July 2, 2025, 8:59 am | Read time: 5 minutes
Without apps, organizing our lives has become nearly impossible. They’ve also made their way into healthcare. E-health companies like Doctolib offer app-based alternatives to phone calls and emails. Millions of people use these apps to schedule their doctor appointments. Now, they can look forward to a new feature in the Doctolib app designed to greatly simplify preventive care. This aims to help people prevent illnesses as effectively as possible, rather than having to visit doctors after falling ill.
When is the next cancer screening again? Are all vaccinations up to date? You should also remember the next dentist appointment. And shouldn’t there be another child check-up soon? It’s often not easy to keep everything under control when it comes to prevention. From the question of which preventive examinations you are entitled to, to the intervals at which they should occur, there are many opportunities for confusion. No wonder that in an already stressful everyday life, examinations are simply forgotten. Yet these could save lives! This is exactly where the e-health company “Doctolib” wants to help now—with the new app feature “Health Reminders.” We explain how this usage option works.
Overview
Why Is “Doctolib” Introducing Health Reminders?
“Doctolib” CEO Nikolay Kolev has a clear goal: He wants to help orient the German healthcare system toward prevention. As early as 2024, he emphasized in a FITBOOK interview how important he considers this change in Germany. Current figures show that much still needs to be done in terms of prevention.
Kolev explained to FITBOOK why “Doctolib” developed the health reminders: “Currently, we have around half a million new cancer cases a year. And only 20 to 30 percent of women and men participate in corresponding early detection examinations. The problem seems to be: People are not reached with the preventive reminders, and if they are, it doesn’t result in an appointment. That’s why we took on the issue and tried to combine everything. Personalized health promotion in the area of prevention is based on the following information: gender, age in combination with the recommendations of the Joint Federal Committee. And that’s exactly what we do with the health reminders, by reminding users, for example, of the next upcoming cancer screening and immediately providing the opportunity to organize the appointment.”
What’s Behind the New Feature
The digital health reminders from “Doctolib” offer app users the option to be reminded of important preventive and early detection examinations or vaccinations. Part of the feature is also the ability to digitally book the corresponding appointments directly with the reminder.
The health reminders focus on three key areas:
- Preventive examinations: For example, dental checks, general health check-ups (from ages 18 and 35), cancer screenings (gynecological, prostate, colonoscopy, skin cancer screening)
- Vaccinations: Basic immunization (such as six-fold vaccination, MMR + chickenpox), booster vaccinations (tetanus, diphtheria), special vaccinations (HPV, pneumococcal, shingles).
- Child and youth preventive care: Early childhood examinations (U2 to U9), youth health examination (J1).
How Digital Health Reminders Work in Practice
The health reminders aim to simplify preventive care by sending users individually tailored reminders. You can prepare your “Doctolib” profile now by giving consent for the reminder function and adding important information. They help the app—adjusted for age and gender, for example—inform about the preventive examinations recommended by the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) and the Robert Koch Institute.
Where Can You Find the Health Reminders?
The health reminders can be found on the homepage and in the new “Health” section of the mobile “Doctolib” app. New and unread health reminders are indicated by in-app notifications with a red dot.
Either through the reminder displayed on the app’s homepage or via the red dot in the “Health” section, you can access the reminder and then directly search and book an appointment with just a few clicks. If a preventive appointment is uninteresting to a user, they can dismiss this specific reminder as irrelevant. After all, which preventive examinations you choose to undergo is still up to you!
What if You Recently Had the Preventive Examination?
If you receive a reminder for an examination that you recently had when you start using the reminder function, you can adjust your “Doctolib” profile accordingly. Mark the reminder as “already completed.” Nikolay Kolev explained to FITBOOK: “If someone has previously booked preventive treatments through the health reminders in our app, the user will receive a new reminder according to the cycle intended for prevention—such as every two years. If a treatment was not booked through our app, you can retroactively enter when you underwent the preventive care, and then our app will adjust the cycle accordingly.”
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What if You Don’t Want to Share Your Data for Health Reminders?
Every “Doctolib” user is free not to use the app’s new offering. “Data sharing for this feature is done on an opt-in basis, not opt-out. This means app users must choose to participate. And they can also revoke it at any time,” the “Doctolib” CEO explained to us.
The use of health reminders is voluntary, occurs only after active consent (opt-in), and adheres to the highest standards of data protection and transparency. “Doctolib” is certified according to the C5 Type 2 criteria catalog of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)—one of the strictest standards for cloud services in healthcare.