claruapp.com

Migraine prediction estimates the probability that you'll have a migraine on an upcoming day, based on patterns in your own logged history plus factors like weather and sleep. It is not a diagnosis and not a guarantee — it's a signal to help you prepare and observe. It becomes more useful the more consistently you log, because the estimate is only as good as the data behind it. Claru, for example, describes a 7-day risk forecast "powered by your history, weather data, sleep patterns, and personal triggers," and its own materials state that these estimates "are not medical predictions or guarantees."

What migraine prediction actually is

Prediction here means a risk estimate, not a medical forecast. The distinction matters:

• A diagnosis comes from a clinician evaluating your symptoms and history.
• A risk estimate comes from a model comparing your current conditions against patterns in your own data.

Claru frames it as showing "your migraine risk for the next 7 days," and labels the output as estimates rather than predictions. Treat a high-risk day as a cue to pay attention and prepare, not as a certainty that an attack will happen.

What data prediction depends on

The reliability of any forecast tracks the inputs behind it. Based on Claru's described features, the inputs typically include:

Claru's example forecast shows factors like "Poor sleep 16%," "Alcohol 16%," and "Pressure drop 13%" — these are presented as contributing factors, not confirmed causes.

Why consistent logging comes first

Prediction sits at the end of a three-step loop that Claru describes as Track → Learn → Predict:

1. Track — Log migraines by voice or tap, capturing severity, triggers, symptoms, and medications. Claru notes you can do this "even during an attack," and offers a distraction-free Migraine Mode with larger touch targets and one-tap emergency contact access.
2. Learn — The app analyzes entries to surface "possible triggers, timing patterns, and correlations for you to review."
3. Predict — You see 7-day risk estimates based on your available data, weather, and lifestyle entries.

The word "available" is doing real work here: with sparse entries, the model has little to compare against, so estimates carry less weight. A few seconds of logging per day is what builds the record the forecast draws on.

How to read a risk estimate

Use the forecast as a planning and observation tool:

• A day flagged as elevated (Claru's example marks Thursday as elevated) is a prompt to note how you feel, check your known factors, and have your usual plan ready.
• A low-risk day is not a green light to ignore symptoms.
• Compare the forecast to what actually happens. If flagged days and real attacks line up over time, the estimate is tracking something meaningful for you; if they don't, that's useful information too.

Where prediction gets unreliable

Several things can weaken a forecast:

• Too little data. Patterns need repetition to emerge. Early on, estimates are thin.
• Variable or overlapping triggers. If your triggers shift or combine, single-factor signals get noisy.
• Mistaking correlation for cause. A factor appearing in the forecast (like a pressure drop) is a statistical association in your data, not proof it caused an attack.
• Over-trusting the number. Because these are estimates and not guarantees, they shouldn't replace clinical judgment.

If forecasts consistently miss, the fix is usually more complete logging rather than a different interpretation — and any concerns about your migraines belong with your healthcare provider. Claru's doctor reports (PDFs with frequency analysis, severity charts, and medication logs) are designed to bring that record into a clinical conversation.

The practical takeaway

Migraine prediction works by learning from your logged history and current conditions to estimate near-term risk. It's most reliable when your logging is consistent and your patterns are stable, and least reliable when data is sparse or triggers are erratic. Use it to prepare and observe, keep logging to sharpen it, and route medical decisions to your provider.

The right migraine app depends on when you'll actually use it. If you can only log reliably during an attack, prioritize voice logging and a low-stimulation "attack mode" over analytics. If you log between attacks, pattern discovery and 7-day risk forecasts matter more. Claru, an AI migraine tracker, bundles voice logging, trigger analysis, forecasting, and doctor-ready PDF reports into one app that's free on iOS and Android with no credit card required — but the features you need most should drive your choice, not the longest feature list.

Compare apps on the dimensions that change your decision

Most migraine apps look similar on a store page. These six dimensions separate the ones you'll keep using from the ones you'll abandon after two weeks.

Logging method: the feature that decides everything else

An app's analytics are worthless if the data never gets entered. Ask how many taps or seconds a log takes in the worst-case scenario — a migraine at severity 7+.

• Manual tap logging works if you're disciplined and can tolerate screens. Expect to fill severity, location, timing, and medication fields yourself.
• Voice logging lets you speak a sentence and have the app transcribe it. Claru's example: saying "Throbbing on the left side since 2pm, about a 7" auto-extracts severity (7/10), location (left side), onset (2:00 PM), and symptom (throbbing).
• One-tap / attack mode is for when even talking is too much. Claru's Migraine Mode uses a full-screen, distraction-free layout with larger touch targets, reduced stimuli, and one-tap access to an emergency contact.

