There’s an app for almost everything. Luckily there are a handful of apps available on both Google PlayStore and Apple App Store to help wheelchair users stay on top of their game.
Wheelchairs come in all shapes and sizes to suit the various disabilities of different users. Wheelchair users, in particular, face challenges every day in their physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Thankfully, there are a ton of productivity apps available online that can help you organize your life, stay fit, meditate, read books, and make money online.
I found several apps that can help wheelchair users live a more productive and independent lifestyle. Some of these apps were designed specifically for wheelchair users to help them improve their lives.
Wheelchair users, like Lisa, rely heavily on our smartphones for all forms of communication, entertainment, and activities. She also has an app folder filled with apps that she uses to enhance her productivity and make her day-to-day tasks easier.
I’ve made up a list of everyday apps that wheelchair users can use to overcome both physical & mental problems and become more efficient despite their disabilities.
Best Productivity Apps For Wheelchair Users
There were thousands of apps to choose from but we narrowed it down to just 10. This list is all-inclusive and covers everything from wheelchair access to productivity, notifications, personalized alerts, education, technology. Investments, and personal finance.
If you or someone you know is in a wheelchair, these are by far the most recommended apps for wheelchair users.
1. Audible
It’s no surprise that Audible came in number 1. Audible is by far the most innovative app for wheelchair users in 2024 and beyond.
Audible is the world’s largest producer of downloadable audiobooks. How cool is that?
Picking Audible as the choice app for wheelchair users was a breeze. Audible is a seller and producer of audio entertainment, information, and educational programs.
This iconic smartphone app allows you to stream and download books, magazines, newspapers, radio, and TV programs in audio form and listen to them whenever you like.
Being a wheelchair user that has to switch between home, work, school, gym, and hospital, Audible gives you the chance to learn at your own pace even when you are on a tight schedule.
This versatile smartphone app puts millions of books in your pocket.
With Audible, you have access to a library of over 150,000 professionally narrated audio entertainment from mysteries and thrillers to memoirs and biographies, from classics to hot new releases.
You can listen to any program of your choice, on want smart device wherever you go.
It’s one thing to learn and another to maintain a healthy financial life. Empower is a powerful smartphone wealth management app that gives you all the tools you need to make informed decisions, control your finances, and achieve financial freedom.
Empower Was listed as the “Best for Portfolio Management App For 2020” in Investopedia, “Best Financial App Award for 2021” by Money Under 30, and “Best App for Investors for 2021” by CNBC.
With Empower, you don’t have to worry about mortgage or debt because the app will monitor everything for you. This allows you to focus on your life and not worry about your finances.
This powerful personal finance app allows you to track your net worth, monitor market trends, manage all your accounts, and everything you need to do to take control of your financial life.
That’s not all. You’ll also gain.
Empower also has a team of professional account managers and coaches that can steer you to true financial freedom.
Once you install the app, it will take you to a personalized dashboard where you can easily keep tabs on everything happening across all your accounts.
3. Google Map
Imagine that you had plans to meet with a couple of friends at a fancy restaurant— only for your plans to be ruined because they had hundreds of staircases and no wheelchair ramp.
With Google maps, you can “know before you go”. Google Maps have an exciting feature called “Accessible Places” that allows you to know whether or not your destination is wheelchair accessible.
This dazzling feature allows you to find wheelchair accessible destination with the push of a button. This reason is the reason Google Maps ranks as one of the most powerful apps for wheelchair users.
You can now plan your journey without having to worry about accessibility or inconvenience thanks to Google Map.
The “Accessible Places” feature is not mandatory. “Accessible Places” can be turned on and off in the Google Maps app.
“Accessible Places” is a smart feature for wheelchair users that can easily be identified with a wheelchair icon. When turned on, it helps you identify accessible entrance, seating, restrooms, or parking.
If the place is not wheelchair accessible, Google Maps will alert you beforehand.
That’s not all. You can also view wheelchair-accessible routes using Google Maps.
To access the wheelchair accessible routes to your target destination, search for your desired destination using the search bar, click on “directions”, select the public transportation icon, select “options”, and under the Routes section, you’ll find “wheelchair accessible” and Google Map will display a wheelchair accessible route for you.
It’s that easy.
Aside from helping you find accessible destinations and routes, Google maps allow you to search for stores, restaurants, or points of interest and add them to your list on the go.
It also provides turn-by-turn directions in navigation mode, helps your phone re-orient with your real-world surroundings.
If you forgot where you parked your car, you can use Google Maps to help you find it. Google maps have loads of features for wheelchair users; you just don’t know it.
The all-new Google Maps for Android has been optimized for smartphones and tablets to provide you with an intuitive and useful experience, whether you’re looking for a specific address, searching for a business, or just navigating around town.
Whether you’re on your way to a business meeting, checking out a new neighborhood, or just trying to get from point A to point B at the speed of light, Google Maps is the easiest way to navigate without getting lost.
