How can I help?

Usually your data is still in iCloud and comes back once everything is set up. Check these points in order:

1. You’re signed in on the new iPhone with the same Apple Account as on the old one. You’ll find it at the top of the iOS Settings, under your name.
2. iCloud is on for Systole: Settings › your name › iCloud › tap See All next to Saved to iCloud › Systole.
3. Sync is on in Systole: gear icon at the top right › iCloud › turn on “iCloud Sync”.
4. Connect the iPhone to Wi-Fi, open Systole and leave it open for a few minutes. The first sync takes a while until all readings are there.
5. Your iCloud storage isn’t full. You can see the free space under Settings › your name › iCloud.

Your health data is end-to-end encrypted in iCloud. Only an iPhone where you’re fully signed in with your Apple Account, including the verification code, can decrypt it. If iCloud Sync was off on the old iPhone, the data is only there or in its backup. Readings from other apps, such as your monitor’s, can be brought back from Apple Health: gear icon › Apple Health › “Sync Now” › “Import from Apple Health”. Readings you entered in Systole stay in Apple Health, but Systole doesn’t import them from there again. Medications and intakes aren’t stored in Apple Health.

Your iPhones sync through iCloud. For this to work:

1. Both iPhones are signed in with the same Apple Account.
2. “iCloud Sync” is on on both iPhones (gear icon › iCloud). The setting applies to each device separately.
3. Open Systole on both iPhones with an internet connection and wait a moment.

New entries usually appear on the other iPhone shortly, sometimes only after you open Systole there again.

You’ll find the switch under gear icon › iCloud › “iCloud Sync”. When you turn it off, Systole asks what should happen to the data in iCloud:

1. “Keep in iCloud”: the data stays in iCloud.
2. “Delete from iCloud”: the data is removed from iCloud.

Either way, your data stays on this iPhone. iPhones that keep syncing with iCloud may upload their data again.

Your settings are brought over through iCloud. You allow notifications and access to Apple Health on each iPhone separately. To help you keep using both on your new or restored iPhone, Systole asks once:

1. “Keep Using Reminders?”: tap “Allow” and iOS asks for permission to send notifications. “Turn Off” turns reminders off, on your other devices too.
2. “Keep Syncing with Apple Health?”: tap “Connect” and iOS asks for access to Apple Health. “Turn Off” stops automatic sync on this iPhone.

Systole doesn’t connect to monitors directly; it picks up readings from Apple Health. Check:

1. Your monitor’s app saves readings to Apple Health. Open the Health app and look under Blood Pressure to see whether the reading is there.
2. Systole may read blood pressure and heart rate: Health app › Summary › your picture or initials › under Privacy tap Apps › Systole. Allow all the data listed there.
3. Start a sync in Systole: gear icon › Apple Health › “Sync Now” › “Import from Apple Health”.

With “Automatic Sync” on, Systole syncs every time you open it.

A reading can appear twice if it was both imported from Apple Health and entered in Systole. Systole merges identical entries from Apple Health. Similar readings from different sources stay separate so that two actual readings are preserved. You can remove the extra entry like this:

1. On the home screen, tap “Show All” next to “Recent Entries”.
2. Swipe the extra reading to the left and tap the trash can.

A reading imported from Apple Health that you delete in Systole won’t come back. It stays in Apple Health.

Systole keeps the reading even when you delete it in Apple Health. If you’d like to remove it from Systole too:

1. On the home screen, open the list by tapping “Show All” next to “Recent Entries”.
2. Swipe the reading to the left and tap the trash can.

When you delete a reading that you entered yourself in Systole, Systole also removes it from Apple Health.

You can leave the pulse empty when adding a reading. With Apple Health connected, Systole fills it in during sync using your heart rate data, for example from Apple Watch. The app calculates an average from values as close to the time of your blood pressure reading as possible. If no values are available around that time, it uses the average of all heart rate values from the same day. The added pulse therefore may not be your pulse at the time of your blood pressure reading. With no heart rate data that day, the field stays empty. A pulse you entered yourself stays unchanged.

If a reminder doesn’t arrive, these steps can help you find the cause:

1. Notifications are allowed: iOS Settings › Notifications › Systole › turn on “Allow Notifications”. If they’re off, Systole shows a red note under gear icon › Reminders.
2. The reminder is on in Systole: gear icon › Reminders › “Remind Me to Measure”. For medications: gear icon › Medications › tap the medication › “Reminder”.
3. No Focus such as Do Not Disturb or Sleep is holding notifications back. An active Focus shows as an icon at the top of the screen.
4. Open Systole regularly. iOS only lets each app schedule a limited number of notifications. So Systole schedules at most 14 days ahead, fewer with many medications, and reschedules every time you open it.

A measurement reminder is skipped if you’ve already measured since the previous reminder time. A medication reminder is skipped if you’ve already taken that medication.

Then “Show Medication Name in Reminders” is off and the notification just says “Medication Reminder”. That way nobody reads along on your lock screen. Turn the name back on under gear icon › Reminders › “Show Medication Name in Reminders”.

30 minutes by default. You set the time under gear icon › Reminders › “Snooze For”, from 1 to 240 minutes. It applies to measurement and medication reminders.

