Read Your Home Screen: Progress Ring Explained

You open your medication app and the first thing you see is a circle with numbers inside, a friendly message and a list of cards. It looks simple, but small details raise questions. What does 2/3 mean? Why does it say 1 more dose to go when you still have two pills left to take today? Why is a card missing that you know exists? The Home screen of AmberCap is designed to tell you at a glance how your day is going, and once you know exactly what it counts, it becomes one of the most useful parts of the app. This guide explains the progress ring, the status messages, the greeting, and the Morning, Afternoon and Evening groups, including a couple of details that are easy to misread.

The Top of the Screen: Greeting and Date

At the top you see the date, shown as a short weekday and day such as Tue, Nov 3, and a greeting that changes with the time of day. Before noon it says Good morning, from noon to early evening it says Good afternoon, in the evening Good evening, and late at night or in the very early hours Good night. If you have entered your name in Settings, the greeting uses it. If you have not, the app does not invent one. It simply greets you without a name. Adding your name is a small touch that many seniors enjoy, and caregivers often set it up for them.

The Status Card and the Progress Ring

Directly under the greeting is a large card with a circle on the left. The circle is the progress ring. Inside it you see two numbers separated by a slash, such as 2/3. To the right, a title and a short sentence describe how you are doing.

What the Numbers Really Count

Here is the detail that matters most. The numbers count medications, not individual doses. The second number is how many of your active medications are scheduled today. The first number is how many of those you have fully completed. A medication counts as completed only when you have marked every dose that is due today.

For most people this is the same thing, because most medications are taken once a day. It becomes different when a medication repeats through the day. Imagine three medications today: a morning blood pressure pill, a cholesterol pill at night and an antibiotic every eight hours. The antibiotic has three doses today. If you have taken the blood pressure pill and two of three antibiotic doses, the ring shows 1/3, not 3/5, because the antibiotic is not complete until the third dose is marked. The ring moves forward when a whole medication is finished for the day.

This also explains the sentence beneath the title. When the card says 2 more doses to go today, the number is the count of medications still unfinished. A single unfinished antibiotic with two doses left still shows as 1 more dose to go. It is a simple rule once you know it, and it keeps the ring easy to read: the circle fills one medication at a time.

The Messages You Can See

• Welcome to AmberCap, Add a medication to get started. You have no medications scheduled today, or none yet. The ring shows 0/0.
• You're doing great, N more doses to go today. At least one medication scheduled for today is still unfinished.
• All done for today, You've taken every dose today. Every medication scheduled today is complete.

If you see Welcome even though you have medications, check whether any are scheduled for today. A weekly pill for Thursday will not appear on a Monday, so the day may genuinely be empty. For more on this, see reminders for weekly and monthly medications. Paused medications also do not count, which is covered in pausing a reminder instead of deleting it.

Why a Medication Might Not Appear Today

The ring and the list show what is scheduled for the current day. A medication will not be counted if its schedule skips today. Examples include a weekly dose set for another day of the week, a monthly dose on a different date, and a medication on specific days that does not include today. A paused medication stays in your list with a Paused badge and a note that reminders are off, but it does not ring and does not count toward the ring.

When the number of cards seems wrong, do a quick check: does the medication have the right frequency, and is it paused? Both are changed on the details sheet and in the edit form, which is described in how to edit a medication time or dose safely.

Morning, Afternoon and Evening Groups

Below the status card, medications are grouped into three blocks, each with a small amber dot and a label such as MORNING followed by a time. The block is decided by the time of the medication's first dose. Before 12:00 noon it belongs to Morning, from noon until before 5:00 PM to Afternoon, and from 5:00 PM onward to Evening. A block appears only if at least one medication belongs to it, so you will not see empty groups.

The time next to the label is the time of the first medication in that block, so you can tell at a glance when that part of the day begins. A medication that repeats through the day sits in the block of its first dose, even though later doses fall in other parts of the day. You can see all of its times on the details sheet. If you want to plan your schedule around these groups, morning, afternoon, evening: your pill schedule shows practical ideas.

The Medication Cards

Each card shows the medication name, the dose, your instructions and, if you added one, a photo. When the dose is pending, there is a button to mark it as taken. When it is done, the card shows a done state instead.

If a medication has several doses today, the button on the card always marks the next pending dose in order. That means two taps mark the first and then the second dose. To mark a specific dose or to undo one, tap the card to open the details sheet, where each of today's doses is listed. This sheet is also where you find Edit, Pause and Delete. If you tapped by mistake, tapped Taken by mistake? Undo it in the app explains the steps.

How the Ring Connects to Your History

The Home screen is about today. The History tab is about the past: it lists your doses with Taken and Missed labels so you can see patterns. Use Home to stay on track and History to understand. How to read your dose history explains what appears there and how far back it goes.

Tips for Getting the Most From the Home Screen

• Make checking the ring part of your routine, such as after breakfast and again before bed.
• If the ring is not full by evening, look for the medication that is still unfinished. It will be the card without a done state.
• Keep photos on cards so you can compare the pill in your hand with the picture, as suggested in adding a pill photo to avoid taking the wrong one.
• If you manage several medications, use clear names and short instructions so the list reads quickly. See managing multiple medications for seniors.
• If you are a caregiver, remember that family members see a read-only view, so a clean, accurate Home screen helps them too.

If Something Looks Wrong

If numbers do not match what you expect, first check the date and time on your phone, because the app builds today's list from them. Daylight saving changes and travel across time zones can shift when things appear, as explained in medication reminders and daylight saving time. Then check each medication for the right frequency and whether it is paused. If everything is correct and the screen still looks off, close the app and open it again so it reloads.

Frequently Asked Questions