Is There An SCI App For That?: 3 Great Apps for Wheelchair Users

For almost any problem you have, “There’s an App for that.” But is there an SCI App?

Not exactly, but there are many apps that can make your life easier if you have a spinal cord injury. We’ve chosen to feature three apps that are useful for people in the spinal cord injury community, but there are many more!

HabiTimer

The Habi Timer is an alarm tool that can remind you to do a variety of things. The number of alarms you can set is unlimited, and unlike the alarms that come with your phone, HabiTimer allows you to control all alarms both individually and as a group. 

For example, if you are altering your schedule for the weekend, all alarms can be bumped forward or backward together in increments of 15 minutes. Or, if you need to turn off all your alarms, there is no need to go through and change them one-by-one. HabiTimer lets you control them all with one swipe.

Some of the activities you might want to schedule with HabiTimer are:

• Repositioning to avoid pressure injury
• Taking medications
• Catheterizing
• Therapy or exercise time

This SCI app won’t allow you to forget to complete the important tasks you might easily forget during the flow of everyday life.

WheelMate

WheelMate is an app for people on the go. Wheelmate helps people find accessible toilets and parking spaces. According to their app store description, “The WheelMate app currently has more than 30,000 locations across 45 countries- and more are being added every day.”

If you like to travel, but dread trying to find clean, accessible spaces in your new environment, WheelMate is perfect for you. And as a user, you are able to add recommendations to the directory, which means the user experience will just continue to improve as more people participate.

WheelMate also won an award in 2012 for “Communication to the Consumer- Social Commitment” in the category of “Mobile Media.”

Available for Apple and Android products

Gravity Screen

Sometimes people with spinal cord injuries have trouble with their fine motor skills. This can make it difficult to touch individual buttons on your screen. With Gravity Screen, this problem is solved by allowing you to turn your phone on and off in different ways.

The key features that may be most useful to someone with spinal cord injury are:

• Pocket Sensor: This feature automatically turns the screen off if the phone is in your pocket.
• Table Sensor: This sensor detects when you lay your phone down on a table. It will turn it off, if not in use.
• Turn Screen On by Motion: Without having to touch any individual buttons, if the phone screen is off and facing up, you can wake the device up by moving it.
• Keep Screen On by Motion – Rise to Wake: This feature detects small movements of your hand while you are holding the device upright to make sure the screen stays on while you are watching it.

Gravity Screen makes using your phone a lot less frustrating and can save you from the embarrassments that might come with touching the wrong buttons. No awkward pause as you try to turn your phone on. And no more pocket dialing your mom when out with friends!

Available for Android products

These are just three SCI apps that can make life easier. When you have the time, take a look around your app store to see what else is offered. New apps are being added every day! We can’t feature them all, but here’s a quick list of more apps to get you started on your search: AXS Map, Dragon Go!, iPill, Physiotherapy Exercises, Symple, It’s Accessible, Wheelmap.

And there are other apps that may help you streamline your day, which aren’t designed specifically for the wheelchair community, such as Cozi Calendar. So have fun checking these out and give some a try!

Author: Annie Beth Donahue is a professional writer with a health and disability focus.