Nowadays, diabetes management is mobile. And for many people, that means that logging blood glucose levels, carbohydrate grams consumed, and exercise performed no longer requires pen and paper. Instead, plenty of phone and tablet applications make it easy to carry and record information wherever you are. You can find hundreds of apps in iTunes’ App Store, in the App Store on your iPhone, or in the Android Market on your Android phone. For starters, here are five free apps to check out.

dLife
The diabetes website dLife makes a diabetes application that you can use to log glucose levels, find recipes and nutrition information, watch dLife videos, and connect with the dLife community and experts to get answers to your diabetes-related questions. Aside from logging your glucose, you can graph daily, weekly, or monthly levels and track trends—all of which you can e-mail to yourself or your health care provider.
Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Glucose Buddy
It’s easy to record blood glucose levels, insulin injections, food eaten, and exercise completed with Glucose Buddy. The diabetes app for the iPhone comes with push notifications to remind you to check your blood glucose. The app connects users to Glucose Buddy forums and allows for syncing of the phone to an online account on the Glucose Buddy website, where you can manage your blood glucose data and review trends.
Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Fooducate
This app could be your shopping companion on the next trip to the grocery store. You can scan barcodes, search for products, and browse categories to find foods you’re shopping for. By selecting a food, you’ll get a list of health pros (100 percent whole grain!) and cons (loaded with high-fructose corn syrup!) and can compare it to similar products. Keep track of products you eat regularly by “liking” a food. Then, next time you hit the store, you can pull up a “my likes” list of foods you might want to buy again.
Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Calorie Counter by MyNetDiary
You can record meals, water intake, exercise, and weight loss with this comprehensive app, which works with MyNetDiary online. It includes a library of more than 400,000 foods (including restaurant picks) and a bar code scanner for easy identification and logging of packaged foods. Searches with Calorie Counter are fast, thanks to the app’s ability to search as you type.
Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry; available on the iPad and Android phones for a fee.

Workout Trainer
This free app features workouts led by personal trainers. The exercises, which don’t require you to use any equipment, include step-by-step photos, videos, and audio. If you don’t need audio instructions, you can play your own music while you exercise. You can track your progress on your phone or online.
Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android