Your.MD – symptom checker app

Overview
Reviews
Reviews

An app for people who would like to track health parameters, improve their wellbeing or sleep, or check symptoms.

Your.MD app	By Your.MD
	Features Symptom checker Health A–Z library Wellbeing tracker Self-assessments Quizzes Get the app from
Clinical review	Read a clinical review of this app.
User reviews	(0) Have you used this app? Tell us what you think of it. Rate this app
Security and privacy	Does the app: collect medical information? Yes require a login? No have password protection? No have a privacy policy? Yes require internet access? Yes Read more safety tips around health apps
Cost	Free

What does the app do?

The Your.MD app uses data you input to provide automated advice and guidance about your health. It has 4 main sections:

Self-care checker: A chatbot to help you decide if you should see a doctor, or if you can self-care. You can check your symptoms, do a self-assessment or ask a question.
Health A-Z: A directory of information about hundreds of conditions and health topics. The Health A–Z topics can be accessed via the website.
OneStop Health: Has recommendations for health products and services to help your individual situation.
Health Journal: A journal feature to log, monitor and track your symptoms.

Note: The app has a disclaimer that while it provides useful information, it's not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you think you may have a medical emergency, immediately call your doctor or the emergency services. Before acting on any of the information in the Your.MD app or symptom checker, consult with your doctor to make sure it is right for you. For the complete app description, go to the app website or Google Play, or for a more detailed review, see Reviews.

PROS	CONS
✔ Seems to do best with acute cases. ✔ Self-assessment questionnaires for HIV risk, postnatal depression, alcohol misuse, ADHD, depression, autism, social anxiety, body dysmorphia, PTSD, contraception, generalised anxiety disorder, fertility, eating disorders and daytime sleepiness. ✔ Large database of health articles that appear to be sourced from the NHS. ✔ Health journal with various tracking options. Syncs with Google Fit or Samsung Health. ✔ Multi-week sleep improvement and wellbeing health plans, eg, the wellbeing plan has you focus on one wellbeing topic per week for 4 weeks: get active, eat well, be mindful and improve sleep.	✘ No research available on the app’s accuracy. This type of app should have published research on its accuracy. ✘ The symptom checker featured poorly with our in-house testing: - only works for those 18 years and older. - correct diagnosis in 2/10 of cases assessed - correct triage in 4/10 of cases assessed - often doesn’t ask key questions - the diagnosis sometimes doesn’t fit with the answers given - the database seemed quite limited with some symptoms not being understood by the programme.

PROS

CONS

✔ Seems to do best with acute cases.

✔ Self-assessment questionnaires for HIV risk, postnatal depression, alcohol misuse, ADHD, depression, autism, social anxiety, body dysmorphia, PTSD, contraception, generalised anxiety disorder, fertility, eating disorders and daytime sleepiness.

✔ Large database of health articles that appear to be sourced from the NHS.

✔ Health journal with various tracking options. Syncs with Google Fit or Samsung Health.

✔ Multi-week sleep improvement and wellbeing health plans, eg, the wellbeing plan has you focus on one wellbeing topic per week for 4 weeks: get active, eat well, be mindful and improve sleep.

✘ No research available on the app’s accuracy. This type of app should have published research on its accuracy.

✘ The symptom checker featured poorly with our in-house testing:
- only works for those 18 years and older.
- correct diagnosis in 2/10 of cases assessed
- correct triage in 4/10 of cases assessed
- often doesn’t ask key questions
- the diagnosis sometimes doesn’t fit with the answers given
- the database seemed quite limited with some symptoms not being understood by the programme.

Review details

Date of review: October 2019
Platform reviewed: Android
Version: 3.5.3
Download size: 9 MB

Learn more

Using symptom checkers safely

References

A literature review and meta‐analysis of drug company–funded mental health websites Acta Psychiatr Scand, 2013
Beyond Dr. Google – the evidence on consumer-facing digital tools for diagnosis Diagnosis, 2018
Evaluation of symptom checkers for self diagnosis and triage: audit study BMJ, 2015
Online symptom checker diagnostic and triage accuracy for HIV and hepatitis C Epidemiol Infect. 2019 Jan

Disclaimer: Health Navigator’s app library is a free consumer service to help you decide whether a health app would be suitable for you. Our review process is independent. We have no relationship with the app developers or companies and no responsibility for the service they provide. This means that if you have an issue with one of the apps we have reviewed, you will need to contact the app developer or company directly.

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Credits: Health Navigator Editorial Team . Reviewed By: Jeremy Steinberg, GP, FRNZCGP Last reviewed: 21 Nov 2019 Page last updated: 15 Jun 2021

Clinical review

Reviewer: Jeremy Steinberg, GP, FRNZCGP
Date of review: October 2019
Version: 3.5.3
Comments: I could not find any published research on the accuracy of the symptom checker, so I assessed the app using 10 cases taken from two medical casebooks ('Acute medicine' and 'Surgery' from the Clinical Cases Uncovered series). A spread of case difficulties was chosen in a non-rigorous fashion. The app version assessed was 3.5.3.

The app got the correct diagnosis in 2/10 of the cases (20%; 95% CI, 0–46%), and the correct triage in 4/10 (40%; 95% CI, 8–72%).

A common theme for the failed cases was that several key questions weren’t asked, such as risk factors for endocarditis in the persistent fever case (infective endocarditis). Sometimes the diagnosis given did not fit with the answers. For example, for the infective endocarditis case, the patient had fevers for several weeks, and Your.MD said they had pseudogout. Pseudogout doesn’t tend to cause fevers and it wouldn’t last for several weeks.

The app often didn’t understand answers (eg, sore nipple for the Paget’s disease question or cut wrist for the ulnar nerve laceration question) or misinterpreted them (such as interpreting bulging eyes as puffy eyelids for the Grave’s disease question). It appeared that the database was quite limited.

Correct diagnosis	Your.MD diagnosis accuracy	Your.MD triage accuracy
Atrial fibrillation	Fail	Correct
Gastric ulcer	Correct	Correct
Pulmonary embolism	Correct	Correct
Diabetic ketoacidosis	Fail	Correct
Infective endocarditis	Fail	Fail
Delirium due to hypercalcaemia	Fail	Fail
Grave’s disease	Fail	Fail
Paget’s disease of nipple	Fail	Fail
Branchial cyst	Fail	Fail
Ulnar nerve laceration	Fail	Fail

New Zealand relevance: The health article section is sourced from the NHS and as such is not always relevant to the New Zealand patient.
Safety concerns: There are definitely safety concerns when using this app. There is an apparent high rate of inaccurate diagnoses and triage scores. Do not reply on this app for your diagnosis. If you have concerns about your health, contact your doctor or call HealthLine 0800 611 116. Read more about using symptom checkers safely.
Note: The health tracking part of the app was fair, but was not reviewed in detail.