Essential Oils iPhone App
I’ve never been into perfumes, oils, bath salts, incense, etc. So when a friend invited me to a two-day essential oils workshop I’m thinking about hippies, incense, granola, patchouli and Birkenstocks… I declined. However, she had already paid for my tuition and book. So I reluctantly went to the class. Wow! Definitely not what I thought!
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years – many are even mentioned in the Bible. They are so many with a variety of properties and many ways to use them. I was so excited about the oils by the end of the workshop that I started my collection and began to use them regularly with my family.
There are so many uses and properties to the oils I found that I couldn’t keep track and when something would come up I’d be thinking I know there’s an oil or blend for that… or once I figured out what to use, I wasn’t sure if I had all the oils in my personal inventory. Usually my need for information doesn’t happen when I’m home and have my books and computer handy.
I looked for an existing app to use. There were a few, but none met the need I had – a TOOL. Some were company specific and seemed geared more toward promoting a brand, selling and signing up new people. Some were free then charged a subscription. Others were full of pretty pictures, but not good usable information. Feedback on apps I looked at complained that there just wasn’t information on how to actually use the oils.
The idea to make our own app began as my husband was going to make something simple for me so he didn’t have to hear me complain. I came up with some requirements would meet my needs as an oils user… Of course the list grew as we developed it, but we had to stop somewhere! To be useful it had to:
• List oils we use with description, product number and price
• Ability to include personal notes on each oil and to search those notes
• List of each oils properties and suggested uses
• Ability to keep track of oils in personal inventory
• Ability to keep a wish list of oils and be able to email list to self for easier ordering
• Ability to store “recipes”
• A simple and clean tool – don’t need a bunch of pictures to take up more space on phone
We needed an oils expert to help us through this process. Of course I went right to the top and enlisted Brenda Wright! Her input, reviews and the content she provided were critical in making this app the incredibly useful tool it is.
Our hope is that this tool will help others to be able to more fully use essential oils in their everyday lives. I know that in just the few months working on this project I have gone from an occasional user to someone who uses oils just about every day. Even my kids ask for specific oils by name now. It’s so handy – I always have my iPhone in my pocket and can offer suggestions to friends. Now I can suggest they get this app and start living the aromatic lifestyle themselves!
Essential Oils App