SimplifiedHealth Complete User Guide

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SimplifiedHealth is a private iOS health journal designed to help you track your mood (BDI score), sleep, daily notes, and medications — all stored entirely on your device with no cloud sync. This guide walks through every feature of the app.

Getting Started

App Navigation

SimplifiedHealth uses a four-tab layout at the bottom of the screen. Each tab is accessible at any time:

  • Home (house icon) — Your daily dashboard with today’s BDI score, sleep, and recent entries.
  • Calendar (calendar icon) — A monthly grid for browsing and exporting your history.
  • Medications (pills icon) — Manage your medication list and set daily reminders.
  • Settings (gear icon) — Configure PIN security and view app information.

Tip: The + button in the top-right corner of Home and Calendar is a shortcut to open today’s entry.

First Launch

On first launch the app opens directly to the Home screen. No account or sign-in is required. All your data is saved locally on your device from the first entry you make.


Home Screen

Summary Cards

At the top of the Home screen you’ll see two summary cards that always reflect today’s data:

  • BDI Mood card — Shows today’s BDI score and its category (Minimal / Mild / Moderate / Severe).
  • Sleep card — Shows the number of hours slept that you last saved for today.

Both cards display a dash (–) when no entry has been saved for today yet.

Open Today Button

Tap the large black “Open Today” button to jump straight into today’s entry. This is identical to tapping the + icon in the toolbar.

Recent Entries

Below the button is a scrollable list of your most recent 8 entries. Each card shows:

  • The full date (e.g., “Thursday, Aug 7”)
  • Mood category and number of notes
  • BDI score and hours slept

Tap any card to open and edit that day’s entry.

If you have no entries yet, an empty-state illustration is shown. Tap “Open Today” or the + button to create your first entry.


Logging Your Day

The Day Detail screen is where you record everything about a specific day. It is opened whenever you tap a day from the Home screen, Calendar, or the + button.

BDI Mood Score

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a widely-used self-report tool for tracking mood. In the app, you log a number from 0 to 63.

  1. Drag the slider left or right to set your BDI score.
  2. The current score is shown as “X / 63” in the top-right of the section.
  3. The category label below the slider updates automatically as you move the slider.
Score RangeCategoryWhat it generally suggests
0 – 13MinimalLittle to no mood difficulty
14 – 19MildMild mood disturbance; worth monitoring
20 – 28ModerateModerate difficulty; consider professional support
29 – 63SevereSignificant distress; professional guidance recommended

Important: The BDI score in this app is a personal tracking tool. It is not a clinical diagnosis. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional if you have concerns about your mental health.

Sleep Hours

Tap the “Hours slept” text field and type a number between 0 and 24. Decimal values are accepted (e.g., 7.5 for 7 hours 30 minutes). Use a period or comma as the decimal separator — the app handles both.

Notes

You can add any number of timestamped notes to a day. Notes are useful for logging symptoms, medication side-effects, mood triggers, therapy insights, or anything else.

Adding a Note

  1. Tap “Add Note” (the green plus button near the bottom of the Notes section).
  2. A note card appears with a time picker and a text area.
  3. Adjust the time using the compact time picker at the top of the card.
  4. Type your note text in the text area.

Voice-to-Text

Each note card has a microphone button in its bottom-right corner. This lets you dictate your notes hands-free:

  1. Tap the microphone icon to start recording.
  2. Speak naturally. Your speech is transcribed in real time.
  3. Tap the red stop icon to end recording.
  4. The transcribed text is appended to whatever you already typed.

Voice-to-text requires Microphone and Speech Recognition permissions. The app will prompt for these when you first tap the microphone. If you denied them previously, go to iPhone Settings → SimplifiedHealth to re-enable.

Removing a Note

Tap the red “Remove Note” button at the bottom-left of the note card.

Saving

The app saves your entry automatically about 0.9 seconds after you stop making changes. You can also save manually:

  • Tap the “Save” button at the bottom of the form.
  • The button turns green and shows a checkmark when the save succeeds.
  • The button shows “Saving…” with a spinner briefly while writing.

Auto-save also fires when you navigate away from the screen (e.g., switch tabs or go back). You will never lose data by accidentally tapping the back button.

Encrypted Notes (PIN Required)

When a PIN is set, every note’s text is encrypted with AES-GCM before being stored. A footer below the Notes section confirms this: “Note text is encrypted automatically while PIN lock is enabled.” You must unlock the app with your PIN before your notes can be displayed or saved.


Calendar View

Monthly Grid

The Calendar tab shows a full month grid. Each day cell displays:

  • The day number.
  • A small filled dot below the number if an entry exists for that day.
  • Today’s date is highlighted with an accent-colored background.
  • Grayed-out cells indicate days from the previous or next month.

