WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.880 Tuesday, nine in the morning. 00:03.000 --> 00:06.140 I'm making coffee in my iPhone buzzes on the worktop. 00:06.920 --> 00:12.000 I look down and there's the name of an ointment I'd completely forgotten we had. 00:12.000 --> 00:14.040 And one line. 00:15.020 --> 00:17.920 The saved expiry date is 30 days away. 00:19.460 --> 00:21.840 First thought, what ointment? 00:22.680 --> 00:27.420 Second thought, ah, the travel wash bag. 00:28.640 --> 00:29.400 Hello. 00:30.000 --> 00:31.120 I'm Tomasz Szuster. 00:31.500 --> 00:33.240 I built the mojApteczka app. 00:33.640 --> 00:36.220 And what you just heard was Iza, my wife. 00:37.040 --> 00:40.380 That ointment had been sitting in the wash bag we take on holiday. 00:40.800 --> 00:42.420 Sitting there since the summer. 00:43.360 --> 00:48.380 On the top shelf of the wardrobe, in a wash bag nobody opens until the next trip. 00:49.200 --> 00:51.760 And that's exactly what I want to talk about today. 00:52.740 --> 00:56.460 In the last episode, we did a walk through the medicine cabinet before the season. 00:57.040 --> 00:59.520 Four questions, half an hour on a Sunday. 00:59.520 --> 01:02.020 Which I did, for the record. 01:02.760 --> 01:03.080 I know. 01:03.480 --> 01:04.620 And it was a good walk through. 01:05.580 --> 01:09.560 The thing is, a walk through is a snapshot of one day. 01:10.520 --> 01:12.800 Expiry dates don't wait for the next one. 01:13.300 --> 01:17.960 They pass on a Wednesday, on a Thursday, in the middle of half term. 01:17.960 --> 01:19.580 So, what? 01:19.580 --> 01:21.320 I meant to do one every week? 01:21.320 --> 01:22.280 No. 01:22.280 --> 01:25.100 And that's what this episode is about. 01:25.100 --> 01:31.120 Who keeps track of the dates in between, when you've got everything else on your plate? 01:31.120 --> 01:32.120 Right. 01:32.120 --> 01:32.160 Right. 01:32.700 --> 01:35.160 Let's start with what landed on my phone. 01:35.800 --> 01:37.120 How does it even know? 01:37.780 --> 01:42.760 Recently, the app started sending a notification before a medicine's expiry date. 01:43.320 --> 01:44.020 Three times. 01:44.540 --> 01:48.460 Thirty days before, seven days before, and the day before. 01:48.460 --> 01:52.180 On an iPhone, it arrives at nine in the morning. 01:52.820 --> 01:53.520 Why three? 01:54.180 --> 01:56.480 Because each one does a different job. 01:57.280 --> 02:00.000 Thirty days is time to sort something out calmly. 02:00.800 --> 02:01.940 Pick one up when you're passing. 02:02.480 --> 02:03.320 Ask at the pharmacy. 02:03.960 --> 02:04.740 Nothing in a rush. 02:05.700 --> 02:09.140 Seven days is the last call before it slips away. 02:09.140 --> 02:12.380 And the day before is just one line. 02:13.100 --> 02:15.540 The saved expiry date is tomorrow. 02:16.480 --> 02:22.200 And if I add a medicine that's only got a week left, do I get a late 30-day one? 02:22.300 --> 02:23.480 Not on an iPhone. 02:24.180 --> 02:29.240 The app only plans the reminders that are still ahead of you, so seven days and the day before, 02:29.660 --> 02:30.700 or just the day before. 02:31.120 --> 02:33.880 It doesn't send a catch-up alert when you add it. 02:34.420 --> 02:35.960 And if I ignore it? 02:35.960 --> 02:40.040 Because ignoring notifications is practically my profession. 02:40.800 --> 02:43.580 Will it nag me every day until I give in? 02:44.500 --> 02:45.880 Not on an iPhone. 02:46.600 --> 02:48.480 There, each of the three arrives once. 02:48.920 --> 02:49.940 No daily nagging. 02:50.560 --> 02:54.680 Ignore the 30-day one, and the next one won't turn up until a week before the date. 02:55.300 --> 02:57.560 That's better manners than most of my friends. 02:58.260 --> 02:59.060 That was the idea. 02:59.640 --> 03:03.520 An app that shouts every day ends up with its notifications switched off. 03:03.780 --> 03:05.840 And then you've got nothing at all. 03:06.780 --> 03:07.020 Right. 03:07.620 --> 03:10.560 Now, the thing that caught my eye straight away. 03:11.240 --> 03:13.500 The notification said saved. 