4. HeadSpace
One of the most suggested apps for wheelchair users on this list is HeadSpace.
Headspace is a guided meditation app that helps millions of people around the world find 10 minutes of peace in their busy day.
The Headspace app has the simplest, most effective program to help you manage your daily stress and anxiety. Over 12 million people [included disabled people] use Headspace’s simple meditation and mindfulness techniques to reduce stress and improve their overall well-being.
Developed with the help of professional athletes and sports psychologists, Headspace is a guided meditation app, used all over the world by people who want to experience more peace of mind and less stress.
It is one of the easiest ways to relieve stress even if you use a wheelchair.
The app uses different meditation techniques & mindfulness programs to help you explore your mind and body to find inner peace, tackle stress, anxiety, and insomnia.
With Headspace, you can achieve your mental health goals. This powerful app boasts over 1000 hours of content, 60+ meditations programs, 10 different categories, and all-in-one mental health plans that will help you focus on living a healthy, stress-free life.
The Headspace app is a revolutionary program designed to engage your mind and body through mindfulness meditation. It uses a combination of audio and visual guides, simple meditations, goal programming, positive assertion, and fun progress tracking features to empower its users.
Headspace is available on all android and apple devices. it’s one of the easiest ways to learn mindfulness and start living with greater clarity and focus.
5. Uber
Uber is the smartest way to get around. With a tap of the button, you can request a car in minutes. It is the easiest way to request a ride in over 100 cities around the world.
This smartphone app has been making it easier for wheelchair users that can’t drive to move around with ease and convenience. Thanks to Uber WAV, you can get a ride in a 100% wheelchair-accessible vehicle and enjoy a comfortable ride to your destination.
The Uber app for wheelchair users now makes getting from A to B easier and more convenient than ever.
Aside from Uber WAV, you can also order other services like UberAssist or UberAccess. UberAssist allows you to request a driver trained to accommodate disabled people while UberAccess allows you to order vehicles that can fit larger wheelchairs or accommodate users with other disabilities.
Uber is a reliable rideshare solution that provides people with disabilities a way to get around. Users can request rides, track their progress, and discover wheelchair-friendly routes using the Uber app.
Best of all, it is one of the easiest apps to use on this list.
Here’s how it works: sign up, enter payment information, request a ride simply by tapping a button, watch the car drive to your location, and enjoy a safe and comfy ride when it arrives.
The driver will then know to pick up the wheelchair when they arrive, for ease of loading into the vehicle.
6. Pocket Yoga
Still, on personal development, Pocket Yoga is one of the most iconic fitness apps for wheelchair users available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Developed by a yoga instructor with over 20 years of professional experience, Pocket Yoga is a comprehensive yoga app with over 300 unique yoga poses and 100 targeted routines, designed to make your practice quick, convenient, and accessible anywhere.
It is the best-selling fitness app with over 3 million users, and they also have disability-friendly poses you can add you your daily yoga routine if you have one.
Pocket Yoga is your anytime, anywhere yoga buddy. The poses available on Pocket Yoga are targeted for a very specific need, such as; increasing stamina, relieving stress, appetite control, weight loss, building muscle, and so on.
Best of all, you can also customize your pocket yoga app with convenient features such as auto-voice prompts, complete routine information, a playlist of music filtered by yoga sessions, and Bluetooth connectivity to your iPod library or Bluetooth speakers.
Stop waiting for the perfect time to start yoga. With Pocket Yoga, you can try out any wheelchair-friendly yoga routines anytime, anywhere.
The easy step-by-step animations help beginners learn asanas (yoga poses), and the built-in timer ensures proper practices for advanced yogis.
7. ShopWell
Then there’s ShopWell.
ShopWell is a top-choice and one of the most outstanding shopping app available to wheelchair users.
ShopWell is an easy-to-use nutrition and diet tracker that helps you track your food, water, and activity throughout the day. This badass smartphone application provides more than enough data and personalized insights to help establish and maintain healthy habits.
ShopWell is especially helpful for wheelchair users that want to live a more independent life. It helps busy people make healthy shopping decisions.
With ShopWell, you can keep track of the foods you eat and the product you buy.
ShopWell has a list of modules that is perfect for everyone: ShopWell basic (recipe recommendations based on the food in your shopping cart), Plan (meal planning options and accompanying recipes), Get Healthy (video demonstrations of exercises), and Get Started (tips for grocery shopping).
That’s not all, you can get all the nutritional information of a product by simply scanning the barcode. Just open the ShopWell app and scan the barcode of the product and you will get all the nutrition information, product content, discover related products, and learn about special promotions in the shops you love.
If you are a wheelchair user looking to live a healthier life, download the ShopWell app now and live the best and healthiest life you can.
8. Skillshare
Skillshare is one of the easiest ways to learn something new. This is one of the most recommended apps for wheelchair users that are rediscovery themselves or looking for something new.