If you've never kept a headache diary consistently, start with the logging method you'd realistically use at your worst — not your best.

Trigger discovery vs. prediction: two different tools

These get marketed together but answer different questions.

Pattern discovery looks backward. It analyzes your entries to surface possible triggers, timing trends, and correlations — including multi-variable combinations you wouldn't spot manually. Claru's example report covers a three-month window with 18 attacks. This is the feature that answers "what might be causing these?"

Forecasting looks forward. Claru shows a 7-day risk estimate built from your history, weather data, sleep patterns, and personal triggers — for example, flagging a specific day as elevated, or listing contributing factors like poor sleep (16%), alcohol (16%), or a pressure drop (13%).

One caveat applies to every app in this category: these are estimates, not medical predictions or guarantees. Use forecasts to plan around higher-risk days, not to self-diagnose or adjust treatment. If a forecast conflicts with your doctor's advice, your doctor wins.

Doctor reports: what a clinician actually needs

A log you can't share is a log that only helps you. Before committing to an app, check whether it exports a report containing:

• Attack frequency over a defined period
• Severity charts (not just raw numbers)
• Medication logs, including what you took and when

Claru generates professional PDF reports with frequency analysis, severity charts, and medication logs, formatted to hand to a healthcare provider. If an app only shows in-app graphs with no export, you'll be reconstructing your history from memory at your next appointment.

Free vs. paid: what to verify before downloading

Claru is listed as free on iOS and Android with no credit card required, and the site doesn't publish pricing tiers or usage limits. That means you can test the core loop — voice log, pattern view, forecast, report export — without entering payment details.

Because pricing and feature-gating aren't documented on the site, verify these yourself after installing:

1. Whether report exports are unlimited or capped
2. Whether forecast history depth is limited on the free tier
3. Whether any feature requires an account or subscription later

Don't assume "free download" means "all features free forever" for any app, including this one.

A quick decision path

• You log mid-attack and hate typing → prioritize voice logging + attack mode (Claru covers both).
• You want to know why you get migraines → prioritize multi-variable pattern discovery, not single-trigger checklists.
• You want to plan your week → prioritize 7-day forecasting, and read the estimate disclaimer carefully.
• You're preparing for a neurologist visit → prioritize PDF export with frequency, severity, and medication data.
• You're unsure you'll stick with it → start with a free tier and confirm the export and logging features work for you before paying for anything.

The best migraine app is the one that captures data on your worst days and turns it into something your doctor can use. Test the logging flow first — everything else is downstream of whether you actually log.

The most useful migraine tracker app is the one you can actually keep using during and after an attack, and that turns those entries into something you can act on or hand to a doctor. Prioritize four things: fast logging (voice or one-tap), complete fields (severity, triggers, symptoms, medication, sleep), pattern analysis you can review, and an exportable report. Claru, an AI migraine tracker, shows what this looks like in practice: voice logging, a 7-day risk forecast, pattern discovery, and PDF doctor reports, free on iOS and Android with no credit card required.

Logging method: can you record an attack in seconds?

This is the first filter, because a tracker you avoid during a migraine produces no data.

• Voice logging — You speak a description and the app extracts the details. Claru's example: saying "Throbbing on the left side since 2pm, about a 7" is transcribed into severity 7/10, throbbing, left side, onset 2:00 PM, plus medication. This matters when screens and typing are hard to tolerate.
• Tap logging — Structured buttons for severity, symptoms, and meds. Faster than typing, less flexible than voice.
• Manual entry — Fine for backfilling, poor for in-the-moment use.

If you often can't face a form mid-attack, weight voice or tap logging heavily. A dedicated migraine mode (larger touch targets, reduced stimuli, one-tap emergency contact, as Claru describes) is a bonus, not a baseline requirement.

What should the app actually track?

A headache diary that only records pain level gives you little to correlate. Look for these fields:

Claru bundles migraines, sleep, exercise, and custom events in one log. The principle generalizes: the more consistent context you record, the more a pattern-finding feature has to work with.

Analysis and prediction: useful, with limits

Two distinct features get grouped together here, and they deserve different expectations.