03:14.020 --> 03:15.600 The saved expiry date. 03:16.240 --> 03:18.200 Why not just the expiry date? 03:18.660 --> 03:20.280 Because that word is very deliberate. 03:21.040 --> 03:22.480 The app doesn't look at your box. 03:23.000 --> 03:25.180 All it knows is the date you've got saved in it. 03:25.620 --> 03:29.560 If that date was typed in wrong, the notification comes on the wrong day. 03:30.200 --> 03:33.800 So it's saying, I only know what you've told me. 03:34.260 --> 03:35.340 Exactly that much. 03:35.880 --> 03:37.480 I didn't want it to sound like an oracle. 03:38.120 --> 03:40.420 When the alert comes, check the date on the box. 03:40.820 --> 03:41.860 It takes five seconds. 03:41.860 --> 03:42.900 Okay. 03:42.900 --> 03:45.300 So I tap the notification. 03:46.080 --> 03:46.620 Then what? 03:47.420 --> 03:47.680 Yes. 03:48.120 --> 03:50.300 On an iPhone, tapping it opens the app. 03:50.780 --> 03:54.120 And from there, you go into the expiring medication screen. 03:54.660 --> 03:55.640 It has two tabs. 03:56.220 --> 03:58.440 Soon, for things with the date still ahead of them. 03:58.840 --> 04:00.120 And expired. 04:00.120 --> 04:02.860 That's the screen from the last episode. 04:03.560 --> 04:04.240 The same one. 04:04.760 --> 04:05.460 And this matters. 04:06.000 --> 04:08.900 The notification isn't a new place where you keep what you know. 04:09.440 --> 04:12.460 It's just a nudge to go and look where that knowledge already lives. 04:13.220 --> 04:18.340 Just to be clear, I'm talking here about features of the mojApteczka app, which I build myself. 04:18.540 --> 04:18.900 Right. 04:19.160 --> 04:20.960 Here's my problem with all of this. 04:21.480 --> 04:25.080 I've got half the notifications on my phone switched off. 04:25.480 --> 04:29.620 Because every app thinks it's the most important thing in the world. 04:30.120 --> 04:31.760 And you're right to switch them off. 04:32.160 --> 04:35.620 Which is why on an iPhone, there's a separate screen in the settings. 04:36.540 --> 04:37.860 Expiry date alerts. 04:38.940 --> 04:40.200 There's one main switch. 04:40.760 --> 04:41.800 And then three more. 04:42.480 --> 04:43.220 30 days. 04:43.940 --> 04:44.680 7 days. 04:45.200 --> 04:46.040 And the day before. 04:46.040 --> 04:50.900 If you only want the last one, you keep only the last one. 04:51.460 --> 04:52.820 Can I change the time? 04:53.220 --> 04:56.140 Because at 9, I'm already in my first meeting. 04:56.760 --> 04:57.720 Not on an iPhone. 04:57.720 --> 05:03.560 On Android, though, you can change how many days before the date the reminder comes. 05:04.060 --> 05:06.200 Because it's built a bit differently there. 05:07.200 --> 05:07.940 And one more thing. 05:08.280 --> 05:10.020 Obvious, but people forget it. 05:10.860 --> 05:15.920 If your phone doesn't allow the app to send notifications, no alert will come at all. 05:16.500 --> 05:17.000 Right. 05:17.000 --> 05:19.540 Now qualifies I'd ask any app. 05:20.200 --> 05:21.580 Will it always come? 05:22.400 --> 05:22.780 No. 05:23.340 --> 05:26.760 And I'd rather say that myself than have you find out in February. 05:27.560 --> 05:31.880 I'll tell you how it works on an iPhone, because there I know every detail. 05:32.560 --> 05:33.280 Go on then. 05:33.280 --> 05:35.300 There are three situations. 05:36.520 --> 05:43.080 First, on a lot of boxes, the expiry date is given as just a month and a year, no day. 05:43.760 --> 05:49.900 If the date is saved in the app like that, month and year only, there won't be an alert. 05:50.620 --> 05:51.320 None at all? 05:51.920 --> 05:52.600 None at all. 05:52.600 --> 05:58.780 The medicine still shows on the expiring screen, but you won't get a notification about it. 05:59.520 --> 06:00.580 So what do I do? 06:01.140 --> 06:03.060 Make up a day so it comes through? 06:03.580 --> 06:05.340 I'm not going to recommend that. 06:06.040 --> 06:08.680 Then the app saves the date that isn't on the box. 06:09.360 --> 06:13.280 And the whole point of that notification is that it tells the truth about what's saved. 