The Skillshare app is the easiest way to learn new skills from the very best teachers in the world.
The simple and intuitive interface allows you to discover courses and lectures on a wide variety of topics; live classes or video-centric courses on art, business, code, design, and more.
It’s like YouTube, with fewer distractions and cat videos.
Skillshare is one of the best online learning platforms. It unlocks your creativity by connecting authors with students over a shared love of learning, teaching, creating, and exploring in different ways.
Whether you are an entrepreneur who wants to learn photography or a professional chef who wants to teach yoga. Skillshare is the platform that empowers people to pursue their passions.
Skillshare is the easiest way to learn new things and meet prominent people. Each month, you gain access to a library of over 10,000 hand-picked classes from how to play guitar, mastering your GoPro, cooking royalty-free ethnic food, to developing your unique style in fashion and graphic design, fitness, web development, digital marketing, voice training from leaders like Chris Hadfield, Seth Godin, Stanley Tucci… just to list a few.
SkillShare helps you discover new and useful skills from leading educators. This way, you can express yourself creatively and more fulfilling life—through a lens, through code, or with a paintbrush thanks to an ever-expanding collection of knowledge that only gets better and better each week.
Disabled or not, SkillShare allows you to learn about the things you love and explore your potentials even from your wheelchair.
9. Medisafe
Medisafe is the first Web, and mobile application designed specifically to complement medication. Millions of people with chronic conditions can now administer their medicines and bettering their lives, thanks to Medisafe.
If your medical condition is the reason you are in a wheelchair, then Medisafe is the app for you.
With Medisafe, you can spend more time doing the things you love and less time in the hospital.
The Medisafe app helps you take your medications correctly and on time! It is that easy.
You just simply have to enter your meds on the app and voila. You’ll receive reports that will remind you to take your medicine at the required time.
You can schedule medications, create medication groups, add notes to your medications, view medication lists, dose reminders (on the App & SMS notifications), medication dosages, and much more!
This intuitive smartphone app ensures that you live an independent life and take control of your medication management.
Medisafe has a long list of features that makes it one of the most recommended apps for wheelchair users that want to live an independent life.
It is the fastest and easiest way to track and manage medications.
Medisafe personalized reminder system helps you stay on top of all critical meds.
It also provides valuable insight into how certain medications can interact and treat some symptoms you are experiencing, making it easier to choose safer medication combinations.
This application is available on all android and apple devices. With Medisafe, you never have to worry about taking your meds on time, the app will always remind you at the right time.
10. Skyguard
The last app that made out the top 10 cuts is Skyguard. If you want to maintain total independence as a wheelchair user, then you need the Skyguard app.
Skyguard is easy-to-use weather alerting app that provides you with severe weather alerts and weather conditions at your location, or for a destination of your choice.
Skyguard is the best way to stay updated on the daily weather forecast around your area. Simply put, Skyguard tells you when to go outside and when to stay indoors and take protective measures.
Whenever you get an update or feel like checking the update, you can simply open the app and see everything you need about the weather conditions around your area.
The Skyguard Weather App provides its users with a convenient way to view local and national weather conditions.
The app uses ultra-accurate National Weather Service forecast data to deliver up-to-the-minute weather information in the palm of your hand.
As a wheelchair user, you can use Skyguard weather data to monitor weather conditions in your area and plan your next trip. This way, you don’t get stuck in the middle of a heavy downpour, flash flood, hurricane, or tornado.
The intuitive interface on this weather app also lets you check current and forecasted hourly weather, temperature, cloud cover, or air pressure at your location plus other relevant locations.
Skyguard is the first advanced weather app that gives precise, real-time weather information and forecasts for your location, so you don’t have to wonder what the conditions are like where you are headed.
SkyGuard is the most accurate and easy-to-use tornado detection app in the Apple App Store. It detects tornadoes using your smartphone’s built-in sensors, allowing you to take cover without delay.
SkyGuard will help you take back control of your time, life, and wellbeing. SkyGuard features real-time notifications that notify you of emergencies happening in locations around you.
I think all wheelchair users should have Skyguard installed on their phones. You can never be too careful, right?
Skyguard App will alert you in advance about weather and traffic conditions as they affect your route.
This app provides the most accurate real-time weather information for your current location, history of past conditions at a selected location, advance notice of traffic incidents along a selected route, and alternative routes.
As you can see, there are plenty of apps for wheelchair users in the market. There are apps to help you get around better, stay connected, and even keep you fit & happy.
Anyone with a smart device can use any of these apps to make their life easier.
We created this extensive list to ensure that every wheelchair user has these apps on their phone to learn something new, discover something interesting, and even live more independent lives.
Wheelchaired is a proud member of the United Spinal Association and a disability blog dedicated to sharing guides and advice on issues concerning disability, mobility, accessible travel, and personal development.
