Keeping a health journal can help you communicate with your care providers. It can help you answer questions like "when did the symptoms start?" or "what activities were you doing that day?" with much more confidence. It can also help you notice trends in your health and identify triggers for your symptoms.

A health journal can't replace a doctor. But it can enhance your healthcare, create an accessible medical record, and help you take charge of your health. Here are some of the best health journal apps for Android.

1. Healthily: Self-Care & Health Journal

Healthily is a tracker app that helps you notice trends in your health. It offers eleven health trackers to use, but you can't add new ones. You can add notes at any time, though. Once you have some entries, the app will show you how the different parts of your life impact your health.

This app is best as a learning tool. Healthily offers health information from the UK's National Health Service and other medical resources to help you make informed choices. You can check the sources and the author's credentials on every article.

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These articles and tips can give you advice on everything from getting better sleep to dealing with anxiety. Healthily can also find care providers in your area, including pharmacists, therapists, and yoga studios. It locates them using Google Maps.

The app also includes a chatbot that can help you reach specific information for your concern. It is not a diagnostic tool and does not give direct medical advice, but the chatbot can quiz you about your symptoms and suggest possible causes. It also lets you know what kind of care provider you should go to if you decide to seek care.

Healthily can help you create a general health record. But it's especially great at helping you make informed choices, both in your general lifestyle and in your healthcare decisions.

Download: Healthily: Self-Care & Health Journal (Free)

2. Health Log

Health Log is a symptom tracker. It comes with trackers for common issues like headaches, back pain, and allergies, but you can also add new categories. You can detail each entry in a tracker with information on severity, treatment, duration, and more. You can also add custom notes.

This information can help you get better care from your doctor. It can be difficult to recall how severe a pain was after it has passed, or other details like how long a symptom went on. But with Health Log, you can make an accessible health record that is easy to review in the doctor's office.

You can view the average duration and severity of a specific symptom on its summary page. The app also displays all your averages on the home page as a summary. By using averages, Health Log can notice trends in your data. For instance, the app can spot the most common trigger for a symptom, helping you avoid it.

The app is minimalist and focused on tracking symptoms so you can measure their impact and identify their triggers. It also takes note of effective relief methods. It's good for creating a simple medical record that you can access from your phone, and can help you manage your symptoms better.

Download: Health Log (Free)

3. Bearable

Bearable is the most robust and customizable of the health journals on this list. While there are many great health apps that focus on specific health aspects such as symptoms or sleep, this one does it all. It has several customizable features. You can even set custom reminders for your medications and toggle them separately from the app's check-in reminders.

Bearable lets you update your trackers throughout the day. This lets you capture more detailed information than if you have to select an "overall" rating. For instance, you can record a headache in the morning, but note that it was gone in the afternoon. Most factors offer descriptive tags, and you can add new tags as well. The extra detail helps you create a precise and accurate record of your health.

In the Insights tab, you can add up to three trackers to see how they impact each other. The data is shown in an easy-to-read chart. It makes trends, such as getting headaches after skipping a meal, very easy to see. Premium users can get even more insights that the app generates for you.

This app is easy to learn, despite all the specifics. It's also easy to customize---you can remove whole categories from view if you don't use them, or add new ones. Premium users get access to more specific insights, but free users still have a lot to work with.

Download: Bearable (Free, subscription available)

4. jDay: Health Journal & Planner

jDay is a combination health journal and planner that relies heavily on user notes. Premium users can add new categories and tags, which makes creating an entry much faster. Free users can rename the existing categories and add notes.

The planner feature lets you add and track appointments, and includes that data when analyzing your overall trends. For instance, the app can notice that you tend to log allergy symptoms after visiting the dog park, or that you frequently have low self-esteem after hanging out with a specific contact.

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Premium users can track additional factors. For instance, jDay can help you quit smoking by learning what triggers your nicotine cravings. Entering the day's info for any tracker is simple, and premium users can add customized tags instead of typing notes.

jDay specializes each tracker for a specific need. Sleep tracking benefits from a timer. You can start the timer when you go to bed and stop it when you wake up for an accurate record of how long you slept. For medication, you can adjust the dosage.

jDay has a strong analysis tool in its Insights tab. You can analyze overall negative or positive trends in your health and mood. You can also isolate specific tags to track. It all adds up to a highly personalized report. But since jDay stores your information locally, it's easy to control who sees it.

Overall, the app relies a lot on custom tags (a premium feature) to make tracking fast and easy. But if you don't mind the subscription cost, then take a minute to set up tags and enjoy a health journal that's tailored for your specific needs.

Download: jDay: Health Journal & Planner (Free, subscription available)

5. mySymptoms Food Diary & Symptom Tracker

mySymptoms is a health, mood, food, and fitness tracker. Its food tracker is the most robust feature. But it also tracks mood, sleep, environmental factors, and everything else you need. Its Analysis tool will compare all trackers to see how they influence your health.

The food journal is very detailed. You can scan food in by barcode, create recipes by ingredient, or search from popular foods in the database. You usually see this attention to detail only in calorie counters, so it's a nice bonus here.

mySymptoms does not record nutrition information. But you can categorize your foods and recipes with the "kind of" tag. For instance, you can record a cheeseburger as "a kind of junk food." mySymptoms will use these categories to suggest links between your health and your diet.

You can export all your information as an organized PDF to show your care providers. The Analysis tool is also useful for briefing your doctor. It can provide a detailed record of what you were eating and doing when you experienced a symptom, as well as the long-term impacts of your activities.

Download: mySymptoms Food Diary & Symptom Tracker (Lite) (Free) | mySymptoms Food Diary & Symptom Tracker ($3.99)

Take Charge of Your Health by Journaling

By keeping track of your health, you can gain better control over it. You can notice what triggers your symptoms and what relieves them. You can reference specific information when consulting a care provider. And, because of this control, you can feel more organized and confident about your health records.

Try out a health journal that fits your needs. If you prefer to journal on pen-and-paper, there are also several printable options!