chronic pain and fatigue, the thing which has kept me motivated to continue improving the app is you. I feel privileged to be able to work on something which has a real, meaningful impact on how people can record and communicate how they feel, and figure out what’s going on with their chronic illness. Chronic Insights is now much more than just a hobby or an app: it’s a mission.
The ❤️ 10% for charity initiative is my way to give back to charities who support people with chronic illness, who are run by amazing people who rely solely on donations to continue their work. Here’s how it works:
When you sign up to a subscription to use the premium features of Chronic Insights, you get to choose a charity (see the 10% for charity page for a list of the charities currently available)
Each year in August, I will take 10% of the revenue I receive from subscriptions (this is after a 15% which Google and Apple automatically take for any in-app subscriptions) and divide that amongst the charities on the list, weighted by how many people choose each charity
Custom Measurements
This new feature was inspired by someone who wanted to record the results of a Parkinson’s “finger tapping test”. This could perhaps been added a new type of questionnaire, but this didn’t seem quite right. So I decided to add the ability to create your own “custom measurement“, which is any arbitrary number between a given minimum and maximum value you might want to record.
This is now available as a new diary item type. To add one, scroll to the bottom of your main diary list in the Diary tab and tap on the ‘Add diary item‘ button and choose Custom Measurement (alternatively, open the main settings menu, expand the Symptom Diary section, and choose Custom Measurement). Enter a name for your measurement (eg ‘Parkinson’s finger tapping test‘), a minimum value (eg 0), a maximum value (eg 100) and a precision (whether you want to record whole numbers or decimal points). This will then be added to your diary, where you can begin making diary entries for your custom measurement.
More questionnaires
I’ve added some additional questionnaires which people have asked for:
Migraine disability assessment questionnaire (MIDAS)
Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression
PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)
Oswestry low back pain (ODI)
Rolland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ)
More blood tests
I’ve added some additional blood tests which people have asked for: B12, Vitamin D, HbA1c, high-sensitivity CRP, insulin, uric acid, magnesium, AST and GFR
Option to break continuous chart lines at 4am
The ‘break continuous line‘ option for line charts is designed to show gaps in your symptom diary data. So for example, this is what my pain chart looks like for the past few months using the ‘always join the line‘ setting:
Now, if I change this to ‘Break the line if there is more than 1 day between readings‘ setting, it looks like this - notice how you can now see the gaps where there was more than 1 day where I didn’t record anything (personally I much prefer this):
Before, the smallest gap between diary entries where the line break could occur was 1 day. In version 5.16, there is now an additional option labelled ‘4am‘, which will break the line every night at 4am. For me, this is what it looks like:
This option is only really useful if you are recording several diary entries each day. The idea behind this is that I thought the chart might be more representative to not join the line between the last pain entry I make at night, and the first pain entry I make in the morning. I’m not sure if this is better or not. What do you think?
Minor improvements to 3D
The load speed of the 3D models has been improved slightly for the Android version - it will load around 10-20% faster. I have also fixed a bug which causes the app to crash on Android under very specific circumstances when opening the 3D model.
On a personal note
I hope you’re having a reasonably good day today. I’ve been struggling more than usual with my pain and fatigue over the past month, some uveitis, and symptoms which only tend to appear when I’m going through a bad flare (a swollen knee, intense aches in my hips, and an aching jaw). I’m not sure exactly why. One possibility is that the injections of a ‘biologic‘ medication I take called certolizumab is starting to become less effective in controlling my axial SpA, but it’s difficult to tell because my pain is so random and always changing. I’m really glad that I’ve been recording my symptoms in Chronic Insights, because it’s making it much easier to figure out if my pain really is getting worse, and by how much, and it gives me something to show my doctors if I need to talk to them about possibly changing my medication.
So it’s been quite a tough month, and it’s taken me a bit longer than I hoped to get version 5.16 released, but I’ve really enjoyed reading some great reviews on the app store and emails from many of you to talk about the app. Thank you ❤️
Version 5.15 released
20 Feb 2025
Hi spoonies, I’m really pleased to announce that version 5.15 of my symptom diary app has been released, which will resolve some significant issues some people were having with some changes I made to the Health Connect and Apple Health integration in version 5.14, and I’ve also added some new bits and pieces which people have asked for.
Fixes to Health Connect and Apple Health integration
In older versions of the app, Health Connect / Apple Health integration was very basic - it just presented daily averages or daily totals for each item (for example, heart rate, steps, blood sugar, oxygen saturation etc.).
