What if I want to store/access my data online?

As a single file, you can easily keep your data on one of the many file-hosting services like DropBox, Gooble Drive, or OneDrive – all of which offer more than enough free space to keep your app file. If you want better privacy, SpiderOak offers cloud storage with client-side encryption as well.

Why doesn’t it work with Internet Explorer?

To be fair, IE 10 works well enough to run the app, enter data, and print... Unfortunately, it doesn’t let you SAVE your data to a local drive. Right now the best we can say about IE is that it’s an excellent tool for downloading a fully functional browser like FireFox or Chrome.

What about Opera, Safari, etc... ?

The goal of this app is to act as much like a regular desktop app as possible. So far, only FireFox and Chrome provide the right combination of features needed to do this. Opera was actually quite close, but we judged its printing behavior as too inconsistent to trust with your data. If you want to experiment with other browsers - derivatives of FireFox and Chrome in particular - we’d be happy to hear your results.

Aren’t you just duplicating services like Microsoft’s HealthVault?

If you mean “are we providing a way to record the same data you can store in HealthVault?”, then “yes”. However, that’s where the similarity ends. The major difference is that HealthVault stores your data and provides access through the Internet while “My Own Medical Info” lets you keep your data with YOU. Although a HealthVault user can print a limited “Emergency Profile”, most data is only accessible online. HealthVault is a comprehensive medical record system that may well represent the future of personal health management. Right now though, a truly portable app and customized printout will be easier (and safer) to use when dealing with healthcare providers.

Why do I need cookies enabled?

Well technically you don’t HAVE to enable cookies. Unfortunately, disabling cookies or running in “Private Browser” mode defeats the app’s data protection scheme. With a browser it’s very easy to just close a tab (or the entire browser) without any warning or confirmation. To prevent such events from losing the data you just entered, the app relies on browser “Local Storage” to preserve data when the browser closes. The browser’s Local Storage is basically just a “big cookie” that can hold larger chunks of data - like all your medical information.

Do you plan to support Android or IOS ?

The short answer is “Sort of”. The problem is that most Android and IOS hardware is not ideal for editing or displaying your medical data (keyboards are rare and screens are small). Also, picture this: You’re on a stretcher in an emergency room and the doctor says “is there anything I should know about?” You could say “here’s my smartphone (which wasn’t damaged in the accident), find the wake-up button, enter this unlock code, start the medical info app, and then scroll through everything on this tiny little screen - but do it quickly because it needs charging”. OR, you could just say “it’s all on this piece of paper”. While a larger tablet might be good for reviewing your data, you really can’t beat paper for portability. So... while we know the app (barely) runs on Android versions of Chrome and FireFox, we advise against it.