Embera 1.0 was submitted to Apple on September 24, 2026. Before that, we did two things we wish more health apps talked about: an audit of every calculation, and a read of the whole app, file by file. Here is what came out of it, including the embarrassing parts.
Audit 1: every calculation
Ten fixes, done in order of importance. The ones that mattered most:
- Daily pills were treated like weekly shots. Rybelsus and other daily GLP-1 pills got a weekly reminder, a medication level stuck at 100% and a run-out date seven times too late. Now one rule decides the rhythm everywhere: one day for pills, seven for shots.
- The cycle view measured the wrong thing. It averaged the change between two weigh-ins, which on a GLP-1 mostly measures the steady loss. On a simulated dataset with a known premenstrual bump of 1.0 kg, it reported 0.07 kg. Now each weigh-in is compared with a 28-day trend line, and the same simulation gives 0.96 kg.
- The medication level peaked the moment you logged a shot. In reality semaglutide peaks 1 to 3 days after, tirzepatide 8 to 72 hours. The model now includes absorption, so the curve rises for a day or so before it peaks.
- Two different site rotations. The home screen and the dose screen could suggest different sites. There is now one rotation, used everywhere.
- The converter had no guard rails. It could say “add 40 mL of water” to a 3 mL vial. See how we tested it.
- No automated tests. We promised a tested converter, so we added tests: 24 converter cases, the medication level, the cycle view, the supply and the rotation.
Audit 2: the whole app, file by file
Thirty-three problems. A few of the worst:
- Choosing Rybelsus, then Zepbound, logged Zepbound as a pill. Wrong level, wrong reminders, wrong supply.
- The weigh-in reminder “at 9:00 AM” rang at whatever time you turned it on.
- A barcode scan counted every product as 100 g, so a 30 g bar counted three times over.
- Water was always in ounces, even in metric.
And some words we were not comfortable with, on the onboarding screens:
- A label saying “clinical protocol doses” above the dose choices, which read like a recommendation. Embera never recommends a dose.
- A weight-loss projection (“about N weeks at 0.75 kg per week”). Nobody can promise that, so it is gone.
- “Zero external tracking”, when the app does send anonymous usage signals. Now the wording is accurate.
Where things stand
- 36 automated tests, all passing, run on every build.
- Every problem from both audits fixed, except one piece of unused code that nobody can see.
- Submitted to Apple on September 24, 2026, and waiting for review at the time of writing.
We will post what Apple asks us to change, if anything, and every update will be in the changelog.
Why share this
Because a health app should be able to show its work. If you ever find something wrong in Embera, tell us. It will be fixed and it will be in the changelog.