Pillbean: Meds & Pill Reminder

Did I take it or not? Pillbean shows the minute you marked it taken. Ignore the alarm and, by default, it goes off again 10 minutes later.

A lot of pill apps go quiet once battery saving kicks in. Pillbean uses the same Android timer as your alarm clock, the one Doze doesn't hold back. After a restart, an app update, or a time-zone or clock change, it sets your reminders again. If your phone stops Pillbean from running for more than a day and a half, it says so the next time you open it and shows which setting to check. On a Xiaomi or OPPO phone it opens the maker's auto-start screen for you.

IGNORE IT, AND IT RINGS AGAIN
• Pick a level for each medicine. Gentle is a single notification. Insistent rings, then twice more 10 minutes apart
• Critical keeps ringing until you answer, and asks again every 10 minutes
• Critical can take over the whole screen, even on a locked phone. Android 14 and newer ask you to allow that once, and Pillbean opens the setting
• Give Pillbean Do Not Disturb access and Critical rings through it
• From the third ring, a critical alarm shows Turn it down, which moves that medicine to Insistent
• The 60-second test sets off a real critical alarm, and Settings shows how late it rang

DID I TAKE MY MEDS?
• Answer from the notification with Took it, Snooze 15 min or Skip, even on the lock screen
• Each dose is saved at the minute you pressed Took, even an hour late
• Two meds due at 8 PM ring once, and one press logs both
• Skip from Today and it asks why. Undo fixes a wrong tap
• The home-screen widget shows what's left today and logs a dose without opening the app

RUNNING LOW? IT TELLS YOU FIRST
• Every dose you mark taken comes off the pill count
• A week before you run out, a card at the top of Today gives the date
• Picked up a refill? Type how many pills you got, or tap 14, 28, 30, 60 or 90

ON A TAPER? IT STEPS DOWN WITH YOU
• A taper steps down on the day you planned. Half tablets work, and the count drops by half a tablet
• Day patterns work too: every other day, chosen weekdays, once a week, or 21 days on and 7 off for birth control packs
• For as-needed (PRN) medicines, set a daily limit and a gap. The app says when you reach one and still records the dose

CAN'T SPELL IT? SNAP THE LABEL
• Point the camera at the pharmacy label. It reads the name and strength on your phone, plus how often to take it when the label says so
• The photo isn't kept, and you check everything before saving
• Or type the name and pick from 1,477 built-in medicines, no internet needed. A nickname like "the little white one" works too

MOM'S MEDS TOO, ON THE SAME PHONE
• Add Mom as a second person. Her reminders ring even while your own list is on screen, and each says whose it is

WHEN THE DOCTOR ASKS, SHOW THEM THIS
• The visit report puts your medication list on one page. For each medicine it shows doses taken out of doses due, the usual time, and every skip with its reason
• Print it, save it as a PDF or send it as text
• Export your whole record as a CSV file, free

NEW PHONE? YOUR RECORD COMES TOO
• Turn on an encrypted backup to your own Google Drive, locked with a passphrase only you know. On a new phone, that passphrase brings your record back
• No sign-up and no ads. Pillbean never asks for your name or email
• We keep no copy of your record. The usage counts and crash reports the app sends never include what you take or when

WHAT'S FREE
Every alarm level is free, Critical included. So are unlimited medicines, as-needed limits, the history, refill warnings, label scanning, the self-test, the widget and the CSV export. The paid extras are more people on one phone, the visit report, Drive backup, and the tapers and day patterns above. Pay monthly, or pay once and keep them.

Pillbean is a pill tracker and medicine reminder in one, like a pill organizer that rings. It works for daily meds, antibiotics, birth control and ADHD medication.

Recent changes:
Critical alarms can ring at their own volume, even with the phone turned down.

• Pick it in Settings › Alarms, or choose vibrate only
• It starts quiet and climbs for 20 seconds. When you answer, the phone's volume goes back
• Vibrate until you answer: 2 minutes, then again every 10 (on by default)
• Scan a Japanese or Indonesian pharmacy label with the app in that language
• A new alarm screen and notification
• Important updates now tell you, with a quiet notification and a card on Today