Currently, there are hundreds of millions of users that use healthcare apps in India to access services such as teleconsultation, tracking body fitness, mental health, and telepharmacy. Today there is a need for using such apps in everyday life as it simplifies life, provides comfort, as well as receiving quality care from the applications themselves in the states mentioned. Since the mentioned applications can be easily downloaded and are mainly for the end-users and stakeholders, the healthcare application helps people enhance their health by offering easier access to healthcare services.
Importance of Healthcare Apps:
The medical Health apps in India are addressing some of the major challenges experienced in the Indian Healthcare system which to date has only embraced newer forms of solutions. It empowers its users with open access to physicians, health monitoring applications, and online pharmacies for the drugs and medicine at any time and place, choosing the comfort of home. In some parts of the world where it is hard to physically get to a healthcare centre, such apps are the only way through which wellbeing can be improved. Some of the characteristics of the best medical apps are: teleconsultations, delivery of medicine, health and fitness tracking, mental health apps giving access to quality healthcare in different regions.
Why Owning a Healthcare App is a Great Idea for Your Business
As one of the top mobile app developers in Bangalore at GetWidget, we create unique healthcare solutions that can transition with the change in the healthcare landscape. This expertise provides our clients with stable, intuitive, secure telemedicine, fitness tracking, diagnostics and many other applications for healthcare facilities.
In this blog, we will examine the present position of the top 10 most popular healthcare applications in India as well as how they affect that change. Concepts such as the peculiarities of the apps, their value to the users, and the ways the proliferation of these apps improves everyone’s access to healthcare will be elucidated to you.
The Growth of Healthcare Apps in India
Mobile healthcare applications have been introduced in India within the last few years due to many factors that are revolutionizing the manner in which individuals approach health care services and health essentiality.
Factors Driving Growth:
Increased Smartphone Usage:
- With the increase of the easy access to smart phones including in the rural setting, health facilities are easily accessed.
- Broadband internet connection hence cheap plans and the availability of mobile applications has made digital healthcare even possible to the average populace.
Rising Awareness of Health and Wellness:
- There are more people now practicing prevention, fitness, and mental health hence the increased use of fitness mobile application and wellness accessories.
- Healthcare apps assist the user in tracking their health parameters, consulting experts, and monitoring chronic diseases remotely from their houses.
Impact of COVID-19 on Telemedicine Adoption:
- Telemedicine was a growing trend before the pandemic but became an essential part of people’s lives when they avoided hospitals during the pandemic.
- The various government activities, healthcare reforms which gave its nod to the teleconsultations pushed the population utilizing the digital platforms of healthcare.
Categories of Healthcare Apps:
Teleconsultation Apps:
Use of personal video calls and chats to enable the users to speak to specialist doctors .
Example: Practo, Apollo 24/7
Fitness Apps:
Assist the users in monitoring their exercise regimen and help them set activities’ targets and abide with such.
Example: Cure.Fit, HealthifyMe
Mental Health Apps:
Organized counseling sessions, therapy sessions and included mindfulness activities for people’s mental health.
Example: Wysa, Mindhouse
Medicine Delivery Apps:
Provide online pharmacies through which customers can receive their drugs and health products at their residences.
Example: 1mg, Netmeds
Diagnostics and Lab Test Apps:
Facilitate the options to reserve a range of laboratory services and health checks with a sample collection at the user’s home.
Example: Pharmeasy, MediBuddy
Adding up with these driving factors and various categories, healthcare apps in India are not only serving the unsaid needs of the healthcare sector, they are indeed revolutionizing it completely. This growth also opens up prospects for new players such as GetWidget to offer an innovative dynamic zeitgeist that resonates with the end users and caregivers.
Top 10 Healthcare Apps in India
1. Practo
Category: Tele consultation & Doctor appointment
Features:
- Video or chat with a doctor of one’s choice
- Physical examinations and screening that incorporates sample collection done from the comfort of the patient’s home
- Internet-based patrons of places for purchasing medicine with home delivery
- Prescribing of such services and the subsequent appointment booking
Why It Stands Out:
Practo provides comfortable access to the specialists in various disciplines; one can also book the appointment for an online or physical examination. Its application interface is friendly and it combines the service of telemedicine, diagnostics, and pharmacies into one application.