In the last update (5.14) I increased the amount of information which Chronic Insights reads from Health Connect (for people using Android) and Apple Health (for people using iPhone) so that it read every record, instead of just daily averages. There were two reasons for this: I wanted to be able to show more detail about thing like heart rate, so you can see the ups and downs throughout the day; and I wanted to add some extra metadata for things like blood sugar records (so you can for example see details about the blood sugar sample source and whether it was before or after a meal). Unfortunately, I underestimated just how much data this might involve! So, for some users, the app started slowing down and sometimes crashing, due to the weight of the data (especially heart rate - let’s say your smart watch records heart rate every 30 seconds - over 10 years that will create over 4 million records!). This was a major oversight on my behalf, for which I apologise to everyone affected. Thank you to everyone who wrote to me to report the issue.
So, for version 5.15 I have gone back to reading daily averages and totals, but made improvements: for example, for things like heart rate and oxygen saturation, it now shows not just the average, but also the maximum and the minimum, which is much more helpful. For sleep, instead of showing sleep stages (for example REM, deep sleep etc.) chronologically (which was hard to read), it shows it as a stacked bar, where the bar represents the total duration of that sleep ‘session‘, and the segments of the bar show how much time was spent in each sleep stage - a big improvement. For blood sugar and other measurements, it also shows metadata like sample source and relation to meal time.
Archive all data before a specific date
There is now a shortcut button at the top of the Diary screen to open the Archive screen, which has been improved. You can now choose to archive all data which occurred before a specific date. I introduced this for those of us who have several years worth of data in their diary - it can become quite tricky to use the green time sliders at the bottom, because the available time range is so large. By archiving everything before, for example, 6 months ago, the time sliders become much more manageable.
Quick actions menu
I’ve added a ‘quick action‘ menu for each diary item in the main Diary list: it looks like 3 little dots. This is just a shortcut to open the details page, settings page, or to archive each item.
User manual
I finally finished writing a proper user manual, which explains all the features of the app - something which a few people have asked for. If there’s anything missing from the manual which you think should be added just let me know!
Version 5.14 released
13 Dec 2024
Hi spoonies, I’ve just released version 5.14 of my symptom diary app, which has lots of new features and improvements! Thank you to everyone who emailed me with some of these suggestions.
More detailed health and vitals data
The data from Health Connect and Apple Health is now much more detailed, showing individual records (such as heart rate samples) instead of just daily aggregations.
In addition, how Vitals data is stored in the app has been completely overhauled, to support some extra metadata which some people have asked for (thank you for these suggestions!). You can now record these metadata for some of the vitals:
for blood pressure and heart rate, you can now record the body position you were in when taking the reading (eg lying down, sitting, standing)
for blood pressure you can also record where the blood pressure reading was taken from (eg left upper arm vs right upper arm)
for blood sugar you can record where your sample came from (eg capillary vs interstitial) and the relation of the sample to meals (before meal or after meal)
for stool you can record size and colour
For some of these metadata, you can also now split the chart into multiple series, for example to show separate lines for blood pressure taken from the left arm vs the right arm.
Insights tab retains state
In previous versions, when the app restarted, the Insights tab would reset, meaning that you would lose any custom charts you had configured. From version 5.14, the Insights tab now saves it’s state, so all charts are retained across app restarts.
Version 5.13 released
16 Oct 2024
Hi spoonies, a relatively small update in version 5.13 has just been released, with some improvements to the weather feature:
3 day air quality forecast can now be pinned to the top of your Diary. This was to support some users whose symptoms could be triggered by air quality, such as asthma. I’ve included the formats used by both the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who score air quality on different scales.
In addition, weather charts can also optionally show a 3 day forecast! This applies to all the weather charts: temperature, pressure, humidity, cloud cover.
Version 5.12 released
11 Oct 2024
Hi spoonies, I’m really pleased with the latest version 5.12, which comes with lots of new features and improvements!
There is a new scrollable timeline on Story page - this was a suggestion from a user who wanted to be able to scroll through a large timeline chart instead of using the time sliders.
I’ve also broken the link between the time filter sliders on the Diary screen and Insights tab: before, when you changed the time range on the Diary screen, it would also change the time range on the Insights screen so they were always the same. I decided it was actually better if they were not linked in this way, so that you can view different time ranges on each tab.
New Stats table on the Insights tab - this was to support a user who needed specific figures for some symptoms
The option to ‘Mirror‘ the 3D models - this is a really nice idea from a user, it allows you to view both the front and the back of the 3D models at the same time!