Tap the left chevron (<) or right chevron (>) buttons on either side of the month title to navigate backward or forward one month at a time.

Opening a Day

Tap any day cell to open that day’s Day Detail screen. Days without an entry will open a blank form so you can start logging.

Exporting to CSV

The Calendar view lets you export the currently displayed month as a CSV file:

  1. Navigate to the month you want to export.
  2. Tap the share icon in the top-right toolbar.
  3. The system share sheet appears. Choose “Save to Files”, AirDrop, Mail, or any other destination.
  4. The file is named automatically (e.g., SimplifiedHealth-2026-08.csv).

CSV File Format

Each row in the CSV represents one day entry. The columns are:

ColumnDescription
dateDate in numeric format (e.g., 8/7/2026)
bdiScoreInteger BDI score 0–63
bdiCategoryMinimal / Mild / Moderate / Severe
sleepHoursHours slept, one decimal place (e.g., 7.5)
noteCountNumber of notes for that day
notesAll notes concatenated: [HH:MM] text | [HH:MM] text …

If a PIN is set, encrypted note text is decrypted using your active PIN before being included in the CSV export. The exported file itself is not encrypted — treat it like any sensitive document.


Medications

The Medications tab lets you maintain a private list of your prescriptions and supplements. Each medication can have dosage details, directions, prescriber info, notes, and scheduled daily reminders.

Viewing Medications

All medications are listed in reverse chronological order (most recently added first). Each row shows the name, dosage (in accent color), directions, and prescriber. Tap any row to open the Medication Detail screen.

Medication Detail Screen

The detail screen shows all fields that contain data, plus any active reminders. Reminder times are listed with a bell icon and the custom notification message (if set).

Adding a Medication

  1. Tap the + button in the top-right toolbar of the Medications tab.
  2. Fill in the “Add Medication” form (described below).
  3. Tap “Save” in the top-right corner of the form.

Medication Form Fields

  • Name (required) — The medication name. Cannot be saved blank.
  • Dosage — e.g., “10 mg”, “1 tablet”.
  • Directions — e.g., “Take once daily with food”. Multi-line text field.
  • Prescriber — Your doctor’s name or clinic.
  • Notes — Any additional information. Multi-line text field.

Voice-to-Text in the Medication Form

Each text field in the medication form supports voice-to-text via the keyboard toolbar:

  1. Tap any text field to bring up the keyboard.
  2. Tap the microphone icon that appears in the keyboard toolbar (above the keyboard).
  3. Speak. The transcription is appended to the currently focused field.
  4. Tap the red stop icon to end recording. Switch fields at any time — the recording follows the active field.

Reminders

Inside the medication form, toggle “Enable Reminders” to set up daily push notifications:

  1. Toggle “Enable Reminders” on.
  2. Tap “Add Reminder Time” to add the first notification time.
  3. A time picker row appears. Adjust it to the desired daily time.
  4. Tap “Add Reminder Time” again to add more times (e.g., morning and evening doses).
  5. Optionally add a custom notification message and choose a sound.
  6. Tap the red minus button next to any time row to remove it.
  7. Tap “Save” to activate the reminders.

The app schedules reminders using iOS local notifications. Notifications must be allowed in iPhone Settings → Notifications → SimplifiedHealth. Reminders fire at the set time every day until you disable or delete them.

Editing a Medication

Swipe left on a medication row to reveal the “Edit” button (blue). Tap it.

If a PIN is set, tapping Edit shows a PIN (or Face ID / Touch ID) authentication sheet before opening the edit form. This protects your medication list from unauthorized changes.

Deleting a Medication

  • Without a PIN: Swipe left on a medication row and tap the red “Delete” button.
  • With a PIN: Deletion via swipe is disabled. Open the edit form (authenticate first), then tap the red “Delete Medication” button inside the form.

Deleting a medication also cancels all of its scheduled notifications immediately.


Security & Settings

The Settings tab controls PIN security and shows information about the app. All data stays on your device — there is no remote server or account system.

Setting a PIN

  1. Open the Settings tab.
  2. Choose PIN Length: 4 digits or 6 digits. This cannot be changed after the PIN is set.
  3. Enter your new PIN in the “New PIN” field.
  4. Re-enter it in the “Confirm PIN” field.
  5. Tap “Set PIN”.
  6. A success alert confirms: “PIN enabled. Existing notes were migrated to encrypted storage.”

After setting a PIN, all existing note text is immediately encrypted with AES-GCM. This happens in the background and is automatic — you do not need to re-enter your notes.

Face ID / Touch ID

If your device supports Face ID or Touch ID and a PIN is set, a biometric toggle appears in the Security section. To enable:

  1. Tap the toggle next to “Enable Face ID” (or “Enable Touch ID”).
  2. The system biometric prompt appears. Confirm with your face or fingerprint.
  3. Once enabled, the lock screen will show a “Use Face ID” (or “Use Touch ID”) button as an alternative to typing your PIN.