The platform enjoys a vast reach of registered health care practitioners hence giving users the option of consulting general physicians or sub specialists remotely. Also, it offers notifications for the medicine time and other appointments in order the users do not forget their health requirements.
Practo is one of the most versatile and easy to use telemedicine platforms on the market, keeping millions of people’s healthcare needs in check.
2. MedPlus
Category: Primary Healthcare & Wellness
Features:
- Round the clock access to general physician Appointments.
- Devices and applications for recording and observing the general health status and exercising regimens, including heart rate, blood pressure and other indicator data.
- Advice and guidelines for its users on their daily basis for improving their health.
- Participation in mental health and other related interventions as well as utilization of stress relieving products.
Why It Stands Out:
MedPlus has a systematic approach that deals in prevention solutions for early detection of disease and improved health. It provides access to physicians in order to get a quick consultation while promoting the improvement of individual health conditions with the help of special tests and applications. Notably, MedPlus is well equipped to provide clients with overall healthy lifestyles and avoid weaknesses due to recurrent diseases. Furthermore, some of the wonderful examples of the best pharma apps in India include MedPlus which ensures the access to medicines, health consultations, and life tips all within the various applications with high convenience.
3. 1mg
Category: Online Pharmacy & Lab Tests
Features:
- Medicine and healthcare products home delivery
- Online appointment for a diagnostic test to be done at home with a sample.
- Online doctor consultations to medical expert and health advice
- Lab test reports available within the app
Why It Stands Out:
1mg has attracted attention for providing a cost-effective ecommerce platform with reasonable discounts and hence making available health care products more affordable. It is easy to use and track prescription and online medicine orders to avoid any inconveniences. Also, 1mg guarantees laboratory tests and diagnostics, allowing the user to consult a doctor and, if necessary, receive a diagnosis at home. Due to its easy to use website and the cheap treatments, the company has become a one-stop shop for people who need affordable health care services. Enumerated below is the actual case of 1mg, one of the largest health care applications in India.
4. Medlife
Category: Online Pharmacy & Diagnostics
Features:
- all kinds of prescribed drugs and other over the counter medicine
- Self-collected samples based tests
- A diverse range and sector encompassing health cross-sell and wellness provisions
Why It Stands Out:
Medlife’s network for medicine delivery was strengthened before its acquisition by Pharmeasy to make otherwise inaccessible drugs available in different regions. Medlife recently merged with Pharmeasy, it specializes in fast delivery along with diagnostic solutions thereby making it a reliable healthcare platform. This has placed Pharmeasy as a one arrival solution to any health issue as it dispenses prescriptions and setup lab tests where necessary. As a result, Pharmeasy is precisely known as one of the top-notch medicine apps in India that connects buyers with the necessary products and services to avoid visiting physical stores.
5. Pharmeasy
Category: Pharmacy & Diagnostics
Features:
- Test appointments at convenient and home collection
- Home delivery of medicines and healthcare supplements
- Special offers that are available to healthcare products only
Why It Stands Out:
Pharmeasy has become one of the most familiar online portals people are acquainted with its speedy delivery and easy to navigate app. Its diagnostics make it possible for the users to book tests and receive reports all from the comfort of their homes. Due to a strong logistics network and low prices for medicines, Pharmeasy provides efficient services for monitoring one’s health and ordering drugs. Being one of the top medicines applications in India, it makes sure that primary healthcare products are easily available, which makes it the go-to solution for millions seeking affordable and easy access to healthcare services.
6. Apollo 24/7
Category: Telemedicine & Pharmacy
Features:
- Telemedicine appointments with use of general practitioners as well as specialists
- We offer a good medicine ordering delivery system
- packages for health check up and annual health check up plans
Why It Stands Out:
As a member of Apollo Hospitals, one of the largest and most popular networks of medical facilities, Apollo 24/7 offers high-quality services. It enables users to interact with doctors without prior appointment and provides health checkups and immunizations for cheap and specific rates. Telemedicine and pharmacy are the primary services that Apollo 24/7 builds upon to offer integrated healthcare services for different ailments. Being one of the top healthcare applications for doctors, it helps medical specialists interact with the patients effectively: appointments, prescriptions, and subsequent checkups can be arranged and conducted within one application.
