How to fix iPhone Health app not notifying you to take your medication on time

Check out these 8 solutions to fix the Health app on your iPhone or Apple Watch not reminding you to take medication on time.

You can add your medications to the Health app to be alerted to take pills on time. If your iPhone or Apple Watch doesn’t notify you to take medicines and log them as taken even after adding them, try these troubleshooting solutions.

Also see: 15 built-in wellness features to keep track of your health on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch

1. Add your medication schedule

While adding pills, capsules, tablets, ointment, drugs, or other medicine, you must create a schedule so be sure to add the time of the day and the frequency correctly. If you have to take a particular medicine multiple times a day, don’t forget to add them all.

Important: If your doctor has advised you to take medication only when needed,  check As Needed under the “When will you take this?” heading. However, if you pick As Needed, the Health app will not send medication alerts.

2. Enable Dose Reminders

After you add the medicine schedule, follow these steps to ensure the Health app reminds you when it’s time to take your medications.

1. Open the Health app on your iPhone and tap Browse.
2. Pick Medications from the list of Health Categories.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Options.
4. Enable the switch for Dose Reminders.
5. If you travel to other countries or time zones, turn on the Time Zone Changes switch so you can adjust the medication schedule if your time zone changes.

You can also access the above settings from the Health app > your profile picture > Notifications > Medications.

3. Allow notifications for the Health app

If you turn off Health notifications from iOS settings or choose Turn Off from the Notification Center, the Health app will no longer send you medication alerts.

How many times do I have to select Leave On for a given app until iOS actually stops asking me?

I feel like I’m tapping Leave On at least once a week for each app that I know I’ve already confirmed.

Notifications feel wonky all around on iOS 15 pic.twitter.com/8XexPyiy5Q

— Sébastien Page (@SebastienPage) October 27, 2021

To fix this, permit Health to send you notifications.

1. Open the Settings app and tap Notifications.
2. Scroll through the list of apps and pick Health.
3. Make sure Allow Notifications, Critical Alerts, and Time-Sensitive Notifications are on.
4. Check that the options for Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Banners are ticked. Additionally, keep the Sound toggle green so that you’re alerted appropriately.

Now follow these steps if you’re still not receiving medication alerts on your Apple Watch:

1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap Notifications from the My Watch section.
2. Scroll down to Mirror iPhone Alerts From and make sure the switch for Health is green.

4. Allow the Health app to send notifications during Focus

iPhone has a feature called Focus, which blocks notifications except for selected people and apps. While this is mainly to help you focus on your work, drive, sleep, or workout peacefully, this also means you might miss important notifications when a Focus mode is active.

To address this, add the Health app to the list of apps with special privileges to notify you during a focus (when all other notifications are muted). You can also enable Time-Sensitive Notifications for a Focus to permit apps to send critical alerts, like medication notifications.

1. Open the Settings app and tap Focus.
2. Pick a Focus you use most frequently. Note: Driving Focus (rightly) doesn’t allow app notifications.
3. Tap the Apps section.
4. Make sure Allow Notifications From is ticked. After that, tap the plus button, select Health, and tap Done.

The Health app will not notify you even when that particular Focus is active. If you frequently use other Focus modes, follow the steps above to add the Health app to the list of allowed apps. You can also enable Time-Sensitive Notifications to permit all apps to send critical alerts during a Focus. Here’s how:

1. Go to Settings > Focus and pick a Focus mode.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Enable the switch for Time-Sensitive Notifications.

5. Restart your iPhone and Apple Watch regularly

Never rule out a software glitch as the possible cause of a notification problem. The most reliable way to fix this is by restarting your devices regularly.

6. Update your iPhone and Apple Watch

Go to Settings > General > Software Update, choose Download and Install, if an update is available. If your watch isn’t updated, we have tutorials showing you how to update your Apple Watch software and what to do if it fails to update.

7. Delete and re-add the medicine

If you aren’t notified to take your added medicines on schedule even after following the above solutions, it’s time to remove that medicine and add it again.

1. Open the Health app and tap Browse > Medications.
2. Scroll down to Your Medications and tap an added medicine.
3. Go to the bottom and tap Delete Medication.
4. Restart your iPhone, then your Apple Watch.
5. Re-add the medicine. Remember to set the correct time when you have to take it. Tip: To check medication alerts, add a test medicine scheduled in the next 5 minutes. If you’re notified on time, it’s safe to add your actual medicines with their correct times, and delete the test medicine.

8. Reset all settings

If nothing helps, reset all iPhone settings. Doing so will not delete personal data like apps, music, photos, videos, app data, etc, but will force all settings you have changed or added to the default factory condition.

Other health features you should know about:

• Why and how to set up your Medical ID on iPhone and Apple Watch
• How to measure your Heart Rate using Apple Watch
• How to use your Apple Watch to detect signs of possible sleep apnea