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A 5-minute walkthrough

How PillPal works

Six steps from installing the app to showing a doctor your medication history. Most users complete the first four in under five minutes.

  1. 1

    Sign up and scan your first bottle

    Create a free account with your email. On the dashboard, tap 'Take Photos' to open the in-app camera. Line the label up inside the red guide box — it turns green when you've captured a photo. Rotate the bottle and take 2–3 angles so the AI can read text that wraps around the cylinder.

    Tips

    • Good lighting beats any AI trick — face a window if you can
    • The guide box is sized for standard prescription bottles
    • Dark or glary frames? Retake — the AI will tell you if fields are unreadable
  2. 2

    Review and confirm — you always get the final say

    The AI extracts medication name, dosage, frequency, instructions, quantity, pharmacy, and prescribing doctor. A confirm page shows everything as editable fields. Fix any typos, pick dose times, and save. PillPal sets up the notification schedule for you.

    Tips

    • The AI is right ~96% of the time but always review before saving
    • Dose times default to common schedules (9am, 9pm, etc.) — adjust freely
    • Add notes for anything you want to remember: 'take with food', etc.
  3. 3

    Take doses — tap to confirm

    When a dose time arrives, you get a push notification. Open the app (or tap the notification action) and hit Take, Skip, or Snooze. Every tap updates the dashboard instantly — even if you're offline, the action syncs when you reconnect.

    Tips

    • Missed a dose by accident? Mark it retroactively from the History page
    • Snooze buys you 10, 30, or 60 minutes — then notifies again
    • The adherence ring on the dashboard updates in real time
  4. 4

    Invite family (optional)

    Settings → Caregivers → Invite. Enter a family member's email. They get a link to accept. Once accepted, they can see your schedule, adherence, and refill alerts — but they can't edit anything. You can revoke access at any time with one click.

    Tips

    • Great for adult children of elderly parents
    • Caregivers can have their own PillPal account too
    • If you change your mind, revoke — the caregiver loses access immediately
  5. 5

    Share with your doctor

    When you book an appointment, go to Doctor → Share. Tap 'Create new link.' Pick an expiration (24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, or never). You get a URL and a QR code. At the appointment, show the QR code — your doctor opens a clean summary page with no login needed.

    Tips

    • Short expirations are good for one-off visits
    • Print the share page for paper charts (it's print-optimized)
    • Revoke the link after the visit to keep things tidy
  6. 6

    Track, review, adjust

    Over time, the History page builds a full picture: daily heatmap, weekly streaks, 90-day trends. Use it at your next checkup to discuss what's working. Add dosage changes in the app — they're logged automatically and appear on the doctor share page.

    Tips

    • Streaks motivate consistency (gamification, the non-icky kind)
    • Dosage history is permanent — changes never overwrite, they append
    • Export anytime — your data belongs to you

What it looks like by Day 7

After a week of daily use, here's the picture PillPal paints.

Today's doses, an adherence ring, refill alerts

Your dashboard

Everything you need in 10 seconds of glancing at your phone.

30-day calendar heatmap, weekly trends

Your history

See patterns you'd never notice on paper. Busy Tuesdays? Weekend dips?

Clean, print-ready, shareable

Your doctor summary

Generated on-demand. Your doctor sees the full story, not a fragmented memory.

Ready to scan your first bottle?

Setup takes less time than reading this page.

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