2023 Effecto.app Review: Pros and Cons

Domental has evaluated the Effecto app as a potentially effective way to support the online therapy process and manage mental health concerns more effectively.

It is not new that daily tracking and tracking apps can improve the overall mental health and help cope with mental illnesses. After a months-long process of our therapists trying out and reviewing the features of Effecto tracker, we can say that it is suitable for managing a wide variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, ADHD and many others.

Effecto app features a wide variety of functions to help track anything and see how it affects your symptoms, sleep, mood and energy. Here are the app’s pros and cons.

Some research shows that daily tracking can:

• Stabilize mood, emotions and improve the quality of sleep
• Help control symptoms of chronic illnesses (mental health conditions, chronic pain, migraine etc.) 
• Reduce hospitalizations and readmissions to hospitals of the people that have chronic conditions. 
• Aid in communication between the patients and health care providers, enhancing patient knowledge and understanding of their conditions and health care providers being able to better treat patients.

Effecto is a commonly recommended app for all types of personal tracking. But does it live up to the hype?

How we researched Effecto

Before we recommend a health tracking app, it’s put through a vetting process where we review the following factors:

• Features. We search for apps with features that cater to both novice and experienced users that track daily. 
• User reviews. We check what current users have to say about the app. Are most customers having a positive experience?  
• Overall rating. We try to ensure the apps we recommend have earned more than 4 stars on both Google Play and the App Store. 
• Cost. We select apps that meet every budget, from apps that are completely free to those with more complex features and thus higher rates. 
• Operating system. We make sure the apps work on both Android and iOS

What is Effecto?

Effecto began back in 2016, when a group of medical school students saw a massive demand for such a platform, since there are lots of people using similar health tracking techniques for different purposes. 

Starting with journals and more than 50 pages long excel sheets, pre-made for tracking different types of health data and daily routines for people with chronic health conditions, it eventually became an app that does it all and more in a more simplified way. An all-in-one app to help users easily manage their health conditions.

With its colorful and fun design, Effecto Health tracker aims to improve the overall health and quality of life of users worldwide.

The app supports a variety of functions, allowing personalized tracking of any factors that could influence your health:

• Mental health conditions (stress, anxiety, adhd, ptsd etc.)
• Common health issues (poor sleep hygiene, gastrointestinal symptoms, low physical activity, poor nutrition etc.)
• Chronic illnesses (migraine, diabetes, chronic pain, hypertension, arthritis etc.)
• Personal growth and mindfulness
• Work and productivity

Studies by Effecto and independent researchers have found various benefits.

A pioneer in evidence-based science, the peer-reviewed Swiss journal called MDPI rated Effecto App as the best personalized health & chronic illnesses tracker that helps people make intelligent decisions about their health.

Pros and cons of the Effecto app

While the Effecto Health app may offer many benefits, there are some downsides to consider as well. 

What’s great about the Effecto app?

• Personalization. Effecto tracker has a diverse selection of factors and is easily customizable to fulfill the needs of people with many different health conditions. 
• Ease of use. The app includes user-friendly animations, illustrations, and content that make it very easily accessible and fun to use.
• All health data in one place. Effecto Tracker allows syncing data from any health tracking apps through Google Fit and Apple Health and eliminates the need to use several apps at once to track your period, water intake, physical activity, sleep or any other metrics you track. 
• Encourages consistency. An advanced notification system with reminders encourages users to be more consistent and to not forget daily track.
• Meds and supplements management. Effecto not only reminds users to take meds, but also allows them to understand how they affect the user's symptoms and what type of meds and supplements fit the user the most.

What are the downsides of the Effecto app?

• Busy interface. Some users may find the fun, colorful interface to be too bright and too busy.
• It only works if you do. The insights you can gain from this app are numerous, but they are only accurate if you actually put effort into being mindful about your health and care enough to track your triggers and symptoms.
• Less comprehensive period tracking. Even though Effecto Tracker benefits in tracking the menstrual cycle, its current functionality is not as comprehensive and not as easy to use as some other competitors. It’s good to know that Effecto’s team is working on a more advanced period tracking solution that will be implemented in a matter of a few months.

Effecto app features

Overall, Effecto comes with a wide array of offerings, including:

• Onboarding call and video to help the users with first-time tracking experience to learn what type of factors, for what reasons, and how can be tracked. 
• Fully customizable tracking, to track anything the user wants and see how it affects different symptoms, illnesses, mood swings and overall well being.
• Personalized insights to discover the harmful patterns and triggers for symptoms and find each user’s personal relief methods.
• Systematic approach, created by the top clinicians and experts in different medical fields, to help the user see the bigger picture.
• Personal reports to share with the doctor and to see one’s progress in daily reports of habits, activities and symptoms. 
• Medication management feature to help keep track of medications and supplements, get reminders and find the type of medication that works the best for each individual user.

Until recently, Effecto has only been available in English language, but currently, Effecto has announced that they are working on translations to offer personalized tracking in:

• German
• Spanish
• French

How does the Effecto app work?

While the Effecto Tracker started out as just a chronical illnesses tracking app, it has increased its offerings and now offers a broad variety of tracking possibilities, making it possible to track anything the user wishes to. A positive outcome is reached by performing three easy steps.

• Choosing the factors to track
• Analyzing health insights
• Discovering the effects

Choosing which factors to track

To start with, the user has to choose which factors he or she wants to track and in which aspects to evaluate their influence on health. This step includes systematic daily logging of personal information about those factors. These factors, that the user chooses to track, can be anything, from mood and emotional triggers, sleep data, medication, food and drinks, to different types of daily activities and diets. 

Analyzing health insights

At this step, Effecto takes over and provides health insights that are automatically generated by the Effecto Tracker technology. The more informed the user is about health, the more empowered he or she is to control it. Insights let users find factors, habits, and routines that impact wellbeing. They help in recognizing how specific behaviors and activities affect a user's life and identify the ones that have the most influence.

Is Effecto right for you?

Because of the user-friendly design, features’ personalization possibilities and an onboarding call or video, Effecto could be an excellent option for beginners. It has all the information needed to answer the questions “What is tracking?” and “Where do I start?”

Tracking can be intimidating, so the app provides specific, easy-to-digest instructions and clear-cut starting points. 

If you’re busy, easily overwhelmed, Effecto could be used for a very limited type of tracking, e.g. to only track mood, medications intake or menstruation cycle, that would take only a few seconds per day. But at the same time, Effecto is helpful for tracking pros, too, especially for users with personal tracking methods that just want to have a more convenient and time-saving tool to do that.

Let’s recap

Effecto seems to have something for everyone. Beginners in tracking may appreciate cheerful aesthetic design and an easy to use variety of tools to fit personal needs. Effecto aims to demystify tracking and make it easily accessible.

Users with more experience in tracking will appreciate a solution to have all the health data in one place and a state of the art functionality of Effecto, saving a lot of time, usually required to track various factors.

Still, as with any app, it requires commitment, which may naturally wax and wane, depending on what’s going on in your life, but from mood swings or mental concerns to chronic illnesses and daily routine building, Effecto can serve as a positive, supportive tool.