One aspect of staying fit is tending to health issues that may crop up. WebMD is a popular website that provides you with a wide range of medical and health information ranging from diet to medication to home remedies. While WebMD should never replace a trip to the doctor's office, the website can improve your knowledge of health conditions and offer suggestions on how to live a healthier lifestyle.
The Windows Phone WebMD app isn't an official offering but does try to deliver WebMD's information to your phone. The app provides WebMD's health tools, information on health conditions and tips on living healthy. Absent an official WebMD app, this unofficial version does a decent job of things by giving you easy access to the mobile WebMD website. However, there are a few quirks about it.
App Layout
WebMD is not an official WebMD.com app but does tap into the WebMD mobile website and does follow the WebMD site's layout.
The main page has navigation options running across the top of the screen to access the Health Tools, Health Conditions and Living Healthy menus. The content of the main page includes feature articles on health related subjects, local health forecasts and health news items.
The main page of the WebMD app also holds an issue that may not bode well for this unofficial app. You'll find links to other WebMD apps that are available for other platforms. Because this app looks like a simple port for the mobile website, I doubt you can filter out these links that aren't compatible with the Windows Phone OS.
Throughout the app you will find three control buttons that include a home button to send you back to the main page, a refresh button and a share button.
Menus
Again, across the top of the main page for the WebMD app has three menu options. They include the following.
Health Tools
This menu will hold an assortment of options to help you research medical information, forecasts, finding a doctor and more. The options include:
- Symptom Checker: This menu items is another problem with the unofficial app. This is a link to an app feature available for other platforms.
- Health Forecasts: This feature contains a general weather forecast for your area along with cold, flu, pollen, dust, asthma, air quality and other health related issues the weather may affect.
- Drugs and Medication: A physician's desk reference of sorts where you can look up drug information by keyword search or scan the top listed medications.
- Health Care Reform: Information and resources on the U.S. Health Insurance and Affordable Care Act.
- Doctor Finder: Traveling and need to find a doctor, pharmacy or hospital in your area? You can search by keyword or location to find any of the three.
- My Messages: A new feature to WebMD that will allow your physician to send you educational materials about your medical situation.
Health Conditions
If you are looking for conditions, symptoms, treatments and preventative measures to avoid the conditions this menu option is the one you want to visit. Conditions range from allergies to heart disease to sleep disorders.
Living Healthy
This menu has resources for living a healthier life. You have options that includes tips and information on:
- Women's Health
- Men's Health
- Weight Loss and Diet Plans
- Food and Recipes
- Healthy Beauty
- Fitness and Exercise
- Pregnancy
- Children's Health
Along with these three menus, you also have a keyword search available that will let you search the WebMD site for articles and resources.
Overall Impression
While the WebMD app is an unofficial app, it does deliver a good amount of information to your Windows Phone, information that can be helpful in dealing with health issues and staying healthy. The app ran smoothly but you do have the mild annoyances of having some features (or app links) only available for other platforms.
It's a little bit of a rub but if you need the medical resources WebMD provides, the unofficial app is the only game in town.
Sure, it would be preferable to have an official WebMD app for Windows Phone but in the absence of an official app, this WebMD app fills the void.
- WebMD App - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link