By default, the large display on the home screen shows the average of all of today’s readings. Without a reading today it shows the latest reading. To always see the latest reading: gear icon › Appearance › “Main Display” › “Latest”.

Systole classifies the upper and the lower value separately. The color follows the higher classification. An example using ESH: at 125/92 the upper value is normal, but the lower one is in the “Grade 1 Hypertension” range. So the traffic light shows grade 1. The categories and thresholds depend on your choice under gear icon › Guideline. ESH 2023 is the default.

The traffic light uses categories for office readings in adults. For the average of home readings over several days, ESH and ESC set the hypertension threshold at 135 mmHg systolic or 85 mmHg diastolic. Single readings and the app’s daily averages do not establish a diagnosis.

1. On the home screen, tap “Show All” next to “Recent Entries”.
2. Swipe the reading to the left.
3. Tap the pencil to edit it or the trash can to delete it.

Readings from Apple Health can only be deleted, not edited.

1. Checked off by mistake: on the home screen, tap “Today” again and confirm with “Undo”.
2. Forgot to check off: tap “Show All” on the “Medications” card. Tap the time on a missed day, or add an intake with the + at the top right.
3. Change the time or delete an intake: swipe the intake there to the left and tap the pencil or the trash can.

Systole follows your iPhone’s text size.

1. Open iOS Settings › Accessibility › Display & Text Size › Larger Text.
2. Adjust the size with the slider. For even larger text, turn on Larger Accessibility Sizes.

You can turn both off: gear icon › Appearance › “Haptics” and “Animations”. If Reduce Motion is on in iOS, Systole stops its animations anyway.

By default, Systole follows your iPhone’s setting. Under gear icon › Appearance you choose “Automatic”, “Light” or “Dark”.

The widget updates whenever you save a reading or open Systole. Open Systole once and it’s up to date again. On the lock screen, iOS hides the values while the iPhone is locked, so nobody sees your blood pressure.

If Face ID or Touch ID fails, iOS offers your device passcode, the code you unlock your iPhone with. If you cancelled the prompt, tap “Unlock” to try again. You turn App Lock on or off under gear icon › App Lock › “Lock App”.

App Lock needs a device passcode. Set one up in iOS Settings under Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode. Then you can turn on “Lock App”.

1. Tap the gear icon › Export › “Export…”.
2. Choose the format (PDF for your doctor, CSV for spreadsheets), the period and the content.
3. In the share sheet, choose for example Mail, Messages, AirDrop or Print.

The PDF contains a summary with averages, the history chart, the readings table and, if you like, your medication intakes.

The purchase has to be approved first, for example by a parent in Family Sharing. After that, you’re all set. A tip is optional and unlocks nothing; Systole works fully without one.

Systole is an iPhone app for recording and understanding your blood pressure readings. You add a reading in seconds, Systole classifies it by a medical guideline and shows you how your readings change over time. It also reminds you to measure and to take your medications, works with Apple Health and creates a report for your doctor.

For anyone who measures their own blood pressure and wants to stay in control of their everyday life: recording readings, getting reminders to measure and tracking their medications so they never miss a dose again. The classification follows guidelines for adults.

Yes. Every feature is free, with no ads, no subscription and no paywall. If you like, you can leave a tip in the app. It’s optional and unlocks nothing.

No. Download Systole and add your first reading. There’s no sign-up and no server of our own.

Only you. Systole stores your data on your iPhone and syncs it through your private iCloud. There, your health data is end-to-end encrypted, so not even I as the developer can access it. App Lock adds Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode on top.

Yes, in Settings under “iCloud”, separately on each device. When you turn it off, you choose whether your data stays in iCloud or is deleted there. It always stays on your iPhone.

Systole doesn’t connect to monitors directly. If your monitor’s app saves readings to Apple Health, Systole picks them up from there. Anything else takes just a few seconds to enter yourself.

Once you connect Apple Health, your readings are saved there and readings from other apps come to Systole. If a reading has no pulse, Systole adds an average from your heart rate data in Apple Health, as close to the time of the reading as possible. If no values are available around that time, Systole uses the average for the same day. With no heart rate data that day, the pulse stays empty. Deleting something in Health never changes Systole. Medications stay in Systole, because Apple currently doesn’t let other apps save them to Health.

Yes, if they’re in Apple Health: on the first sync, Systole imports your entire history. Importing from files isn’t supported.

ESH 2023 is the default in Systole. You can also choose ESC 2024, the US guideline AHA/ACC 2025 or the WHO hypertension threshold of 140/90. If your doctor uses a particular guideline, you can select the same one in Systole. The app uses categories for blood pressure measured in a doctor’s office in adults. Different thresholds apply when assessing readings taken at home. The app’s classification is not a diagnosis. Switching changes the classification, colors and summary; your saved readings stay unchanged.

No. Systole helps you record your readings and classify them by published guidelines. Systole is not a medical device, doesn’t diagnose anything and doesn’t replace medical advice or treatment. If you have symptoms, talk to your doctor; in an emergency, call 112.

Export them as a PDF with a summary, history chart, readings table and medication intakes, either as daily averages or one by one. For your own analysis there’s CSV. You share the file through the share sheet, with whoever you choose.

No, Systole is currently available for iPhone only, with iOS 18 or later.

Write to me at hallo@systole.eu. Every bit of feedback helps make Systole better.