Changing Your PIN

When a PIN is active, fields for “Current PIN”, “New PIN”, and “Confirm New PIN” are visible. Fill all three and tap “Change PIN”. All encrypted notes are re-protected with the new PIN automatically.

Removing Your PIN

With a PIN active, tap the red “Remove PIN” button. A confirmation dialog explains that all encrypted notes will be decrypted and stored as plaintext again. Confirm to proceed.

You must be unlocked (active PIN in session) before you can remove the PIN. If the app is locked, enter your PIN first to unlock it, then go to Settings to remove.

Failed Attempt Limit

The “Maximum failed attempts” stepper (range 3–10, default 5) sets how many incorrect PIN attempts are allowed before all local data is permanently wiped. This protects your data in case your device is lost or stolen. The lock screen always shows the remaining attempt count.

Warning: A data wipe is irreversible. There is no backup or recovery mechanism. Choose a PIN you will remember, or enable biometric unlock as a fallback.

About Section

  • 100% offline — no cloud sync, no internet connection required.
  • AES-GCM note encryption — only active when a PIN is set.
  • Designed for iPhone and iPad.
  • Developed by SimplifiedApps (simplifiedapps.net).

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the app without a PIN?
Yes. A PIN is entirely optional. Without a PIN, all data (including notes) is stored as local plaintext on your device. Encryption is only active when a PIN is set.

What exactly is encrypted?
Only the text content of your day notes is encrypted. BDI scores, sleep hours, dates, note timestamps, medication names, dosages, directions, prescriber info, and medication notes are all stored as plaintext. They remain on-device only.

I forgot my PIN. What can I do?
There is no PIN recovery mechanism. After exceeding the maximum failed attempts the app wipes all local data. If you have not exceeded that limit, try all PINs you may have used. If you know you forgot it, you can remove the app and reinstall to start fresh (all data will be lost).

Will my data sync across devices?
No. SimplifiedHealth is intentionally 100% offline with no iCloud or any other sync. Data exists only on the device where it was entered. Use the CSV export feature to manually move data if needed.

How do I back up my data?
iOS device backups (iCloud or local iTunes/Finder backups) will include the app’s SwiftData store. Restoring from backup restores your data. For manual backups, use the Calendar CSV export regularly and keep the files safe.

Why are medication deletions blocked when a PIN is set?
This is a deliberate protection: when PIN security is active, destructive changes like deletion require authentication first. In the edit form (which requires PIN), a “Delete Medication” button is available.

Can I log entries for past dates?
Yes. Open the Calendar tab, navigate to the past month, and tap any day. A Day Detail screen opens for that date and you can add or edit its data normally.

How many notes can I add per day?
There is no hard limit. Add as many timestamped notes as you need for a single day.

Does voice-to-text send my speech to a server?
Voice-to-text uses Apple’s on-device Speech Recognition framework. Depending on your iOS version and settings, some speech processing may occur on Apple’s servers. The resulting text is stored locally in SimplifiedHealth. For maximum privacy, type notes manually.


Privacy & Data

What Data is Stored

  • Day entries: date, BDI score, sleep hours.
  • Day notes: timestamp, note text (plaintext or encrypted).
  • Medications: name, dosage, directions, prescriber, notes, date added.
  • Medication reminders: scheduled times, notification message, sound preference.
  • Settings: PIN length, failed attempt count, biometric preference (stored in Keychain).

What Data Leaves Your Device

  • None of your health data is sent anywhere by SimplifiedHealth.
  • Voice-to-text transcription may use Apple’s servers (see FAQ above).
  • The app makes no network requests of its own.

Encryption Details

When a PIN is enabled, note text is encrypted using Apple CryptoKit’s AES.GCM implementation. A unique encryption key is derived from your PIN and stored in the iOS Keychain. Each note is encrypted with a unique random nonce. Decryption requires the correct PIN (or the PIN retrieved via biometric unlock from the Keychain).

If you change your PIN, all notes are re-encrypted with a new key derived from the new PIN. If you remove your PIN, all notes are decrypted and stored as plaintext.

Data Deletion

  • Individual notes: use the “Remove Note” button in the Day Detail screen.
  • Entire day entries: not directly supported — clear the BDI score to 0, sleep to 0, and remove all notes.
  • Individual medications: swipe left and tap Delete (or use the Delete button in the edit form with PIN).
  • All data at once: delete the app from your device (removes all SwiftData stores), or exceed the failed-attempt PIN limit (data wipe).

SimplifiedHealth is a personal health-tracking tool and is not a medical device. The BDI mood score and all other logged data are for personal awareness only and do not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical concerns. The developers assume no liability for decisions made based on data entered into this app.

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