Epinephrine is a life saving medication for people at risk of severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). If you’ve been prescribed an EpiPen (or other epinephrine autoinjector, such as Anapen or AuviQ), it’s essential to carry your medication at all times. While taking your autoinjectors with you everywhere soon becomes a habit, there are times when even the most organised people can accidentally forget them. Fortunately there is a very simple way to set up alerts on your phone to ensure you remember your EpiPens every time.
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Use your phone technology for EpiPen reminders
Bluetooth tracking devices aren’t just for your luggage. There are loads of different ways to use them, from using a tracker on your bike to attaching one to your pet’s collar. We also use one to track our EpiPens. Store one of these little devices in your EpiPen bag and set up Bluetooth tracking on your phone.
Where trackers come into their own with medications is not so much to track and find something when it is lost. You can also use these smart devices to help you remember your EpiPens by setting up notifications and alerts directly to your phone.
If you are someone who always carries your phone, then you’ll also never forget your EpiPens either!
Which type of Bluetooth tracker should you use?
While there are now quite a few different Bluetooth trackers on the market, not all are the same quality or have the same features. 3 popular types of Bluetooth trackers that will work for locating your EpiPens or other autoinjectors are:
- Apple AirTag – compatible with iPhone (iOS) and the FindMy app.
- Samsung Galaxy SmartTags – compatible with Android phones, using the SmartThings app.
- Tile Mate Bluetooth tracker – compatible with both iOS and Android, using the Tile app. (However, you will need to upgrade to a premium plan to get other features such as proactive “Smart Alerts”, which will notify you when you have left your item behind.)
How can a Buetooth tracker help you remember your EpiPens?
Bluetooth trackers work together with phone apps, which allow you to track the location of your tagged item. The apps also have a notification feature that can let you know when you’ve left a tagged item behind. This is ideal for EpiPens as you can receive an alert if you’ve left home without them, or if you’ve left them in the car, at school, at work or anywhere else. After all, EpiPens won’t be any use in the event of an allergic reaction if they are not with you.
Apple AirTag
We use an Apple AirTag as it’s compatible with our iPhones and the FindMy app. When setting up your AirTag with your phone, simply name the item “EpiPens”. I’ve made my icon yellow to match the EpiPen case lid. You can share the location of your EpiPens with others in your family too.
The really handy feature to set up is alerts. In settings you can chose to receive a notification whenever the item is left behind and no longer with you.
To turn on alerts, open the FindMy app and select the items tab. Choose the AirTag you use for your EpiPens from the list of items and scroll down to notifications. Here you can turn on “notify when left behind”.
With notifications turned on, if we’ve left the EpiPens behind, the phone will ping with an alert before we even get to the end of our street. And we go back and get them!
Galaxy SmartTag2
The Galaxy SmartTag2 has a similar “left behind” feature. It can send an alert to your Android phone when you are far enough away from the tagged item that it becomes disconnected. The notifications are easy to set up through the SmartThings Apps. Again, you just go into your list of devices, chose the tag associated with your EpiPens. From there, elect the map, tap the more button and turn on “notify when left behind”.
Tile Mate
While Tile Mate trackers also have a notification option in the Tile App, you will need to upgrade to a paid Premium plan to get this feature.
Protecting your Bluetooth tracker
Bluetooth trackers are small and easily lost, so it’s a good idea to get a clip on silicone case. This will protect your tracker and also make it easy to clip inside a bag, insulated pouch or whatever you use to carry your EpiPens.
Silicone covers for AirTags, SmartTag2 and Tile Mate are available in a host of colours and styles. If you have more than one Bluetooth tracker, using different coloured covers lets you easily match your tracker to its name on your phone App. We’ve used a bright yellow cover to match with the yellow item icon on our App and the yellow EpiPen case lid.
More practical tips for EpiPens
Remembering to take your emergency allergy medication with you is so important. For more practical tips for looking after your autoinjectors, make sure to see our post about making friends with your EpiPen. It’s also really important that other people know about your allergies in case of a reaction and no where to find your EpiPens too. Be prepared by wearing a medical alert ID and consider using an EpiPen bag tag that lets people know where your medication is in an emergency. And also learn about what to with any expired EpiPens you no longer need.
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