Increased max 3D animation speed to 16X
Improved 3D colour contrast
Added another blood test: tissue transglutaminase IgA
Version 5.11 released
4 Oct 2024
Hi spoonies, this latest release has some imrovements which should hopefully make it easier to find what you’re looking for in the Diary screen, and easier to enter multiple things at once quickly. These are all suggestions from users, so once again I really appreciate those of you who have emailed me with these ideas on how to improve my app. Thank you!
Tagging diary items
You can now tag diary items (such as symptoms) to group them into whatever collections make sense for you. So for example, if you have multiple health conditions, you could tag all your symtoms with the health condition it relates to. Then, on the Diary tab, you can filter the list to show just symptoms for one of your health conditions. Tags can be assigned to more than one item, and items can have more than one tag.
Diary list grouping
The view settings (see the button at the top of the Diary tab) now has some extra options to group the diary list by type (for example, group all symptoms together, group all factors together etc) or group by tag. You might prefer this way of organising your diary to make it easier to find things!
Multiple add
The Diary screen now has a new button in the top left corner: Multiple Add. Use this to create sets of multiple things (for example, all your symptoms) to record all in one go. This is useful if for example you like to do a regular ‘check-in‘ of all your symptoms: now you can enter them all in one screen, without having to go into each one individually
I’ve also made the diary grid view slightly more compact.
New podcast episode: Spoonie entrepreneurship with Emma Reilly
3 Jul 2024
Trying to start your own business as a spoonie is hard. But it can also lead to the freedom and flexibility we need to be able to work while being chronically ill. James and Emma discuss their experiences in spoonie entrepreneurship!
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: Endometriosis with Emma Reilly
May 15, 2024
I talk to Emma Reilly, a spoonie with an amazing story of living with endometriosis and growing up with social anxiety
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: Somatics for chronic pain with Ian Young
April 10, 2024
If you have chronic pain, you need to listen to this chat I had with Ian Young, a somatic movement coach who lives with axial spondyloarthritis, about somatics: a gentle system of simple movements designed to relieve stress and tension in muscles and joints which can lead to less pain, less fatigue, and an opportunity to feel more comfortable and relaxed in our own bodies.
Also, get the latest updates about the Chronic Insights app - there are some great features coming in the next beta release!
Check out Ian Young's website to learn more, join a weekly Zoom class, or get 1:1 sessions
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: How autoimmune disease works
July 28, 2023
If you have an autoimmune disease this episode is a must-listen! Today we look at how the immune system works, what it does, why it goes wrong and why autoimmune disease happens, learning amazing facts about how our bodies work along the way!
This is really empowering stuff to know for anyone with an autoimmune condition like rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis / ankylosing spondylitis, MS, ME / chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, lupus, Graves, crohns or any of the 100+ autoimmune diseases we know about: by learning how our diseases work, we can more easily come to terms with them, accept what is happening, and learn to appreciate just how amazing our bodies really are.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: Symptom diary app update and future developments
July 21, 2023
A sneek peak into the future for the Chronic Insights symptom diary app! After a flareup of pain and fatigue from my axial spondyloarthritis, I didn't have time to prep a normal episode this week, so instead I take you behind the scenes and list all the exciting features on my whiteboard - including food diaries, air quality and support for people with amputations.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: Endogenous opioids: the body's own painkillers
July 14, 2023
If you have chronic pain, you need to listen to this episode! Did you know that the body creates it's own opioids? Learn what they are, how they work, how they relate to synthetic opioids, why tolerance and dependence happens and what the future might have in store for next-generation pain medicines
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: The parasympathetic nervous system and chronic pain
July 6, 2023
If you have chronic pain, anxiety or stress, the parasympathetic nervous system is probably the most important part of your nervous system. Learn how it works and how it can be used to calm you down, reduce your anxiety and maybe even help you to live better with chronic illness. Plus, a short meditation to help us practice!
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: How pain is processed in the brain
June 29, 2023
How does the brain process pain and what factors can change your experience of pain? Continuing from last week's episode, we learn more about nocireceptors (pain receptors), and how emotion, stress and thought can alter the processing of pain in the brain. Also, some feedback from a user of the Chronic Insights symptom diary app, and a poem about living with chronic pain.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts
New podcast episode: Nociceptors: how pain is transmitted in the body
June 22, 2023
Studies show that learning how chronic pain works can actually make it easier to cope? The first of a series of episodes explaining the science behind pain, chronic pain, why pain goes wrong, why it doesn't go away, how emotion, anxiety, expectations and other things can affect how we experience chronic pain, and what we can do to feel more empowered over it. Plus, some updates about the Chronic Insights symptom diary, and my upcoming book Poetry for Spoonies.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, PocketCasts