A sick child at 2 a.m. A partner down with flu. A prescription that has to run four times a day for a week. In those moments you need to know what happened, what is due next, and whether it is safe to give another dose.

Care is Medication Timer’s focused workspace for unplanned illness: one episode, one family member, one timeline.

When illness hits, clarity matters

Everyday medication tools suit routines you keep for months or years. Care is for the acute stretch when someone is unwell and the questions stack up:

• When did we last give paracetamol, and can we give it again yet?
• Was the temperature coming down after that dose, or still climbing?
• Which symptoms were worst yesterday: cough, sore throat, not drinking?
• The GP just prescribed antibiotics. What dose is next, and what did we already miss today?

Care keeps those answers in one session, so you are not piecing together the last forty-eight hours from memory while someone is unwell on the couch.

One care session for the whole episode

Start Care for the family member who is sick. Add a label such as Flu, Stomach bug, or Strep so you can find the episode later in history or a family report.

While the session is active, everything you log belongs to this illness only:

• As-needed medication timers scoped to the session
• Temperature readings and symptom checklists for the same period
• Notes, course doses, and activity on a single timeline

When someone is better, end care and return to everyday Today, Medications, and long-term dose routines without yesterday’s fever log mixed into this month’s chart.

Next up: what needs attention now

At the top of an active session, Next up shows the most urgent action so you are not scrolling to work out what to do.

It might show:

• A course dose that is due or overdue (Family plan)
• A temperature check based on the reminder interval you chose
• An as-needed medication that is ready again, or a countdown when it is still too soon

Tap through when the card offers an action: log a reading, administer a dose, or mark a course tablet taken. When several things need attention, Care prioritises what matters most in the moment.

Fever, symptoms, and as-needed doses in one place

During illness, dosing and fever tracking are linked. Care handles them together.

As-needed medications use the same spacing rules as elsewhere in Medication Timer: minimum hours between doses, daily limits, and clear feedback when it is too early to re-dose. Quick timers (Family plan) save member-and-medication pairs so logging is faster when you are tired.

Turn on temperature and symptom tracking for the session and Care becomes a fever log for this episode only. Log the reading, tick symptoms on the same entry, and review a timeline or chart that shows both, without last month’s well-child check mixed in.

Antibiotic and antiviral schedules (Family plan)

Some illnesses clear up with rest and fluids. Others need a script on a fixed cadence until the course finishes.

On the Family plan, add a short medication course inside Care. It stays separate from long-term dose routines, so a ten-day antibiotic does not clutter everyday scheduling.

You can:

• Use preset shortcuts for common antibiotics and antivirals (always match your pharmacy label)
• Pick cadence options such as three times daily with meals, twice daily, four times daily, once daily, or every eight hours
• Run reminders from start day through end day, then stop automatically
• Choose first dose today when the course begins partway through the day

When you end care but antibiotics continue, you can keep course reminders until the last tablet, or stop everything at once.

Notes, timeline, and sharing with another caregiver

Not every observation is a number or a dose. Add note during a session for GP advice, sleep, mood, fluid intake, or anything else worth remembering. Notes sit on the same Activity timeline as doses and readings, and appear in family reports when you need a summary for a co-parent or appointment.

On mobile, dictate notes with the in-app microphone when typing is awkward at midnight.

With Family plan coordination, another caregiver in the household can see who is in care and when someone needs attention, without a separate chat acting as your medical record.

What Care is for

Use Care for colds, flu, fever nights, stomach bugs, and short infections. One member, one active session, one illness window. As-needed doses, fever logging, and optional short courses in one place.

Use everyday tools for daily tablets, chronic meds, and long-running routines. Scheduled dose routines on Today, and standalone Timers and Temperatures when you are not in an active care session.

Care does not replace your clinician’s instructions. It helps you follow them with less guesswork when the household is already under strain.

Availability

Free: Start care sessions, run as-needed timers in the session, log temperatures and symptoms for the episode, and use Next up and the activity timeline, within the app’s usual household limits.

Family plan: Everything above, plus short medication courses, quick timers, shared coordination, unlimited Today history, family reports, and other subscriber features described in the app.

Pricing varies by region. See the app or web subscription screen for your store.

Try Care on your next sick day

Open Care in Medication Timer on iOS, Android, or the web, choose who you are looking after, and tap Start care. You can add temperature tracking and optional courses as you go, including when the prescription arrives on day two.