7. Cure.Fit (Cult.Fit)
Category: Fitness & Mental Health
Features:
- The exercises, yoga, and dance classes
- Counselling and self-reflection sessions alike
- Some include: customized nutrition guide and healthy living guidance
Why It Stands Out:
Cure.Fit which is now changing its name to Cult.Fit differentiates itself from other competitors by providing a holistic approach solution to the customers on fitness along with health check-ups, and any mental health issues people might be having. The visitors, therefore, can choose different types of workouts, attend the mental health sessions, and use optimized methodologies in their daily lives. While Cult.Fit doubles as a fitness solution, it has positioned itself to attend to diverse other aspects of consumers’ lives, such as stress and diet. It is one of the patient health care app solutions that address almost all aspects of a person’s healthcare needs, guaranteeing they can boost their physical, psychological, and emotive profiles from the same application.
8. HealthifyMe
Category: Fitness & Diet Tracking
Features:
- Customized eating and weight-training programs based on the ideals of the individuals
- Recording steps, calories and recording workout sessions.
- Consulting with the qualified dietician and fitness trainers
- AI Health companion RIA for on-demand tailored guidance
Why It Stands Out:
Being an AI driven application, HealthifyMe assists the fitness and health goals of individuals by providing customized plans. By integrating Ria, users get fitness and diet recommendations promptly as if from a personal trainer, which encourages people and does not make it boring. The tracking attributes, in collaboration with the suggestions from the trainers, assist health-conscious persons in increasing awareness on different facets of well-being in each phase of the practice. Besides, HealthifyMe can be categorized as a doctor consultation application through which the users can consult with healthcare practitioners in terms of their needs; the application covers all aspects of managing customer’s health.
9. MediBuddy
Category: Telecommunication & Health Care services
Features:
- Remote interaction with physicians of different fields of specialization
- Booking of laboratory tests with specimen collected at the patient’s home
- Health insurance schemes and wellness offers
- Digital prescriptions with the follow-up process
Why It Stands Out:
Now as MediBuddy, DocsApp provides an instant connection with different healthcare providers through initial teleconsultations. It carries out laboratory tests, insurance operations, and other healthcare. MediBuddy has reached across many communities so that the users can get access to a specialist for their kind of ailment and dolled out comprehensive care without having to go to the hospital.
10. Netmeds
Category: Pharmacy & Health Products
Features:
- Medicine delivery service of same day or next day delivery.
- Booking of Lab tests which have full reports online.
- Cosmetic products and other care products and accessories which are accessible in the application.
- Conditions under which the subscribers may upgrade, downgrade, or get a refund
Why It Stands Out:
Famously known as India Ki Pharmacy, Netmeds is listed across the country offering an extensive range of medicines and health related products. It provides a reasonable price policy with regular sales, which is appreciated by the client who wants to improve their health but reduce expenses. Including lab tests, appointments and fast delivery system, the Utmost convenience is provided by Netmeds to get diagnostic and pharmacological facilities especially at remote areas.
These health care applications are at the forefront in driving the digital healthcare landscape in India as convenient, affordable, accessible solution delivery tools. As the paradigm shifts toward the utilization of software applications on mobile health platforms, such as the Getwidget, there is a unique opportunity to build new applications better suited for actual consumers and providers.
Key Benefits of Using Healthcare Apps
1. 24/7 Access to Healthcare Services
- These healthcare apps give the user the opportunity to have immediate care in case of emergency or when the need arises at any one part of the day or night.
- This ever readiness means that help is on hand and it also removes the need to be physically present in a hospital which makes the access to health care easier.
2. Convenience of Online Consultations and Medicine Delivery
- Without having to physically see the doctor they can talk to them via video chat or a simple text chat from the comfort of their own home which is time as well as effort saving.
- Medicine delivery services offer convenience for delivering prescribed and recommended medication and healthcare products right to the patient’s doorstep in order to avoid going to the pharmacy.
3. Affordable Solutions with Discounts and Offers
- Most healthcare applications provide special offers that enable patients to acquire their essential medicines, tests, or consultations cheaper than the usual prices.
