iPhone alcohol tracker launched

Tags: Public health

01 Dec 2009

DH iPhone alcohol tracker app The Department of Health has launched an iPhone application to help people keep track of their drinking.

The application can be downloaded onto iPhone or iPod Touch devices and enables users to work out how many alcoholic units there are in their drink, check how much alcohol they have consumed over a set period such as a week or a month and get personalised feedback on their drinking habits.

The DH said it had launched the first official alcohol tracker application for mobile phones to coincide with the start of the festive season. Public health minister Gillian Merron added: “It is all too easy to lose track of how much you drink. So as the festive parties start to build up this innovative tool will help people keep tabs on their drinking – wherever they are.”

The DH said a recent industry-led report had predicted that 44% of mobile phone users would have access to the internet via their handset by the end of 2009. Of those accessing NHS information via their mobile phone 61% do so using an iPhone, 17% use an iPod Touch and 4% use a Blackberry.

Chris Sorek, chief executive of Drinkaware, said efforts to help people keep track of how much they are drinking over the festive season and throughout the year were a good idea.

He added: “Trying to stick within the daily unit guidelines will help people avoid the January slump and the long term health implications associated with drinking too much alcohol.”

The application is available from iTunes and can be downloaded from NHS Choices.

The DH said those who do not have a smartphone can text the word UNIT to 64746 to receive information on the NHS Choices alcohol calculator.

Fiona Barr

Reader's Comments

2 pints of lager and a postcode please!

02 Dec 09 18:12

why on earth does this app ask for a user's postcode after download and prior to use? Given that there is no verification of the postcode entered one assumes that any data collected would be completely random in any case.

Paranoid about postcodes...

03 Dec 09 15:12

I think not verifying the postcode is actually a better method of data collection since people who don't want to provide theirs are more likely to make it up and thus you can easily exclude them from stats when trying to report on which areas most downloaded the app.

You would hope that the less paranoid people out there would not object to providing at least the first part of their postcode (SW1 or whatever), so at least it would provide some sort of feedback for DH about where the people are from that are choosing to download this app. Although this might speak more to who can afford an iPhone than who is a responsible drinker.

However, we live in the UK where big brother paranoia exists and people will assume it's asking because they are going to come by your house to watch your, or are able to empty your bank accounts.

I personally can't see it being much more than a novelty application on the whole - like most iPhone apps. However, like everything we are trying to do in the healthcare arena, if it helps save a couple of lives because people use it and decide they are too drunk to drive, then perhaps it's worthwhile.