Category: Medical
Price:$0.99, $2.99
TiP Rating: 3/5 stars
Version:1.7.1, 1.6.2
Seller: Kavapoint

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch. Requires OS 3 or later.
Links to iEmergency+ and ICE Family PRO to app (clicking launches iTunes)

App store description: iEmergency+ is designed to keep  your emergency medical information and your contacts all in one location. ICE Family Pro is the family version of the iEmergency application, and contains information for you and your family.

Summary: Both apps essentially perform as advertised, in a straightforward and fairly intuitive fashion. The apps allow for one location to store vital emergency information such as emergency contacts, medical conditions, and allergies in one location. ICE Pro is the family version of this app,  storing information on your family members as well. Both apps are very similar in their functionality and ease of use, although the category picks at the bottom of each main page vary slightly.

Review: As a mom and a nurse, it’s safe to say I might be a little more concerned by the thought of a medical emergency than average. When you work in a hospital, you have either seen or heard of more than a few of the “bad stories,” and you surely don’t want you or your loved ones to be counted among them. Anything that can aid emergency responders seems worth checking out to me. I recently took a look at Kavapoint’s iEmergency+ and iEmergency ICE Family PRO.

Each app has a straightforward central screen where you select which area you wish to customize:

ICE Pro allows you to repeat this customizing of personal photo, medical information, allergies, and contacts for each member of the family.

Additionally, there are helpful subcategories under contacts that allow you to specify doctor and hospital name and number, as well as health insurance company and id number. Anyone who has been in the emergency room with a sick family member can relate to the value of having insurance info readily at hand. Its tough to be holding vigil and bugged for payment info — but we know they need it — so bring access your app, and problem solved.

Under “medical” on the basic version, and “family info” on the ICE PRO, you can specify allergies, medical conditions and perhaps , even more importantly, medications, dosages and frequencies. This would allow for emergency responders to accurately assess the patient’s needs and what medications are in their systems.

Perhaps, the most intriguing feature, and arguably the most useful that both apps boast, is the wallpaper creator. You can choose a picture and customize what you feel is your most important medical information to be shared. I chose to point out my penicillin allergy. After you “create” your medical alert wallpaper, you do need to go into your iPhone settings to select it as wallapaper as it is saved in your “camera roll.” It would be nice if the app automatically set the wallpaper for me after I created it, but I can live with it.

In reading app store reviews, I saw complaints that there is no geolocation with either. While that is true, that doesn’t seem to be the intent of the app. It is intended for emergency responders — paramedics, police, and firefighters to gain quick access to vital information. With that said, the next question to be begged is, will emergency responders know to check your iPhone for it? That’s presumably what the wallpaper is for, but I need to point out that both versions of the app inform the user to check iEmergency App from the wallpaper, but the PRO version says ICE on the app icon and ICE Family under it, not iEmergency. It’s a small detail, but this could be confusing and is a minor fix for the developers. Ultimately, for either $0.99 or $2.99, its worth taking the chance that it will be found. Still, if you have a medical condition, I would feel better with both this and the standard med-alert bracelet around your wrist. Cover your bases in case your responder isn’t that tech savvy.