Comparison

BlueStar Diabetes vs DiabetesPal

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

Head to head
About

BlueStar Diabetes

This app offers daily digital coaching to help individuals manage type 2 diabetes. It provides personalized guidance, connects health data, and supports habit building for better blood glucose management. Users can also share progress with their care team.

Highlights
  • Daily digital coaching
  • Personalized guidance
  • Connects medications, nutrition, activity, and health data
  • Blood glucose management tools
  • Progress sharing with care team
  • FDA-cleared medical device
Read full description

We know that living with diabetes can be tough. That’s why we’re making diabetes self-care easier. BlueStar® provides daily digital coaching unique to you; to help you learn about your condition, build better habits, and live your best life. Our diabetes app is award-winning**, FDA-cleared* and fits easily into your everyday life — while giving you useful tips and advice along the way. It’s easy-to-use, hassle-free, and secure. Note: BlueStar is only available via your health plan, health system or employer. BlueStar can help make living with diabetes easier with: DIGITAL COACHING: Get the right guidance at the right time — all in one easy-to-use app. TOTAL HEALTH APPROACH TO DIABETES: Help build and maintain better habits by connecting your medications, nutrition, activity, devices and health data, including data from Apple Health®. THE SUPPORT YOU NEED TO MANAGE YOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE: Learn what you need - at your own pace - with easy-to-use tools and easy-to-follow guidance within the app. SHARE YOUR PROGRESS: Celebrate your successes and share your challenges with your doctor and care team — easily and quickly. *BlueStar® Rx/OTC is an FDA-cleared medical device, intended for use by healthcare providers and their adult patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. For full labeling information, visit www.welldoc.com. **Named Best Diabetes Apps for Sugar-Conscious Peeps 2021, by Tech Times BlueStar® is a Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) intended to be used by healthcare providers (HCPs) and their patients – aged 18 years and older - who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. BlueStar is intended to assist patients in managing their diabetes with guidance from their providers. BlueStar has two versions – BlueStar and BlueStar Rx. BlueStar is not intended to replace the care provided by a licensed healthcare professional. BlueStar should not be used by patients with gestational diabetes or patients using an insulin pump. Visit www.welldoc.com for full labeling information. The privacy and security of your personal information is very important to us. We protect it in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. ABOUT WELLDOC Welldoc is committed to improving the health of individuals living with a chronic disease. © 2009-24 Welldoc, Inc. Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. The Welldoc and BlueStar name and logo are trademarks of Welldoc. Made in the USA. Manufactured by Welldoc.

About

DiabetesPal

Manage your diabetes effectively with this comprehensive health tracking and analysis tool. Log blood glucose, insulin, medications, and more, with powerful visualizations and reports. Integrates with Apple Health and compatible devices for seamless data management.

Highlights
  • Blood glucose tracking
  • Insulin and medication logging
  • Ketone and HbA1c monitoring
  • Weight and height tracking
  • Carbohydrate intake logging
  • Physical activity tracking
  • Blood pressure and pulse monitoring
  • Data analysis and visualizations
  • Apple Health integration
  • Device data import
Features
Read full description

DiabetesPal - Comprehensive Diabetes Management for iPhone Take control of your diabetes with DiabetesPal, the iPhone app for tracking, syncing, and understanding your health data throughout the day. Seamlessly sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac to get the full picture of your condition wherever you are. Complete Health Tracking: • Blood glucose readings • Insulin dosages (bolus and basal) • Medications and supplements • Ketone levels • HbA1c results • Weight and height • Carbohydrate intake • Physical activity duration • Blood pressure and pulse Powerful Analysis Tools: • Easy-to-read daily diary showing glucose and insulin data at a glance • Visual graphs for glucose, insulin, HbA1c, and blood pressure • Blood sugar patterns by time of day • Standard Day/Week comparisons to identify trends • Printable reports ready to share with your healthcare team Apple Health Integration: Seamlessly integrates with Apple Health to keep all your health data in one place. Import data directly from compatible devices: • Bluetooth LE compatible meters • FORA DiamondMini • More devices supported via companion Mac app Seamless Syncing: Keep your data synchronized across iPad, iPhone, and Mac using iCloud, Dropbox, or WebDAV (requires subscription). Never Run Out: Track your insulin and supply inventory so you're never caught unprepared. Flexible & International: Configure units to match your preference (mmol/L, mg/dL, %). All existing data automatically converts when you change settings. Pricing: Free: Up to 100 entries (local storage only) Monthly or yearly subscription for syncing across devices and more than 100 entries. Please note that different platforms (Mac, iPhone, iPad) require a separate subscription. Complete Ecosystem DiabetesPal works seamlessly across your Apple devices. Use the iPad app for comfortable home tracking, the iPhone app for on-the-go logging, and the Mac app for in-depth analysis and device imports. DISCLAIMER: The use of DiabetesPal does not replace consultation with a healthcare professional or other medical advice and is undertaken exclusively at the User's own risk. This applies in particular to data provided and/or imported from external devices, such as blood glucose meters, and any use of the data provided as part of DiabetesPal by the User including blood glucose results, calculations, and any recommendations. The User explicitly acknowledges that such data may be defective and the developers of DiabetesPal accept no responsibility for it being correct. The User has to ensure, that external measuring devices comply to the medical standards in their respective country. For US the devices have to be approved by the FDA, in Europe the devices need to be marked with the CE sign to be compliant with the regulatory requirements for medical devices. The User explicitly acknowledges that we accept no responsibility for using the application with non compliant devices. Terms of Use see: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