06:14.020 --> 06:19.100 For medicines like that, you've still got the expiring screen and the walkthrough. 06:19.900 --> 06:20.880 Fair enough. 06:21.680 --> 06:22.080 Second? 06:22.080 --> 06:22.660 Second. 06:23.320 --> 06:26.700 The list of alerts is recalculated when you come back to the app. 06:27.240 --> 06:34.320 So if you correct the date on the medicine card, the new reminder gets set the next time you open the app, not that very second. 06:35.140 --> 06:35.920 And the third? 06:36.560 --> 06:37.000 Third. 06:37.620 --> 06:43.560 The phone has a limit on scheduled notifications, and the expiry ones share that limit with dose reminders. 06:44.160 --> 06:46.360 The rule is that the dose comes first. 06:46.640 --> 06:51.480 If someone has a great many dose reminders, the expiry alert might not come at all. 06:51.480 --> 06:54.940 So dose reminders go to the front of the queue? 06:54.940 --> 06:55.840 Yes. 06:55.840 --> 06:56.180 The next one is the next one. 06:56.180 --> 06:58.480 Expiry alerts get whatever room is left. 06:58.480 --> 07:01.240 That's the rule for how notifications are scheduled. 07:01.240 --> 07:05.720 And the medicine you didn't get an alert about is still there on the expiring list. 07:05.720 --> 07:06.720 Okay. 07:06.720 --> 07:09.100 That actually sounds honest. 07:09.100 --> 07:12.860 And that's why the expiring screen is still the main source. 07:12.860 --> 07:16.180 The walkthrough from the last episode still makes sense. 07:16.180 --> 07:21.640 The notification catches what falls in between, but it doesn't replace actually looking. 07:22.640 --> 07:22.860 Right. 07:23.660 --> 07:25.560 Back to my ointment from the wash bag. 07:26.260 --> 07:30.660 It came through, I had a look, and yes, a month to go. 07:31.500 --> 07:33.140 What am I supposed to do with it? 07:33.880 --> 07:35.840 Three things, and none of them is medical. 07:36.720 --> 07:40.140 First, is this even something you want to keep in that wash bag? 07:40.140 --> 07:42.520 If it is, you plan to buy one. 07:43.120 --> 07:45.320 On that shopping list from the last episode. 07:46.000 --> 07:48.400 You can add it there by hand, from the medicine card. 07:49.140 --> 07:51.060 The alert itself doesn't put it on the list. 07:51.760 --> 07:53.360 But that's what the 30 days are for. 07:53.900 --> 07:56.820 So you can buy it calmly, not on the morning you leave. 07:57.640 --> 07:58.000 Second? 07:58.880 --> 07:59.320 Second. 07:59.840 --> 08:03.740 Once the date has passed, you take the expired medicine to a collection point, 08:04.340 --> 08:05.560 following that point's rules. 08:05.560 --> 08:06.840 Not in the bin. 08:07.600 --> 08:09.060 At least where we are, in Poland, 08:09.760 --> 08:13.940 the most reliable list of collection points is usually on the local council's website. 08:14.620 --> 08:15.900 There's a whole episode on that. 08:16.280 --> 08:17.000 Episode four. 08:17.880 --> 08:18.500 And third? 08:18.660 --> 08:20.840 Third, you delete it from the app. 08:21.620 --> 08:24.080 On the medicine card, there's delete medication. 08:24.920 --> 08:27.100 Because if the medicine is already at the collection point, 08:27.280 --> 08:28.560 but it's still sitting in the app, 08:28.980 --> 08:32.060 the medicine cabinet on your phone starts telling you lies. 08:32.060 --> 08:37.160 And if I'm wondering whether that ointment's still fine to use the day after the date, 08:37.780 --> 08:39.740 it's only one day after all. 08:40.480 --> 08:42.800 That's a question for a pharmacist or your GP. 08:43.500 --> 08:45.740 Not for me, and not for the app. 08:46.760 --> 08:48.880 The app tells you what date is saved. 08:49.560 --> 08:51.520 Whether a given product can still be used, 08:51.960 --> 08:53.220 that it doesn't decide. 08:53.620 --> 08:54.320 And it won't. 08:54.840 --> 08:56.240 Same rule as always. 08:56.740 --> 08:57.300 Same rule. 08:57.940 --> 08:58.780 The app remembers. 08:58.780 --> 09:02.700 The decision sits with someone who actually knows. 