Comparison

PainBrief vs Zebra Symptom Tracker

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PainBrief

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Pain is hard to describe in a 10-minute appointment. PainBrief is built for the people that chronic pain follows around - the ones who've sat in waiting rooms trying to remember exactly when this all started, which medication helped, and what the pain actually feels like. Log a pain episode in seconds. See your patterns over weeks and months. When it's time to see your GP, specialist, or pain clinic, hand them a clean, professional PDF summary instead of trying to recall everything from memory. WHAT YOU CAN TRACK - Severity (1-10 scale), exact time, duration, and the body zones affected - tap a detailed front/back body map to mark wherever it hurts - What you were doing when it started (sleeping, walking, sitting, working, exercising) - Possible triggers (food, stress, weather, movement, nothing obvious) - Pain character - sharp, dull, burning, throbbing, stabbing, radiating, and more - Medications you take, with one-tap dose logging - Vitals: heart rate, blood pressure, weight, sleep, steps, SpO2, blood glucose, and more - sync from Apple Health or enter manually WHAT YOU'LL SEE (FREE) - Dashboard with this-week / last-week comparisons and a 14-day severity chart - Severity Trends - how your pain has changed over the past weeks or months - Body Heat Map - your most affected areas visualised on an anatomical view - Complete History tab - every episode and every dose, scrollable and searchable - Local-only storage. No accounts. No sign-up. Your data never leaves your phone. PAINBRIEF PRO (ONE-OFF $9.99) Unlock the deeper analysis and clinical sharing features: - Trigger Analysis - which activities, foods, and events drive your worst episodes - Time Patterns - hour-by-hour and day-by-day view of when pain hits hardest - Timeline / Journal - chronological log perfect for GP visits and specialist consults - Clinical PDF Export - a polished multi-page report with charts, body heat map, episode log, medication history, and vitals summary, ready to email or AirDrop to your healthcare team One-off purchase. Yours forever. No subscriptions. WHO IT'S FOR If you're living with fibromyalgia, arthritis, migraines, EDS, sciatica, endometriosis, ME/CFS, neuropathy, or any other condition where pain comes and goes in patterns nobody else can see - PainBrief was made for you. PRIVACY FIRST Every entry is stored only on your device, encrypted by iOS. We don't have servers. We don't have analytics. We don't have an account system. We have nothing to leak because we collect nothing. TRACK. UNDERSTAND. ADVOCATE. Made by an independent developer who got tired of forgetting what to tell the doctor. PainBrief is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional about your symptoms.

About

Zebra Symptom Tracker

Features
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Tired of jumping between 3 apps to track one body? Zebra is a calm symptom tracker for people managing POTS, EDS, and Fibromyalgia. Track flares, symptoms, medications, salt, water, triggers, notes, and orthostatic vitals in one iPhone app, then turn your recent history into a doctor-ready PDF. Built for invisible illness, brain fog, and the appointment scramble. TRACK WHAT MATTERS Zebra helps you capture the pieces that are hardest to remember later: Daily flare severity and notes POTS, EDS, and Fibromyalgia symptom check-ins Salt and water tracking Medication entries Trigger notes Orthostatic vitals: lying, standing, and recovery heart rate and blood pressure Trends across your recent history GUIDED ORTHOSTATIC TESTS Use Zebra's step-by-step orthostatic flow to track heart rate and blood pressure while lying, standing, and during recovery. Enter readings manually or, when available, use HealthKit support for heart-rate capture. PROOF FOR YOUR DOCTOR When an appointment is coming up, Zebra can export a 30-day doctor report PDF with your flares, symptoms, medications, salt, water, triggers, notes, and orthostatic summaries. No more digging through Notes, screenshots, and memory the night before a visit. MADE FOR BAD DAYS Zebra is designed to be fast, gentle, and low-friction. Use curated symptom lists instead of building a tracker from scratch. Track what happened, leave optional details for later, and skip the guilt. Missing days do not erase your history. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your health history is sensitive. Zebra is built as a native iPhone app using Apple's health and data frameworks. You stay in control of what you track and what you choose to share. FREE TO TRACK. PREMIUM FOR DEEPER HISTORY. Start with core tracking for flares, symptoms, medications, salt, water, triggers, notes, trends, and orthostatic vitals. Zebra Premium adds expanded history and doctor-report access for users who want more appointment support. Zebra is for people with POTS, EDS, and Fibromyalgia who want less app-juggling, clearer history, and proof they can bring to a doctor. Zebra does not diagnose, treat, or replace medical care. It helps you organize and share your own tracked history. Privacy Policy: https://zebratracker.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://zebratracker.app/terms

Screenshots

Zebra Symptom Tracker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: PainBrief at 15.1 against Zebra Symptom Tracker's 17.0. On price and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. PainBrief sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Zebra Symptom Tracker sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
PainBrief versus Zebra Symptom Tracker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPainBriefZebra Symptom Tracker
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyโ€”Weekly
Adsโ€”No
In-app purchasesYesYes
Devicesโ€”iPhone โ€” better
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size39 MB13 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperANDREW JAMES PATRICKRoman Bun

In-app purchases

1 purchases

PainBrief

One-time1
  • PainBrief Pro$5.99
3 purchases

Zebra Symptom Tracker

Subscriptions2
  • Zebra Premium โ€” Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Zebra Premium โ€” Annual7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Zebra Premium Lifetime$59.99

Questions

Is PainBrief free?
PainBrief is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Zebra Symptom Tracker free?
Zebra Symptom Tracker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

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