BlueStar Diabetes4 screens
DiabetesPal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BlueStar Diabetes at none against DiabetesPal's 4. BlueStar Diabetes also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.6). DiabetesPal's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and review sentiment (74% vs 58%). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. DiabetesPal sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. BlueStar Diabetes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DiabetesPal holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: DiabetesPal has 2K ratings behind it against 125, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of BlueStar Diabetes's written reviews are positive against 74% of DiabetesPal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BlueStar Diabetes ships an update every 2 months, DiabetesPal monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
BlueStar Diabetes versus DiabetesPal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlueStar DiabetesDiabetesPal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (125 ratings)4.6 (2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.0% of reviews73.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1252K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size119 MB39 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperWellDoc, Inc.Pascal Freiburghaus

Customer experience

BlueStar Diabetes

All ratings125 ratings
Positive78.4%
Neutral8.0%
Negative13.6%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive58.0%
Neutral6.0%
Negative36.0%

DiabetesPal

All ratings1,956 ratings
Positive91.1%
Neutral4.3%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews87 reviews
Positive73.6%
Neutral6.9%
Negative19.5%

User reviews

BlueStar Diabetes

From 125 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for managing diabetes
  • 👍 Helps lower A1C and weight
  • 👍 Provides immediate feedback and explanations
  • 👍 Useful for meal planning and tracking
  • 👍 Good for record keeping

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
  • 🐛 Syncing issues with meters
  • 🐛 Inconsistent Bluetooth connectivity
  • 🐛 Annoying and repetitive permission requests
  • 🐛 Limited food list for carb counting

DiabetesPal

From 2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 📊 Excellent data tracking and reporting
  • 🤝 Great customer support
  • ⌚ Useful Apple Watch integration
  • 🔍 Helpful A1C and average glucose estimates

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches (app freezing, data duplication, incorrect estimates)
  • 💰 Paid version required after 100 entries
  • 📱 Small text and hard to read interface
  • 🔌 Syncing and connectivity issues
  • 🚫 Limited free version functionality

Bugs and requests

BlueStar Diabetes

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Unable to sync One Touch Verio Reflect meters
  • App crashes when using recent foods for logging
  • App crashes upon opening
  • Bluetooth sync errors
  • App crashes during sign-up process
Show 4 more
  • App requires reinstallation for food information issues
  • App acts like a new user on each login
  • Unable to log both short term and long term insulin doses after update
  • App will not load or configure in Canada

Requested features

8 requests
  • Fix backend software issues causing sync problems
  • Improve serving size breakdown for foods
  • Allow users to set preferences for notifications/access
  • Make app available to general public without insurance
  • Enable data sharing with Apple Health
Show 3 more
  • Add captioning for videos
  • Improve the food tracking portion of the app
  • Allow viewing of the whole week's data at a glance

DiabetesPal

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App freezing and crashing
  • Duplicate or triplicate data entries
  • Incorrect A1C and average glucose estimates
  • Syncing and connectivity problems

Requested features

4 requests
  • More flexible data entry and editing
  • Expanded data tracking (e.g., oxygen levels, physical activity)
  • Integration with other health apps and devices
  • Detailed tutorial or user guide

In-app purchases

None

BlueStar Diabetes

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

DiabetesPal

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Annual$19.991 Year
One-time2
  • Cloud Sync$3.99
  • Standard License$5.99

Questions

Is BlueStar Diabetes free?
BlueStar Diabetes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is DiabetesPal free?
DiabetesPal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BlueStar Diabetes or DiabetesPal?
DiabetesPal is rated higher. BlueStar Diabetes averages 4.2 out of 5 from 125 ratings, while DiabetesPal averages 4.6 from 2K ratings.
Do BlueStar Diabetes or DiabetesPal have ads?
Neither BlueStar Diabetes nor DiabetesPal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BlueStar Diabetes or DiabetesPal?
BlueStar Diabetes ships an update every 2 months, and DiabetesPal monthly. Most recently, BlueStar Diabetes was updated on October 15, 2026 and DiabetesPal on October 16, 2026.

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