As we have noted with previous "top iPhone medical apps" roundups, the headline of this post is a bit tongue-in-cheek, because this list will change very quickly -- tomorrow a new crop of apps will likely unseat today's most popular offerings. Furthermore, I guarantee you these are not the true top 10 free iPhone Medical Apps. These are just the ones that happen to be getting the most downloads currently.
So, think of this as a brief albeit limited snapshot of the current free medical iPhone app market: 10 apps that are enjoying popularity among the medical community and other interested consumers. Sure, the old guards Medscape and Epocrates made the list, but overall this roster does not instill confidence in the iPhone platform as a serious medical device. Apps like Dream Meanings, Relax Ocean Waves and (where to find legal marijuana app) Legal Maps are certainly not primarily intended for the medical community. Perhaps these types of apps have always been a part of the medical category of apps, but it's certainly true that more apps with only a tangental tie to the medical community are making it into the most popular medical app lists on iTunes. Despite the sometimes rigorous iPhone app approval process, it sure seems like any app can be labeled for any category, which can make it hard for specific user groups -- like clinicians -- to determine which apps might be useful to them. Yes, they can find that information on other community sites or if they have a specific search term in mind they might get lucky, but Apple isn't doing them any favors on the discoverability front.
For better or worse: Here are the real top ten iPhone medical apps, according to Apple's iTunes AppStore ranking system:
1) Medscape
2) Epocrates
3) Dream Meanings
4) Medical Encyclopedia
5) Color Blind Test
6) Relax Ocean Waves
7) Muscle System (Head and Neck)
8) Best Diet Foods
9) Diagnose the Disease Game
10) Legal Maps
Read on for details and screen shots from each of the current top ten iPhone medical apps.
1) Medscape
We noticed that Medscape unseated Epocrates as the most popular iPhone medical app during one of our previous app roundups, but it seems the two companies continually trade places for the first and second spots. According to Medscape, the app features: extensive clinical reference with thousands of images and video, drug reference with over 6,000 generic, brand, and OTC drugs, drug interaction checker, medical news, CME/CE activities, physician directory, and more.
