Swallow Prompt Panel Review

Swallow Prompt is an app designed to help people who have difficulty in managing excess saliva. Its premise is simple: it will vibrate or beep at a set interval to prompt the user to swallow, which stops saliva building up in their mouth. It claims to help to retrain users to swallow more often by sending reminders for when they need to swallow.

Swallow Prompt was developed by Bristol-based speech and language therapist Sam Brady, who has more than 20 years of experience. It’s 1 of 5 speech and communication apps she has created alongside her husband, Gary, for their company Speechtools.

On developing her apps, Sam said: “It is really exciting to be at the forefront of speech and language therapy technology and the advances in healthcare. I love to see our products evolve from conception to use in clinics and people’s homes all over the world.”

Sam decided to create Swallow Prompt after recognising the emotional and social toll drooling was having on the wellbeing of some of her clients. She told us: “Many individuals with Parkinson’s expressed embarrassment and frustration at constantly wiping their mouths or needing to wear extra clothing to soak up saliva.”

“I designed Swallow Prompt to offer a simple yet effective alternative for those who prefer to avoid medication.”

Our reviewers tested Swallow Prompt on both iPhone and Android phones (2 iPhone and 4 Android). One reviewer tried the app on their Apple smartwatch as well as their smartphone. The others tested it using only a smartphone.

The app is ready to use as soon as it’s downloaded onto a compatible device. There’s no registration required or any other details to fill out before use.

There’s very little navigation around the app, just a ‘home’ screen where the swallowing prompt controls are found and a help page with user instructions and frequently asked questions.

All the reviewers said it was “fairly easy” or “very easy” to get started with the app.

A reviewer who said they were “somewhat confident” with technology commented: “I didn’t need instructions, it appeared self explanatory.” Someone else, who has been experiencing drooling for just over a year, added: “It was easy to follow and understand.”

The app has 5 main controls: frequency timer, vibrate function, audio function, audio tone selection and the start/stop button.

The controls are very user friendly, with large buttons that each has a clear image. For example, the audio function button is a speaker icon and the audio selection button is represented with a simple musical note icon.

All the reviewers said it was either “fairly easy” or “very easy” to use Swallow Prompt.

You set the frequency of swallow reminders you need using a scrolling selector at the top of the screen. Reminders can be set as often as every second or as long as 6 minutes. Most people swallow about every 1 to 2 minutes when they’re awake.

You can set alerts as often as you need. The app’s ‘Help’ section says that some people find it best to set a particular alert time and that this keeps working for a long time. But other people find it more effective to change the timing or alert sound occasionally, if they want to keep it effective.

“I started with about 30 seconds, but found that this was too frequent,” said a reviewer who has been experiencing excess saliva for 5 years. “So I changed it to 50 to 60 seconds which was better. Thereafter, I did not change it again.”

This reviewer is a former university lecturer who found their drooling made speaking difficult, which meant they could no longer work. They had one issue with Swallow Prompt: “a louder or more discordant bleep might be useful... The bleep rapidly became part of the background noise and so was lost.”

Another reviewer found the opposite. They felt that the alerts could be “intrusive”, especially if they were with company. However, despite this, they still found the alerts helped them to remember to swallow, and would recommend it.

The app allows users to choose whether they want an audio tone alert, a vibration or both.

A second reviewer also found the alerts too intrusive, especially given they needed the alerts every 15 seconds. This reviewer had problems getting the vibration to work and contacted Swallow Prompt’s customer service about it. They heard back 2 days later with a suggestion that didn’t work, which led to them to stop using the app.

They commented: “I told them that it hadn’t worked but I had no response. I have left the matter unresolved as I found the product unsatisfactory.”

2 reviewers noted that they often missed the alerts as they don’t always have their phone on them. A reviewer based in north-west England, said: “It did help me to remember to swallow sometimes but it might work better for people who carry their phone in their pocket. I don’t, so sometimes I missed the prompt.” They suggested that they would find a wearable prompt more useful but “it would probably be a lot more expensive”.

The app can alert you even when your phone is set to silent mode, if you’re using other apps or even if your phone is locked or in standby mode (when the screen is off). However, the alerts don’t come through if you’re on a phone call. A 59-year-old reviewer said: “I was worried that my phone battery would not last as long with frequent notifications but they came through even when my phone was on standby and did not affect my phone battery that much.”

Apple watch

One reviewer also tested Swallow Prompt on an Apple Watch. They started drooling about a year ago and they now feel “afraid to go out” because of it.

Opting for a regular prompt of 5 to 10 seconds on their smartwatch, they said they were “very satisfied with the app” and would definitely recommend it to someone experiencing excess saliva.

Due to its small screen, the watch app has fewer controls than the full smartphone app: just a setting for frequency of the reminders and a start/stop button.

One issue this reviewer noted was that, at first, they found it difficult to identify what the alerts were for, because they also use their Apple Watch for medication reminders. The Swallow Prompt app does not currently offer a choice of vibration types. “It was initially confusing. The vibrations could be confused with any other signal used by the watch.”

Swallow Prompt is priced at £0.99 to download and there are no add-on costs. Most of the reviewers thought the app was good value for money, describing it as “reasonably priced” and “very affordable.”

A 76-year-old reviewer commented: “The app worked well and was worth the minor cost.”