Best Apps for Managing Diabetes

BlueStar is a free, award-winning app that offers a variety of helpful tools for people who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It allows you to set reminders for medications, record your blood glucose levels, and plan meals for the day.

BlueStar is an FDA-approved, award-winning app that provides 24/7 real-time coaching from Certified Diabetes Educators. This comprehensive app is available only by prescription and offers an impressive range of tools tailored to the individual. Once registered, users can receive personalized guidance based on their blood glucose, medications, current health, and a review of lifestyle factors affecting diabetes.

In addition, BlueStar provides thousands of tailored coaching messages based on real-time glucose values and trends. While BlueStar is not intended to replace your doctor, it can greatly enhance your care, particularly if you're having difficulty controlling your blood sugar or are in need of ongoing support.

BlueStar is intended for persons 18 and older with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It is free for iPhone and Android. To activate the app, you will need an access code from an authorized healthcare provider.

In the event of an emergency, the Medical ID app makes sure first responders can access important details about your health conditions (like diabetes and any others) as well as send alerts to your emergency contacts.

Although not a diabetes-specific app per se, Medical ID comes preinstalled on an iPhone (as part of the Health app) and is free to download for Android. The app is visible on the lock screen of the phone, allowing first responders or others to access critical medical information such as chronic conditions, including diabetes, emergency contacts, and more.

While it won't help you manage your diabetes, it will alert others of your condition in the event you have a diabetes-related emergency—a severe hypoglycemic event, for example—that leaves you unable to speak for yourself.

With over 300,000 foods in its database, Fooducate provides insight into your nutrition quality so you can make smarter food choices as part of your diabetes management. Simply scan the barcode of your food packages to access helpful information on your daily eats. 

Fooducate is a nutrition-focused tracking app that assesses the quality of the foods you're eating. The app uses a built-in database of hundreds of thousands of scannable barcodes so you can easily count macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats).

It assigns a letter grade (A, B, C, or D) to a food's nutrition quality. Fooducate then provides you with explanations and alternative recommendations, plus tips from nutrition professionals and community support so you can continue to make smart decisions for blood sugar management.

Glucose Buddy’s intuitive interface simplifies the process of logging carbohydrate intake, medication, exercise, and blood glucose readings. Plus, its custom insights help you understand how your lifestyle impacts your diabetes management.

Glucose Buddy is a must-have app for tracking blood glucose levels, insulin, medications, A1C results, and carb intake. The app syncs with Dexcom G5 and G6 glucose monitoring systems to maintain a thorough record of your glucose, but it doesn't stop there. Glucose Buddy helps you track your physical activity and food intake, and also offers to push notifications to remind you when to check your blood sugar next.

Glucose Buddy's chart display can help you spot patterns and gain greater insight into your blood sugar trends and you can even create printable reports to bring to your next doctor's appointment.

MyFitnessPal is so much more than a calorie counter app: It lets you track your sugar, carb, and water intake as well as your physical activity and timing of your meals. The app has a notes section where you can record blood sugar levels and insulin injections.

MyFitnessPal is one of the most widely-used food tracking apps, thanks to its enormous food database incorporating more than 11 million foods—everything from produce to restaurant menu options to Trader Joe's snacks. The barcode scanner lets you input nearly any food from your pantry and the app also incorporates an exercise tracker that syncs with your food choices to help you meet your goals for weight management.

Free for iPhone and Android but many of the functions that would benefit diabetics (like carb tracking) are better in the Pro version.