You absolutely do not need a smartwatch, a ring, or any fancy device to use MigraineMe. The app was designed to be useful on its own. Many of our happiest users have nothing more than the phone in their pocket. Please do not feel you are missing out.
What you can still do
With just the app, you can:
- Log every migraine, including how bad it was and how long it lasted.
- Log triggers, prodromes, medicines, reliefs and activities in a couple of taps.
- Track your menstrual cycle if it applies to you.
- See patterns over weeks, months, and years.
- Get a daily risk score based on the information you have given.
The app also pulls in things you do not have to type, such as the weather where you live and the time of year. This already gives the risk score useful information without any wearable at all.
How the risk score works without a wearable
The risk score looks at everything it knows about you. With a wearable, it adds in things like sleep quality and heart rate variability. Without a wearable, it relies more on what you log yourself. This is still genuinely useful. Many of the strongest migraine triggers — poor sleep, stress, certain foods, weather changes — are things you can simply tell the app about.
The more you log, the better the score gets. After a few weeks of regular use, it will start to learn your personal patterns.
How to log without a wearable
Logging a migraine
- Open MigraineMe.
- On the Home screen, tap the Migraine button in the Quick log strip.
- If you have starred favourite items, a small sheet offers them; otherwise it saves a one-tap migraine with severity 5 straight away. To set the severity yourself and add details, open the Log tab instead and tap Log Migraine to use the full wizard.
Logging the things that drive your migraines
The Quick log strip on Home covers Migraine, Trigger, Prodrome, Medicine and Relief in one tap each. The Quick Log grid on the Log tab has the same, plus Activity:
- Triggers — for example "Poor sleep", "Stress", "Skipped meal".
- Prodromes — early warning signs like yawning, neck stiffness, mood changes.
- Medicines.
- Reliefs — for example "Dark room", "Cold compress".
- Activities (from the Log tab).
If you slept badly, log a Poor sleep trigger. If you felt very stressed, log a Stress trigger. The app uses what you tell it.
Logging food without a wearable
You can scan barcodes or type foods directly inside MigraineMe.
- Open the Monitor tab.
- Tap the Diet card.
- Use the search box or the barcode scanner button to add the food. See the help articles Logging food by typing and Logging food by barcode for the details.
Reviewing your day each evening
The Daily Check-In (also reachable from the Log tab) is a short evening review. It lists what the app caught automatically — like the weather — and lets you tick off anything else you noticed today. For someone without a wearable it is the easiest way to keep the record complete.
A simple routine that works
Many of our users without wearables follow this routine:
- In the morning, if you slept badly, log a Poor sleep trigger from the Quick log strip.
- During the day, log any food (Diet card on Monitor) and any stress or skipped meals via the Trigger button.
- In the evening, open the Daily Check-In and quickly tick anything you noticed today.
- If you get a migraine, log it as soon as you can.
It takes about a minute a day in total.
Should you ever consider a wearable?
There is no need. But if you are curious, a simple sleep-tracking ring or watch can add useful information automatically, especially about sleep. We have articles on the most popular ones if you ever want to read about them. There is no pressure.
If logging feels like too much
You do not have to log everything. Even logging just your migraines is useful. Pick what fits your day. Something is always better than nothing.
If you have any questions, write to us at help@migraineme.app.