09:04.320 --> 09:06.080 Now for the question in the typal. 09:06.960 --> 09:08.780 Who remembers for me? 09:09.580 --> 09:11.400 Because, let's be honest, 09:11.980 --> 09:13.560 it came to my phone. 09:14.320 --> 09:14.860 Me again. 09:15.340 --> 09:16.660 That's a fair charge. 09:17.160 --> 09:18.360 It's not a charge. 09:18.620 --> 09:20.460 It's the statistics of our house. 09:20.840 --> 09:24.900 And that's why this second part matters more than the notification itself. 09:25.520 --> 09:27.580 You can share a medicine cabinet. 09:27.580 --> 09:30.060 If I have access to the same one, 09:30.480 --> 09:32.480 I see the same expiring list. 09:33.120 --> 09:35.840 I don't have to ask you what's about to run out of date. 09:36.960 --> 09:38.860 So when I get an alert about the ointment, 09:39.200 --> 09:40.080 I can just say, 09:40.320 --> 09:42.020 look at the expiring list. 09:42.420 --> 09:43.760 Pick one up on your way home. 09:44.440 --> 09:44.860 You can. 09:45.400 --> 09:47.440 And you don't have to explain which ointment, 09:47.680 --> 09:48.860 or which wash bag, 09:49.360 --> 09:51.160 because it's all on the medicine card, 09:51.740 --> 09:53.260 including where it's kept. 09:53.260 --> 09:54.680 And your mum? 09:55.340 --> 09:58.980 Because Elżbieta has her own cupboard and her own rules, 09:59.380 --> 10:01.600 and nobody looks in that cupboard. 10:02.080 --> 10:04.980 Nobody has looked in that cupboard for 20 years. 10:05.660 --> 10:08.600 But if my mum shares her medicine cabinet with me in the app, 10:09.160 --> 10:11.640 I see her expiring list on my phone. 10:11.640 --> 10:14.260 Not so I can keep tabs on her. 10:14.880 --> 10:15.760 Then what for? 10:16.480 --> 10:17.840 So that over Sunday lunch, 10:18.140 --> 10:19.320 I know what to ask. 10:20.220 --> 10:20.460 Mum, 10:20.880 --> 10:23.320 those drops of yours run out of date in November. 10:24.140 --> 10:25.240 Shall I pick some up for you? 10:26.380 --> 10:28.320 That's a completely different conversation 10:28.320 --> 10:30.440 from rummaging through someone's cupboard. 10:30.620 --> 10:33.260 And completely different from a panicked phone call 10:33.260 --> 10:34.640 because something's run out. 10:35.280 --> 10:35.780 Exactly. 10:35.780 --> 10:38.640 You know what I like about it? 10:39.760 --> 10:43.260 Remembering stops being one person's personality trait. 10:44.140 --> 10:46.280 I think that's the best summary of this episode. 10:47.200 --> 10:48.660 The walkthrough, once a season, 10:49.160 --> 10:50.440 sets the starting point. 10:51.220 --> 10:54.380 The notification keeps an eye on what falls in between. 10:55.260 --> 10:57.380 And the shared list means that knowledge 10:57.380 --> 10:59.500 doesn't live in one person's head. 11:00.080 --> 11:01.220 And the ointment? 11:01.940 --> 11:03.500 I bought it on Thursday. 11:03.500 --> 11:06.420 Because you saw it on the expiring list. 11:06.900 --> 11:09.480 Because I saw it on the expiring list. 11:10.600 --> 11:13.160 If you'd like to try the mojApteczka app, 11:13.460 --> 11:15.420 the app is free and works offline. 11:15.880 --> 11:18.080 You'll find the link in the episode description. 11:18.940 --> 11:20.320 And if you enjoyed this episode, 11:20.880 --> 11:22.440 share it with the person in your house 11:22.440 --> 11:24.180 who remembers for everyone. 11:25.480 --> 11:27.060 One more thing before we go. 11:27.540 --> 11:30.620 This podcast is made with the help of artificial intelligence. 11:31.320 --> 11:33.040 I wrote the dialogue myself, 11:33.040 --> 11:35.720 but the voices you're hearing aren't ours. 11:36.220 --> 11:38.780 They're AI-generated, synthetic voices. 11:39.480 --> 11:41.160 We're telling you this straight out 11:41.160 --> 11:43.220 because we think it should be the standard 11:43.220 --> 11:45.360 for any podcast made this way. 11:46.140 --> 11:47.580 Full details are in the show notes 11:47.580 --> 11:49.820 and in every episode description. 11:50.760 --> 11:51.700 Until next time. 11:52.380 --> 11:53.620 Until next time.