Visible: Long Covid & ME/CFS Hack 23.9.3 + Redeem Codes

I have been one of the lucky people to participate in the early Visible Plus heart rate tracker armband program. This tool has become so valuable to my life and living with ME. I learned that I can actually perform 20-25 minutes of Pilates on the reformer and not put my heart into over exertion. This little bit of exercise helps me mentally and physically. I am also learning what tasks puts my heart rate into over exertion and I am learning to stop and rest a bit once I get the over exertion notification on my phone. I know, many of us, are unable to work and the monthly cost, plus the initial cost of the armband, may be difficult to add to your budget, I am one of them. However, the information I am receiving is teaching me how to prevent a ME/CFS crash/flare up. I had such an extreme crash several months ago and I always hear the words of my ME specialist “prevent crashing at all costs, to prevent loosing energy window”. I lost a bit of my energy window that hasn’t returned. My goal now with this tool is to prevent crashing completely. Thank you for this app and armband. I am so very appreciative!!

I’ve been using this app for about two weeks now and am really enjoying it. It’s easy to use and very helpful in tracking my symptoms. As I go, I keep adding symptoms that I didn’t think about earlier. My mind often goes blank or giving all the necessary information to my doctors just feels too exhausting, so this will be a great tool for those appointments.
Suggestions for the developers: My sleep schedule is often not typical and at this point, there’s no real option for that. I can’t say “did not sleep” in the morning or report sleeping during the day. I’ve been using the notes for that, but I know I’m not the only one who has an atypical sleep schedule and would love to see an accommodation for that. Also, I’m keeping track of my night sweats and would like to be able to report that during the morning check in when I do sleep at night.
Overall, I’m very happy with this app and so grateful that someone posted about it in a Long Covid support group. Thank you for all your hard work in helping people like us!

I've been using the app for a month or so and signed up for the VisiblePlus arm band when it was first offered. The continuous monitoring and energy budgeting features are great. The feedback it provides has been KEY in helping me unlearn the habit of pushing myself too much when my symptoms are less intense. It helps me to give myself permission to rest
Prior to coming down with long COVID, I was fit and healthy. For many months after, I was stuck in a cycle of overdoing it, crashing, bedrest, and then recovering some energy only to overdo it again. Reclaiming your life and living with chronic illness comes with a steep learning curve. Visible takes a lot of the guesswork out of that process.
As with any great app, user feedback is welcomed and fixes/improvements are continually being provided by the Visible team. Many, many thanks for their hard work and for providing this service to those living with ME/CFS, long COVID, and many other illnesses.

I have been using this app about 2 months. With long Covid I find it difficult to mentally retain how my symptom trends feel day to day, and I get especially frustrated with how even resting does not mean increased stability. I was looking for a way to track my symptoms and was relieved to find that I don’t have to invent the wheel. I have found that the stability predictions are pretty accurate and which gives me some control in my pacing. I also found that just reading the symptom trackers available validate my experiences; trudging through long Covid is lonely work and it is a relief to know that my symptoms are commonly experienced. Lastly, having this data makes it easier to communicate trends with my care team whereas on my own I am likely to forget. I really can’t say enough about this app and have recommended it to other experiencers.

I’ve been using this app (in beta) for a little over a week. I’ve had ME/CFS since 2015 and I’m thrilled to have something like this available. I have used more sophisticated symptom trackers that provide an in-depth analysis, but none has focussed specifically on pacing and that’s where this one is set apart. I described it to a non-spoonie friend as a scientifically backed Bones or No Bones day. I’m eager to see how my stability scores improve as I use the app over time, and I’m appreciative of something that can help me gauge my activity levels. Too often ME feels like trying not to overdraw your bank account when you have no idea how much money you have. This app helps cut through some of that uncertainty.

I really want to love this app, but I have a lot of UX feedback, including:
-App sometimes fails to open and just freezes on the landing page (screen that says “Visible.”)
-The HR sensor takes way too long to complete.
-There is no way to indicate if you are experiencing an uptick in symptoms because you ate something, took a medication, etc. I suggest an option that allows you to track that. For example, I have lupus and take a weekly injection which causes a symptom flare but should affect me that way less and less the longer I’m on it. Also, when I have to skip the medication, certain symptoms flare and I want to be able to track that.
-The reminders only happen if you have your phone on and active. If I wake up after the morning reminder, there’s no record of it in y notifications and I may forget to check in.

It’s important to note that Visible is still in beta, meaning it’s a work in progress. Even so, I’ve found it super helpful.

I have ME/CFS and used another product for about a year to keep track of my daily strain and recovery. It was definitely useful and helped me pace, but that product focuses on fitness. Visible is the only product of which I’m aware that is specifically created to aid people with fatigue related illnesses.

I have the plus membership and I love the Pace Point system. It is a visual representation of how my body is reacting to exertion, which allows me to see how well I’m pacing that day. I compared it with the product I was using and on a day that the other product said was “restorative”, Visible showed me going way over my pace points. My symptoms and the way my body felt were much more aligned with Visible’s assessment.

The team is working to add more features and they are very responsive and professional. In a world that likes to minimize and dismiss my disease, I’m stoked to have a product that is built by people like me for people like me.

It’s a game changer.

Nice start and good interface. But before I invest a lot of time into tracking my symptoms it's crucial (to me) to know that I'll have access to my answers even if an app shuts down. One good way would be syncing/writing data to Apple's Health app. Other sync options (CSV or json format to iCloud for example) would be good too. Til that happens I’m going to look elsewhere.

Also I'm not so comfortable with a few words in particular in their privacy policy: “business” and “buyer” From the policy: "we may share from time to time share personal data with the following categories of recipients: potential buyers of or investors in our business where necessary in connection with a due diligence exercise."

Some wise person once said If the product is free, the product is you.

I’ve been using this app (in Beta) for a few months now. I really like being able to track symptoms specific to long COVID and ME/CFS (I have both). I also appreciate being able to create custom symptoms to track. The developers are extremely appreciative of feedback and they keep making improvements. The morning stability score has gotten more accurate and helpful by using reported symptom severity and HRV measurement using your phone’s camera. I also appreciate the ability to track how all my symptoms are trending over several weeks or months. I highly recommend this app - great for pacing and symptom management.

I think this is going to be *the* ME/CFS app.

It’s simple right now, in beta.

However, I have read all the blog posts and listened to a podcast interview of the creator, and I really like the direction they’re headed.

I love that the team is made up of people with ME and Long Covid, and experts from Workwell and Bateman Horne.

They are doing great at asking for feedback and then giving frequent updates and making changes based on that feedback.

The app and the website are beautiful and professional.

I’m really looking forward to the features of the paid app- especially all-day HRV monitoring and uptime monitoring. I also look forward to when medication tracking is added and when symptom tracking is a bit more refined.

One concern I have is that I hope the paid version will be affordable. Many in our community struggle financially and all deserve to be able to access tools that may help us.

Major thanks to all involved in making this app happen. Keep up the good work!