- Its subscription plans and health packages make it even cheaper to manage since the company encourages the adoption of preventive health care services through frequent screenings.
4. Health Monitoring Tools to Track Fitness and Well-being
- Software with agency features for physical activities, consumed foods and nutrients, and additional health characteristics allow users to track the progress towards health objectives.
- The two tools are beneficial for the improvement of health as they provide individualized prompts, information and advice to the users to mainly encourage them into a more lethargy-free way of life.
With these advantages, healthcare apps enable person-centred healthcare; boosting the ease of access, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness; and supporting prevention and health promotion.
Challenges of Healthcare Apps in India
Digital Divide: Limited Access in Rural Areas
- Nevertheless, smartphone penetration continues to increase in various areas; however, many regions are still unable to access the Internet and own a smartphone.
- This enrollment divide means that a group of people cannot use health applications to maintain their health, access care or for any other reason.
Trust Issues: Reluctance to Adopt Telemedicine Fully
- Telemedicine remains unpopular with a great number of people due to many people’s lack of confidence in virtual consultations.
- These are just some of the reasons why there is still reticence to or receive an online consultation including quality of care, or the ability to have that personal touch that often comes with traditional in-person appointments.
Data Privacy Concerns: Managing Sensitive Patient Information
- As the use of healthcare apps grows, it becomes increasingly apparent that security of patients’ information is a major concern.
- As the occurrence of data breach continues to rise and given that users are usually always protected by their privacy right this would deter users from sharing the important health data needed for their treatment.
These issues need to be resolved so that the healthcare apps industry enjoys long-term success and adoption in India. The healthcare consumers and their providers are required to work collectively to improve a digital environment in healthcare app which will involve; increasing the sophistication of digital healthcare infrastructure, rebuilding the public trust by educating patients and healthcare consumers, as well as strengthening the analytical safeguards to protect the data on a shared digital healthcare environment.
Conclusion
Mobile applications in the healthcare sector are solving the problem of access to medical services in India by offering the services that are affordable, easily accessible and available around the clock. They endeavour to close the gap between patient and healthcare professionals so that individuals using these platforms can easily maintain their health and wellbeing. The ten healthcare applications discussed in this blog all showcase that there is huge potential in digitalization of healthcare which is much more than just teleconsultations.
We recommend the readers check out these healthcare apps more and take control of their health as easily as possible. If you want a consultation online, care for your training progress, or get a prescription drug, there’s an application for that.
Looking into the future, the application of AI, wearable technology as well as tele health will enhance the efficacy of healthcare apps. There are machine assisted individualized care with AI while wearables can give continuous health status in real-time. Telemedicine will undoubtedly remain as a growing trend, so people will be able to receive necessary healthcare services in the easiest and most efficient manner. Thus the future of healthcare apps seems brighter for creating healthier technology based society in India and the world.
Some FAQ
What is the best healthcare android app for online consultations in India ?
It could be assertive that there exists the most appropriate application to offer online consultation on the best healthcare App based on individual choice. However, in this area, Practo and Apollo 24/7 are popular for vast doctors and easy consultation service. It enables people to get in touch with specialists easily and also has a friendly interactive mode.
Can patients trust healthcare applications with regards to the availability of diagnostics services?
Yes, some healthcare apps are genuine for diagnosing an ailment, some of them are 1mg and Pharmeasy. And as much as they rely on certified laboratories with a view to delivering quick and accurate results, they do so. But when it comes to selecting such apps, there has to be an emphasis on selecting apps with positive reviews and partnership with reliable players.
Who provides fitness and mental wellness services among the healthcare apps?
Some of the best examples are the Cure.Fit or Cult.Fit and HealthifyMe, which are in the fitness and mental health niche. It gives services like setting unique exercising regimes, offering diet plans, and offering psychiatric assistance to stay healthy.
Does the use of these apps result in insurance for healthcare costs?
Few, like DocsApp (now MediBuddy) provide services around health insurance including claims and insurance advice services. But it is always essential to look at the characteristics of certain applications and their collaborations in order to understand whether they offer full insurance for medical costs.
