User Manual

Pilleken is divided into five tabs: Plan (daily plan), Today (intake log), Medications, Statistics and Settings.

Here's how to set up Pilleken in a few steps:

1. Open Pilleken. You'll land directly in the Plan tab.
2. Tap Medications at the bottom, then + in the top right.
3. Enter the name, dosage and unit of your first medication.
4. Define the intake schedule: frequency, times and optionally the meal relation.
5. Enter the current stock and the warning threshold.
6. Enable push reminders so Pilleken notifies you on time.
7. Tap Save. The medication appears in the daily plan right away.

The “Plan” tab – your daily plan

The Plan tab shows all medications for the current day, grouped by time. Use the arrow buttons at the top to move between days; the Today button takes you back to the current day.

Status colors at a glance

Color	Status	Meaning
🔵 Blue	Pending	Scheduled, not yet due or due now
🔴 Red	Overdue	Due more than 15 minutes ago
🟢 Green/Teal	Taken	Logged successfully
🟠 Orange	Postponed	Moved to a later time
⚪ Gray	Skipped	Deliberately left out

Confirming an intake

Tap a medication card and choose Take – either now, at the scheduled time or at a custom time. You can also swipe right to bring up the quick action.

Postponing an intake

Tap Postpone and choose the delay: 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 or 120 minutes – or a custom duration. Pilleken reschedules the reminder.

Confirming all at once

If several medications are scheduled for the same time, the All taken button appears above the group – a single tap confirms them all.

Undoing an intake

Tap a card you've already confirmed again and choose Undo to reset its status.

The “Today” tab – your intake log

The Today tab lists all medications you actually took on a given day – with a relative timestamp (e.g. 20 minutes ago). Here you can also log an intake manually (+ button) without needing an intake schedule.

The Medications tab shows all your medications at a glance, including the next intake time, stock and expected run-out date.

Adding a medication (3-step wizard)

Step 1 – Basic information

1. Tap + in the top right.
2. Enter the name and dosage (e.g. “Metformin 500 mg”).
3. Choose the unit (tablets, capsules, ml, drops, spray, patch, injection, cream …). Pilleken picks the matching icon automatically.
4. Optional: enter active ingredients and the reason for intake – required for the BMP export.
5. Optional: add a photo from your library.
6. Notifications and the active status can already be toggled here.

Step 2 – Intake schedule

Here you define how and when the medication is taken. All schedule types are described in detail in the next chapter: Configuring Intake Schedules.

Step 3 – Stock

1. Enter the current stock (e.g. 84 tablets).
2. Set the warning threshold – you'll be alerted from this value on (default: 10).
3. The base stock serves as the reference value for the progress indicator.
4. Tap Save.

Editing a medication

Tap the medication in the list, then Edit in the top right. All three steps of the wizard can be edited freely.

Search & sort

The search field at the top filters by name. Use the sort menu to order the list by name, stock, next intake or run-out date. The Low Stock filter hides all medications that are still sufficiently stocked.

Deleting a medication

Swipe left in the list and tap Delete – or open the medication, tap Edit and scroll all the way down to Delete Medication.

Pilleken supports five schedule types that cover every medical intake rhythm. You choose the schedule type in step 2 of the medication wizard.

Schedule types at a glance

Schedule type	Description	Examples
Daily	The medication appears every day at the configured time.	Blood pressure medication, vitamins
Specific Weekdays	Only on selected weekdays (any combination, e.g. Mon–Fri).	Weekday-only medications, physiotherapy-related intakes
Cyclic	Take for X days, then pause for Y days – repeating automatically.	Contraceptive pill (21/7), chemotherapy cycles
Every X Days	Intake every 2 to 90 days; start date of your choice.	Weekly injections, monthly tablets
After Medication	Triggered automatically N minutes after another medication has been taken.	Intake chains (e.g. tablet A first, then tablet B 30 min later)

Configuring times

You can add one or more times to any schedule type. Tap Add Time, choose the time and confirm. For each time you can optionally set a different weekend time (Sat/Sun).

Meal relation

For each time you can specify whether the intake should happen before, with or after a meal. This hint is shown in the daily view and in the BMP export.

Start and end date

Every schedule has a freely selectable start date. Optionally you can set an end date – after that, the medication no longer appears in the daily plan (its data is kept).

Pilleken schedules all notifications locally on your device – no server connection required, it even works offline.

Enabling intake reminders

1. Open the medication and tap Edit.
2. Turn on the Notifications switch at the top.
3. If Pilleken doesn't have permission yet, a system dialog appears – tap Allow.
4. Tap Save.

Follow-up reminders

If you don't respond to a reminder right away, Pilleken can send up to 5 additional reminders at configurable intervals. You set the interval (5–120 minutes) and the number under Settings.

Notification sound

In the settings you can choose from several built-in sounds. You can preview them directly in the app.

Low-stock warning

If a medication's stock falls below the warning threshold, Pilleken sends a warning every day at the time you choose. You set the time under Settings → Stock warning time.