• Pattern discovery analyzes your entries to surface possible triggers, timing trends, and correlations — including multi-variable triggers you might not spot yourself. Treat output as hypotheses to review, not conclusions.
• Risk forecasting estimates your migraine risk for the next several days. Claru's 7-day forecast draws on your history, weather data, sleep patterns, and personal triggers, and shows contributing factors (for example, poor sleep 16%, alcohol 16%, pressure drop 13%).

Claru states plainly that these estimates are not medical predictions or guarantees. Apply that standard to any app: a forecast can help you plan a lighter day, but it shouldn't drive medical decisions.

Doctor reports: does it export what a clinician needs?

If you plan to bring your data to an appointment, check the export before you commit months of logging.

A doctor-ready report should include frequency analysis, severity charts, and medication logs. Claru generates PDF reports with exactly those elements. Ask of any app:

• Can I export a PDF or shareable file, or is my data locked in the app?
• Does the report cover a date range (Claru's sample spans Jun–Aug, 18 attacks)?
• Are medications listed with dose and timing?

How apps differ, and how to choose

Use the same dimensions across candidates:

Claru is free on iOS and Android with no credit card required, which makes it a low-commitment starting point if voice logging and doctor reports are your priorities. If your main need is a bare-bones severity log, a simpler headache diary may be enough.

Practical starting checklist

1. Pick an app with logging you can complete in under a minute during an attack.
2. Log consistently for a few weeks — including good days — so patterns have comparison data.
3. Review the analysis section periodically and note which triggers recur.
4. Export a report before your next appointment and check it reads clearly.
5. Confirm your data is exportable before investing months of entries.

The tracker that fits is the one whose logging you'll sustain and whose output you'll actually use — with a doctor, or on your own.

A migraine tracker is a log for your attacks and the days around them—when pain started, how severe it was, what you took, and what might have preceded it. You use one by recording entries consistently, reviewing the patterns that build up, and bringing that record to a doctor. It's most useful if you get recurring migraines and want evidence rather than guesswork about your triggers. It is not a diagnostic tool, and any risk estimate it shows is a statistical guess from your own data, not a medical prediction.

What a migraine tracker actually records

A complete tracker captures more than "headache at 2pm." The useful fields fall into a few groups:

• Attack basics — onset time, severity (often 1–10), and location (for example, left side).
• Symptoms — throbbing, nausea, light sensitivity, aura, and anything else you notice.
• Medications — what you took, when, and how much, including over-the-counter drugs.
• Possible triggers — sleep quality, alcohol, weather or pressure changes, skipped meals, stress.
• Recovery — how long it lasted and what helped.

Claru's tracker also lets you log sleep, exercise, and custom events alongside migraines, so the trigger data and the attack data live in the same place. That matters: a trigger is only visible when you can line it up against the days it preceded.

How to log without it becoming a chore

The failure mode of any headache diary is that you stop filling it in. Two design choices reduce that risk.

Voice logging. Instead of tapping through a form, you speak a sentence. Claru's example: "Throbbing on the left side since 2pm, about a 7." The app transcribes it and extracts severity (7/10), location (left side), onset (2:00 PM), and any medication mentioned. The input is your speech; the output is a structured entry. This is fastest when you're mid-attack and don't want to type.

A low-stimulus mode during an attack. Claru's "Migraine Mode" is a full-screen, distraction-free logging view with larger touch targets, reduced stimuli, and one-tap access to an emergency contact. If screens make your symptoms worse, this is the feature to check for in any tracker you consider.

A practical habit: log the attack when it happens (voice is easiest), then spend a few seconds the next morning adding sleep and anything unusual from the day before. Consistency over weeks is what makes the data readable—a handful of entries won't show a pattern.

How apps turn entries into possible patterns

Once you have weeks of entries, the tracker looks for relationships you'd struggle to spot manually. Claru's pattern discovery analyzes entries to surface possible triggers, timing trends, and correlations, including combinations of variables rather than single causes.

The honest framing: these are possible patterns and correlations, not proven causes. A correlation between poor sleep and attacks might reflect that both are driven by something else. Treat the output as a set of hypotheses to discuss with a clinician, not conclusions.

Reading a 7-day risk forecast

Claru shows a 7-day migraine risk estimate built from your history, weather data, sleep patterns, and personal triggers—for example, flagging a specific day as elevated, with contributing factors like poor sleep (16%), alcohol (16%), or a pressure drop (13%).

Two things to keep straight:

• The percentages describe how much each factor contributes to that estimate, not your chance of getting a migraine.
• The app states plainly that these estimates are not medical predictions or guarantees. Use them to decide when to be extra careful with sleep or hydration, not as a reason to change medication.

