A calm, private headache diary

Log an episode in seconds, follow your patterns, and bring a clear report to your doctor. Built on clinical guidelines. Everything stays on your iPhone.

  • No account required
  • Works offline
  • Doctor-ready PDF
Top of Cephalo's home screen in light mode: a current episode card showing intensity 4, start time, duration so far, side, and logged medication, above today's and this week's summaries

One week, read back

Cephalo is a diary first: quick to write in when your head hurts, clear to read back when someone asks how often.

Illustrative diary with example data.

A Tuesday, 14:34

Log it in seconds

An episode starts with a couple of taps, even mid-attack: intensity, side, medication. The diary keeps the time for you; add detail later, when you feel up to it.

Current episode card: intensity 4, started at 14:34, duration so far 4 h 10 min, left side, Ibuprofen 400 mg logged, with Edit and End Episode buttons

That evening

Check in when it matters

A short evening check-in captures how the day went: a few taps and done. Headache-free days count too; they are what your patterns are measured against.

Evening check-in mood row with three smiley options: Great, OK, and Stressful, with OK selected

A Friday

Your patterns surface

Enough entries, and the diary starts answering back: triggers weighed with confidence levels, patterns you can question. Every number says where it came from.

Your Triggers card at strong confidence, listing High Stress, Poor Sleep, and Unusual Caffeine with their relative risk figures and the days behind each comparison

When you see the doctor

Bring evidence, not memory

A month reads at a glance, color-coded by intensity with aura marked. For the appointment itself, the diary condenses into a doctor-ready PDF: episodes, medication, patterns.

Calendar month cells with each day color-coded by episode intensity, showing episode counts and an aura marker

Headache data is health data.
Yours never has to leave your hands.

No account, ever

No sign-up, no email, no login. You download the app and start writing.

Check it: the App Store privacy label lists what the app collects.

Works fully offline

The whole diary works without internet. Your entries are never uploaded to us; insights are computed on your device.

Check it: turn on airplane mode and the diary keeps working.

Your device, your data

Everything is stored locally on your iPhone, readable and removable by you alone.

Check it: export or delete all of it, any time, from inside the app.

This is what gentle looks like

When light hurts, the last thing you need is a bright screen. Cephalo's dark mode dims every surface and keeps the contrast gentle, so logging an episode at 3 a.m. doesn't make it worse.

  • Every screen has a full dark variant, not just the home screen
  • Soft sea-glass accents instead of glaring highlights
  • Follows your system setting automatically
Top of the same home screen in Cephalo's dark mode: dimmed surfaces, the current episode card, and soft sea-glass accents

Built on clinical guidelines

Cephalo follows clinical guidelines for headache care, including the Dutch NHG-Standaard Hoofdpijn and international best practices for headache diaries, so what you record is what your doctor needs to see.

  • All clinically relevant symptoms and characteristics
  • MIDAS score for disability assessment
  • Medication-overuse warnings
  • Red-flag symptom alerts
  • Export formats designed for healthcare providers

Cephalo is a diary, not a doctor. It never gives medical advice; take your report to a healthcare professional you trust.

Simple, honest pricing

The diary has no time limit. Cephalo Plus adds personal analysis, doctor-ready PDF reports, and CSV export.

Free

$0

Forever, for everyone

  • Unlimited episode logging and full history
  • Medication log and 7-day insights
  • MIDAS questionnaire
  • Complete editable history and full JSON backup
  • iCloud sync and dark mode
Download the app

Prices in USD; the App Store shows your local price before you pay. Your data is never behind the paywall.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cephalo really free?

Yes. Unlimited logging, your complete editable history, 7-day basic insights, the MIDAS questionnaire, and a full JSON backup are free. Cephalo Plus adds personal trigger and pattern analysis, longer insight periods, weather correlation, and PDF and CSV exports.

Do I need to create an account?

No. There is no sign-up, no email, and no login. You can start logging immediately after downloading the app. Read more about keeping a migraine diary without an account.

Where is my headache data stored?

On your device. If you enable the optional iCloud sync, your data is also stored encrypted in your personal iCloud account. It is never uploaded to us.

Can I share my data with my doctor?

Yes. Cephalo generates a clear PDF report of your episodes, medication use, and patterns that you can hand to your healthcare provider. CSV export is there for your own analysis. Read more about showing your diary to your doctor.

Does Cephalo connect to any servers?

Not for your health data; headache entries stay on your device. The app sends minimal first-party reliability statistics (installs, sessions, never your entries; see the privacy policy). Two optional features use the network: weather lookups through Apple's WeatherKit, and private federated learning, an opt-in way to improve the shared pattern model that shares only encrypted, anonymous updates.

Is Cephalo available for Android?

Not yet. Cephalo is currently iOS-only. An Android version may follow based on demand.

Start your diary tonight

The next appointment goes better with three weeks of real data in your pocket

Free to download • No account required • Your data stays yours