Gutline: how to use it

A short manual, the same words the support page links to.

The idea in one paragraph

Gutline is a diary for digestive symptoms. You record each entry in about ten seconds: how bad it was, which stool type, which symptoms, what was around it, and whether you took your medication. Over time the app shows the pattern in your own entries and can produce one page your doctor can read quickly. Everything stays on your phone. We receive none of it.

Your first entry

Open Today and tap "Symptoms". Set the severity from 0 to 10, pick the stool type on the Bristol scale (or leave it unrecorded), tap the symptoms you had and say mild, moderate or severe for each. You can mark urgency and blood, whether you took your medication, pick tags and triggers or type your own, and add a note. Tap Save. That is the whole loop.

After a similar day, "Same as last" saves time: one tap copies your previous entry as a starting point you can still change.

In Settings under "Symptoms to track" you choose which of the eight named symptoms appear in the list, and you add your own.

Food, drink and habits

"Food & habits" on Today records a meal, a drink or a habit. Later the app asks in the reaction check how your gut responded: none, mild, moderate or strong. The app collects from this an overview of what you reported after which entry. It does not say that anything was the cause.

Medication and therapy plan

Under "Medication" you add what you take regularly: a medication, a supplement, fibre or a therapy, with your own note on the dose and the time of day. You tick it off each day. When you stop, you pause the item instead of deleting it, and it stays in your history. The app suggests no dose and recommends nothing.

Seeing the pattern

The Insights tab shows the severity trend, the stool types, the average of your symptoms, the tags you use most, how regularly you log and, with Gutline Pro, which tags coincide with your worse days. With Gutline Pro the range is 7, 14 or 30 days; without a subscription the app shows the last 7 days. Tap a chart for the individual days. None of it is a diagnosis or a statement about a cause; it is a picture of what you recorded.

History

The History tab lists every entry grouped by day. Search finds notes and tags. Tap an entry to edit it. Swipe it left or long-press it to delete it; deleting takes effect at once. Earlier days are corrected the same way.

Photos

With Gutline Pro you attach a photo from your library to an entry. The photo stays on the device. It does not appear in the PDF report or in the CSV file.

For your doctor

Open the doctor report on Today or in Settings. The report is a PDF of the last 90 days: a summary at the top with the number of entries, days logged and average severity, then symptoms, stool types, the tags you use most and every entry. It carries no name. Share it through the normal iOS share sheet. In Settings you also find the export of all entries as a CSV file. Both are part of Gutline Pro, and both contain health data: pass them only where you want them to go.

Reminder, lock, appearance

In Settings, with Gutline Pro, you can set a daily reminder, which your iPhone triggers itself, and turn on the lock with Face ID or passcode. The lock closes the app as soon as it leaves the foreground. You also pick the appearance (system, light, dark) and can mirror the layout for left-handed use. Gutline follows your iPhone's language where it is available.

Subscription and trial

Gutline Pro is a subscription, weekly, monthly or yearly. The purchase screen shows the price and, if one is offered, the trial together with the date billing starts. At the time of this manual the App Store offers a week on the yearly and monthly plans and three days on the weekly plan; the purchase screen is always the authority. You can cancel at any time under Settings, Apple ID, Subscriptions.

Your privacy

There is no account and no server. Nothing you enter leaves the device unless you pass a file on yourself. An iCloud or computer backup of your iPhone includes Gutline like any other app. "Delete all entries" in Settings removes all diary entries and photos, but not the food log, the medication plan and your settings; if you uninstall the app, everything is removed from the device. Your subscription stays in both cases.

Note

Gutline is not a medical device, makes no diagnosis and gives no medical advice. Talk to your doctor about your symptoms. Blood in the stool, severe pain, fever or unintended weight loss are reasons to contact them.