Turning your log into a doctor-ready report

The payoff of consistent tracking is a record you can hand over. Claru generates PDF reports with frequency analysis, severity charts, and medication logs—the three things a clinician typically wants: how often, how bad, and what you've been taking. Its example report covers a three-month window with 18 attacks.

Before an appointment, a report like this saves you from reconstructing months of history from memory, and it gives the doctor concrete numbers to work from. Ask what format your provider prefers; a PDF is usually fine, but some practices want specific fields.

Choosing a tracker: what to check

Claru is free on iOS and Android with no credit card required, per its site. If you want to compare options, test the logging flow first—if entering an attack takes more than a few seconds, you won't maintain the habit, and the patterns never materialize.

A headache diary is a running record of your headaches and migraines — when they happen, how severe they are, what symptoms come with them, what you took, and what might have set them off. You keep one so that patterns become visible over weeks, not guesses. It's worth starting if you get recurring headaches and want to understand your triggers, timing, or what actually helps. The main requirement is consistency: a few seconds per entry, most days, beats a detailed entry you only make once a month.

What a headache diary actually records

A useful diary captures the same handful of fields every time, so entries can be compared later:

• Timing — date, start time, and how long the attack lasted
• Severity — a simple 1–10 scale, or mild/moderate/severe
• Location and quality — one side or both, throbbing, pressure, stabbing
• Associated symptoms — nausea, light or sound sensitivity, aura
• Medication — what you took, dose, and whether it helped
• Possible triggers — sleep, stress, food, alcohol, weather, hormonal cycle
• Context — sleep hours, exercise, skipped meals, unusual stress

You don't need every field for every entry. The value comes from filling the same fields often enough that differences between attack days and non-attack days show up.

How to keep one without it becoming a chore

The failure mode of most diaries is friction: if logging takes minutes, you stop during an attack — exactly when the data matters most. Reduce the effort:

1. Log at the moment, not later. Start the entry when the headache starts, even if you only capture severity and time.
2. Use the fastest input you have. Tapping preset buttons or speaking a short description is faster than typing during pain. Claru, for example, uses voice logging: you say something like "throbbing on the left side since 2pm, about a 7," and the app transcribes it and extracts severity, timing, symptoms, and medication automatically.
3. Keep a low-stimulus mode for attacks. Claru's Migraine Mode is a full-screen, distraction-free log with larger touch targets and reduced stimuli — useful when screens are hard to look at.
4. Record the good days too. Sleep, exercise, and no-headache days are the comparison baseline. Without them you can't tell whether a "trigger" is actually more common on headache days.
5. Set one reminder. A daily prompt at a fixed time catches anything you forgot.

Turning weeks of entries into patterns

A single entry tells you nothing; a month of entries starts to show structure. Look for three things:

• Timing trends — do attacks cluster on certain days, after poor sleep, or around a cycle?
• Multi-variable triggers — many migraines come from combinations (poor sleep plus alcohol) rather than one cause. Claru's pattern discovery is built around surfacing these multi-variable and timing correlations for you to review.
• What helps — compare recovery time and severity across entries where you took different medications or acted early.

Claru also produces a 7-day risk estimate from your history, weather data, sleep patterns, and personal triggers. Treat this as a heads-up, not a forecast you can rely on — the app itself states these estimates are not medical predictions or guarantees.

Paper vs. app: which to choose

Choose paper if writing is genuinely easier for you and you're willing to do the analysis yourself. Choose an app if the bottleneck is effort or if you want correlations and a shareable summary. Claru generates PDF doctor reports with frequency analysis, severity charts, and medication logs — useful if your main goal is a better appointment.

Using your diary at a doctor's visit

Bring the record, not a summary from memory. A report that shows attack frequency, severity over time, and medication use gives a clinician something concrete to work from. Claru's reports are designed for exactly this handoff. Before the visit, skim your entries and note two or three questions the data raised — for example, whether attacks increased after a medication change, or whether a suspected food trigger actually lines up with attack days.

Getting started

Download the app (Claru is free on iOS and Android, no credit card required) or open a notebook, and log your next headache with at least time, severity, and medication. Keep it up for three to four weeks before drawing conclusions — that's roughly the minimum for timing patterns to emerge. If you want to see how the tracking, pattern discovery, and reporting fit together first, Claru's "How It Works" section walks through the track → learn → predict flow.