Based on your intake schedule, Pilleken automatically calculates how long your stock will last – and shows the expected run-out date right in the medication list.

Adjusting stock

1. Open the medication.
2. Tap Adjust Stock.
3. Choose Add (new pack) or Remove (manual correction).
4. Enter the amount. The new stock is shown as a preview.
5. Tap Update.

Color indicators

• Green – stock is sufficient (above the warning threshold)
• Orange – stock has reached or fallen below the warning threshold
• Red – stock is used up (0)

The Statistics tab is divided into several sections, which you select with the pill buttons at the top.

A – Adherence analysis

Shows how reliably you take your medications. The large ring chart displays your overall adherence as a percentage.

• Period: 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or entire history
• Taken (on time, green) – within 1 hour of the scheduled time
• Late (orange) – more than 1 hour after the scheduled time
• Skipped (red) – not taken
• Per-medication breakdown with progress bars and exact counts
• Export as PDF via the share icon

B – Intake log

An interactive table (rows = days, columns = medications) shows the result for every day and every medication as an icon:

• ✓ Green = taken on time
• △ Orange = taken late
• ✕ Red = skipped or not taken
• – Gray = no schedule for this day

You can freely choose the period via start and end date. The table scrolls horizontally. This view can also be exported as PDF.

C – Medication plan

A card-based overview of all scheduled medications with:

• Name, dosage, unit, active status
• Scheduled intake times (including weekend variants)
• Dose per intake, schedule type (daily, cyclic …)
• Meal relation, start and end date
• Active ingredients and reason for intake

The German Federal Medication Plan (Bundeseinheitlicher Medikationsplan, BMP) is a standardized format in Germany that doctors' offices and pharmacies use as a reference for your medications. Pilleken creates it fully automatically.

Creating a BMP

1. Open the Statistics tab and switch to the BMP section.
2. Enter your patient data: name, date of birth and optionally your doctor's name.
3. Pilleken fills the BMP table automatically with your active medications.
4. Tap Export as PDF. The PDF contains the standardized table and a QR code.

Scanning a QR code

If you received a BMP as a QR code from your doctor's office, you can import it directly into Pilleken: in the BMP section, tap Import BMP via QR Code and point the camera at the code. Pilleken imports the medication data automatically.

Pilleken offers two completely different widget types, each in three sizes.

Widget types

Type	Small	Medium	Large
Intake widget Shows upcoming intakes	Next intake	Next 4 intakes	Next 6 intakes
Stock widget Shows medication stock	Medication with the lowest stock	3 medications (3-column grid)	Up to 7 medications with progress bars

Adding a widget

1. Touch and hold the Home Screen until the apps jiggle.
2. Tap + in the top left.
3. Search for Pilleken.
4. Swipe through the widget types and sizes and pick the combination you want.
5. Tap Add Widget.

Language

Pilleken supports German and English with instant switching, no app restart required. The language is saved independently of the iOS system language.

Notifications

• Master switch: turn all intake reminders on or off globally
• Grant permission: opens the iOS system settings if permission hasn't been granted yet
• Sound: choose from several built-in sounds with live preview
• Stock warning: the time at which stock is checked and warnings are sent every day

Reminders

• Number of follow-up reminders: 0 to 5
• Interval between follow-up reminders: 5 to 120 minutes

Postpone

Default postpone time (5–240 minutes) that is preselected when you tap “Postpone”.

Default warning threshold

The stock threshold that is set automatically for newly added medications (1–100 units).

Data

Shows the number of stored medications. Delete All Data permanently removes all medications and logs – you'll be asked to confirm.

iCloud sync (Premium)

With a Premium subscription you can keep Pilleken in sync on iPhone and iPad. Enable sync under Settings → iCloud Sync.

• All medications, intake logs and settings are synchronized automatically
• Medication photos are transferred as well
• The tile shows the time of the last sync and which device last changed data
• Sync Now triggers a manual sync
• In case of conflicts (e.g. after reinstalling), a one-time resolution prompt is shown

Local backup & restore (iOS, Premium)

1. Go to Settings → Backup.
2. Tap Back Up Now. The backup is saved in your app's documents folder.
3. To restore: tap Restore, choose a backup from the list (with date and number of medications) and confirm.

Pilleken is free to use for up to 2 medications. All core features are fully available.

What Premium unlocks

• Unlimited medications
• iCloud sync between iPhone and iPad
• iCloud backup & restore
• PDF export for adherence report, intake log and BMP
• All statistics without restrictions
• All widgets with an unlimited number of medications

Subscription options

• Monthly – cancel any month
• Quarterly – cheaper per month, billed every 3 months
• Lifetime – one-time purchase, no recurring costs

Managing & canceling your subscription

Subscriptions are billed through Apple and can be canceled at any time:

iOS Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions → Pilleken

Restoring purchases

After reinstalling or on a new device, tap Restore Purchases on the paywall. You must be signed in with the same Apple ID.