Smartphone App Checks Urine for Diseases

By Makini Brice | Update Date: Feb 27, 2013 01:50 PM EST

There are smartphone apps for basically anything, from photography to games to instant messaging. One man wants to turn your smartphone into a medical service. Called Uchek, the app can analyze your urine and reveal your likelihood of having about 25 different diseases. Don't worry - the app doesn't require you to dip your precious smartphone into your body fluid.

According to the BBC, the app consists of a strip, a mat and the camera inside your phone. Users need to dip the testing strip into their urine. Then they place the strip on the mat, which is intended to normalize testing conditions regardless of the lighting. Then the app can reveal the level of 10 different substances, which can indicate any health problems. In order to identify what the presence of leukocytes mean, for example, the app allows you to tap on the tab in order to discover that it can mean that you might have a urinary tract infection.

Starting at the end of March, the app will be available for $20.99, which includes the cost of the app itself, the mat and five testing strips. So far, it is about as accurate as humans reading the strips. According to Wired, a sophisticated machine can probably do the job better, but those can cost upwards of $10,000 and can only read a certain type of test strip, which makes them out of reach for many mobile health centers in the developing world.

So far, the app is only available on the iPhone, but the company's manufacturers are attempting to add them to the Android store soon. That process is proving to be more difficult than that of the Apple store, because of the wide range of cameras used by different manufacturers who make Android phones.

The app marks the Mumbai-based company's second foray into mobile health technology. Previously, they made a blood-testing test that did not use needles. The technology is intended to target anemia, which can be treated, but which can be fatal, especially for pregnant women, if not treated.

The test is not intended to replace doctors, but for instructional purposes only.

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