No subscription
A medication tracker with no subscription
Reminding you to take a tablet is not a service that needs renewing every month.
The medication category has drifted almost entirely to subscriptions, and 2026 made that unmistakable: Medisafe, the biggest app in the space, now lists Premium at $4.99/month or $39.99/year, and its own terms state that from 1 January 2026 continued access in certain countries outside the US requires an active paid subscription. There are cases where a subscription is honest — ongoing clinical data, drug-interaction databases, real infrastructure. A reminder and a pill count is not one of them. Kounts Dose asks for $9.99 once, and then never asks again.
How it works
$9.99, once, permanently
Unlimited medicines, the full flexible scheduler, Home and Lock Screen widgets, iCloud sync and CSV export. It doesn't renew, doesn't expire, and doesn't degrade into a trial if you skip an update.
A free tier that's genuinely usable
One medicine with real reminders, one-tap logging, history and supply tracking — no trial countdown, no watermark. If you take a single daily pill, this may be the end of the transaction.
Critical alarms are never paywalled
The alarm that rings through Silent mode and Focus is free at every tier, including free. Charging for the feature that stops someone missing a critical dose would be indefensible.
A monthly option, for people who want it
$1.99/month exists because some people prefer small recurring payments to a lump sum. It's an alternative to the one-time purchase, not the default path — and it unlocks exactly the same things.
The details that matter
The arithmetic
$9.99 once against $39.99 a year: the one-time purchase costs about a quarter of a single year of the subscription alternative, and then nothing. Over five years the gap is roughly $190. What you give up is the clinical layer — interaction checks, US Health Records import, family sharing — which Dose doesn't have and doesn't claim to.
No ads is part of the same decision
The two ways to fund a free app are subscriptions and advertising, and advertising in a medication app means an SDK adjacent to your prescription list. Dose is paid precisely so it can refuse both.
Nothing can lock you out of your own list
The uncomfortable part of a subscription pivot is discovering your own data now sits behind a paywall. With no account and on-device storage, there's no lever to pull between you and your medicines.
What this costs
Free forever with one medicine, including reminders, logging, history, supply tracking and critical alarms. Dose Plus is $9.99 once for everything else — or $1.99/month if you genuinely prefer monthly.
Questions, answered
Is there a good medication reminder without a subscription?
Kounts Dose is a one-time $9.99 purchase for the full app, free with one medicine. Among free options, MyTherapy costs nothing and is well-featured (account-based, server-backed), and Apple Health's built-in Medications feature is already on your iPhone — worth trying before paying anyone, including us.
What do I actually get for $9.99?
Unlimited medicines, the full scheduler (multiple times a day, every N hours, specific weekdays, every N days, cycles like 21 on / 7 off, fixed courses, as-needed), Home and Lock Screen widgets, optional iCloud sync and CSV history export — permanently.
Is Medisafe still free?
Partly, and it depends on your country. Medisafe's own terms state that from 1 January 2026, continued access in certain countries outside the United States requires an active paid subscription after any applicable free trial. In the US a free tier remains but is widely reported to cap you at two medications. Checked July 2026 — verify on the App Store, as terms change.
Will the one-time purchase later become a subscription?
A purchase you've made is a purchase you keep — Dose Plus unlocks the features listed above permanently. It's the model the app was designed and priced around, not a launch promotion.
Do I need to pay to try it?
No. Install it, add your medicine, and use reminders, logging, history, supply tracking and critical alarms for nothing, for as long as you like.
Take the calm way.
A private, beautifully simple way to stay on top of your medication — and never run out.
See also: Alternatives after the Medisafe change · Dose vs Medisafe · Supplements without a subscription