Fasten: A Free Self-hosted Personal Health Records App for Families and Individuals
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As a doctor, I’ve seen firsthand how a simple tool can transform patient care. One of my most memorable moments was with Maria, a 68-year-old grandmother who came in with fatigue and dizziness. Her chart showed hypertension and diabetes, but nothing explained her sudden decline. Then she pulled out her phone and opened her Personal Health Record (PHR) app.
Suddenly, everything clicked. Her PHR wasn’t just a list of medications — it included a detailed log of her recent blood sugar trends, sleep patterns, exercise, and even notes from her last telehealth visit. She’d recorded that she’d been skipping her insulin doses because she couldn’t afford the refill. That one insight changed everything.
That’s the power of a Personal Health Record (PHR), a digital, secure, and private system where individuals store their health data: prescriptions, allergies, test results, immunizations, family history, and even daily wellness logs. Unlike electronic health records (EHRs) managed by clinics, PHRs are owned by patients, giving them control.
For families, this is life-changing. Parents can track kids’ vaccination schedules. Grandparents can share chronic condition histories with adult children managing their care. When emergencies strike, doctors get critical context instantly, no more guesswork.
Hazem Abbas
The benefits? Faster diagnosis, fewer errors, better medication management, and stronger doctor-patient trust. For me as a physician, having access to a patient’s PHR means I can move from reactive treatment to proactive care. I see not just symptoms, but patterns.
In an age where healthcare is fragmented, a PHR bridges gaps. It empowers individuals, strengthens family health planning, and helps doctors deliver smarter, faster, more personalized care.
While, we covered several topics about free and open-source PHR apps, our today's pick is Fasten, which is a fairly new yet, feature-rich PHR solution.
What is Fasten?
You know that feeling when you’re trying to piece together your medical history, a scan from 2015, a lab report from a different clinic, insurance claims scattered across three providers? I’ve been there. And after years of working in tech and seeing how fragmented healthcare data really is, I built Fasten.
Fasten isn’t just another PHR app, it’s the first truly self-hosted, open-source Personal Health Record (PHR) aggregator designed for real people, families, and everyday users. It’s not a cloud service. No third-party data mining. No subscriptions. You own your data, completely.
In the nutshell it is:
- Self-hosted & offline-first: your health records stay on your server, never leave your control
- Aggregates from 100,000+ clinics, labs, hospitals, and insurers, yes, including dental, vision, and medical
- Automatically pulls EMRs via secure integrations, no more scanning or OCRing paper documents
- Built for families, track multiple members’ records in one dashboard
- Open source under MIT license, transparent, auditable, community-driven
And unlike most PHR apps that haven’t changed in years, Fasten is built with modern tech: React, TypeScript, Node.js, and Docker, easy to install, fast to set up, and scalable. Whether you're a parent managing your kids’ vaccines, someone tracking chronic conditions, or a caregiver supporting aging parents, Fasten gives you clarity, control, and peace of mind.
It’s not just about data. It’s about trust. In a world where health data is commodified, Fasten puts you back in charge.
Features
- Self-hosted & private: Your health data stays on your server, never leaves your control
- Built for families: Track medical records for multiple people in one place
- Strong and secure developer-friendly API.
- User-friendly interface!
- Auto-syncs from 25,000+ providers: Pull real EMRs directly from clinics, labs, and insurers
- OAuth2 + Smart-on-FHIR: Secure login without passwords, no data stored
- Offline access: Works even when you’re not online
- Extensible & open-source: Transparent code, community-driven, MIT license
- Single dashboard: See all health data in one view: meds, tests, allergies, appointments
- Future-ready features: Coming soon: condition dashboards, vaccination tracking, AI chat
- Easy to install and setup with Docker!
License
The project is released as an open-source project under the GPL-3.0 License.
Resources & Downloads
fastenhealth
If you haven’t started your PHR yet, now’s the time. Your health story deserves to be heard.
Looking for other solutions!
Hazem Abbas
