Best Anatomy App

Methodology: the 2 major application stores (App Store and Google Play) were searched for smartphone applications specifically targeted to anatomy using the terms anatomy, anatomy atlas, radiology. We tested each application and made a short list of top anatomy resources, including their pros and cons, helping you improve your anatomy knowledge. Criteria were chosen to evaluate:

Best apps to improve human anatomy knowledge

Understanding anatomy has always been fundamental to diagnosing patients and practicing health and medicine. However, learning anatomy is really challenging. These apps will make it easier to visualize human anatomy and therefore improve your anatomy knowledge base.
If you are a medical student or a healthcare professional, you know exactly how important it is to have an accurate, reliable and easy-to-use reference tool on hand.
This article provides a list of apps that cover human anatomy.

Comparative table: top anatomy apps

Methodology: the 2 major application stores (App Store and Google Play) were searched for smartphone applications specifically targeted to anatomy using the terms anatomy, anatomy atlas, radiology. We tested each application and made a short list of top anatomy resources, including their pros and cons, helping you improve your anatomy knowledge. Criteria were chosen to evaluate:

• Content wealth and exhaustiveness (medical images, labels and languages)
• Accuracy and endorsement by the number of citations in scientific literature

As of November 21:

e-Anatomy	Human anatomy atlas 2021	Complete anatomy	Anatomyka – 3D Human Anatomy Atlas	BioDigital Human – 3D Anatomy	Master in MRI	doRadiology
Developer	IMAIOS	Visible body	3D4Medical from Elsevier	Woodoo Art	BioDigital	Dock Code	BestApps
Platform	Android / iOS	Android / iOS	Android / iOS	Android / iOS	Android / iOS	Android	iOS
Number of images	23,335	3D mainly	3D mainly	n/a	n/a	700	n/k
CT	12,610	18	95	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/k
MR	6,757	7	16	n/a	n/a	529	n/k
CR	909	–	10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/k
Other	3,059	–	19	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/k
Unique labeled anatomical parts	8,928	6,000	–	n/a	8,000	n/k	n/k
Landmarks	870,000	271	–	4,500 (skeletal system)	n/a	n/k	n/k
Number of citations – scientific publications*	19	20	3	1	12	0	1
Languages	12. English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Polish and Korean (including Latin Terminologia Anatomica)	7. English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese	3. English, Spanish and Chinese	1. English, Czech, Polish, Italian	8. English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Simplified Chinese and Japanese	1. English	1. English
Individual subscription price	$12.99/month $89.99/year	$24.99/year	Student License – $74.99/y Pro License – $99.99 /y	1 month 2,99€ 6 months 10,99€ 12 months 17,99€ Lifetime – 34,99 €	$19.99/year	Free	– Head and Neck Anatomy 8,99€ – CRC Staging Atlas 19,99€ – Aortic Imaging 19,99€ – Imaging in Stroke 19,99€ – Clinical Anatomy 19,99€ – Thoracic Imaging 34,99€ – Abdomen Dynamic 44,99€

* Number of citations (using Google Scholar) in articles and books (excluding websites) and related to anatomy or to the learning of anatomy and radiology (excluding pathology and case report) since 2015

Which human anatomy resources would be most useful to you?

All those apps have a complementary role in improving anatomy knowledge: 3D anatomy apps such as Visible Body, Complete anatomy, BioDigital… can be helpful to gain a deeper understanding of the human anatomy and spatial relationship between structures. Master in MRI focuses on the MR modality and gives the basis. For its part, doRadiology is a good assistant for radiology, however it’s not comprehensive, it doesn’t cover the whole body.
e-Anatomy is one of the most comprehensive online resources regarding anatomy and medical imaging.
The best resource should be the best suited to your needs or a combination of various resources considering your needs for accuracy and medical images.

Read below for more details about these applications.

Anatomy is crucial in radiology

Radiology is in many ways applied anatomy. First you have to learn what normal – and the variations of normal – looks like so you can identify when something is wrong.
Learning anatomy requires an awareness of spatial relationships between adjacent structures, as well as recalling the names and locations of these structures. Students can use a three-dimensional mental image to assess clinical examination data, understand radiological investigations, and enhance surgical skills.

It is, however, not that simple to learn while practicing! Indeed, radioanatomy is so complicated and extensive that expecting radiologists and radiology residents to remember everything by heart would be absurd. Furthermore, we can now see so many features on medical scans such as CT or MR images that finding an anatomical reference that is exact enough is tough.

More information on selected anatomy atlases apps

e-Anatomy:

e-Anatomy is an interactive human anatomy atlas that combines medical imaging (CT, MRI, Radio), more than 8,900 anatomic structures and 870,000 landmarks, and comes with a quiz function with easy self-assessment. It is trusted by radiologists, students and medical imaging professionals.
⊕ invaluable resource for reviewing anatomy and cross-referencing slides with case studies
⊕ contains valuable graphical content, particularly from a medical imaging standpoint
⊕ images are of high quality and can be easily manipulated
⊕ scientific reference
⊝ may be difficult to sort through all the data that is presented at times

Visible Body:

Visible Body creates educational 3D medical apps that help better understand human anatomy and physiology.
⊕ high-quality medical illustrations come to life with 3D functionality
⊕ normal and pathological anatomy and physiology
⊝ lack of radiology images, limited quizzing options and minimal labeling
⊝ 3D modeling sometimes inaccurate for small or intricate anatomical parts, which may not satisfy healthcare professionals in the medical imaging practice

Complete Anatomy:

Complete anatomy has been developed by 3d4medical software and is based on Gray’s Anatomy. It also provides 3-Dimensional interactive anatomy models.
⊕ a radiology module enables users to view radiological images in parallel with interactive 3D models
⊕ 3 day free trial
⊝ the radiology labels are not comprehensive as the images do not show all the anatomical structures
⊝ structures can be hard to locate as the way the labels are displayed is crowded

Anatomyka:

Anatomyka lets you explore the general anatomy through a 3D human anatomy atlas, the entire skeletal system, with over 4,500 landmarks on display. It also offers features such as learning mode, label creation.
⊕ the basics of anatomy are introduced in a didactic and rather intuitive way
⊝ the structure needs to be isolated in order to display the landmarks

BioDigital:

BioDigital is a 3D virtual model of the human body. It includes interactive 3D anatomy, physiology, conditions, and treatments.
⊕ you can choose a level of detail from gross anatomy to molecular
⊝ the classification by specialty can be limiting because not all the information is in one place and the content is therefore fragmented

Master in MRI:

MasterinMRI is intended to help all MRI technicians, radiologists and doctors. It includes information about planning, MRI positioning and protocols as well as anatomy.
⊕ very didactic (animated diagrams, varied information for technicians and students. )
⊕ imaging with the 3 planes (cross-sectional), cases with the main pathologies, sequence presentations
⊝ quite basic, rather adapted to learning the basics of radioanatomy
⊝ poor image quality

doRadiology:

doRadiology is an interactive radiology app for iPhone and iPad developed by doctors. 12 different products are available, each with a different price.
⊕ very interesting features regarding radiology: interactive aspect with dynamic search, numerous interactive links
⊝ not exhaustive for the whole body as it is divided in different apps (one for head and neck, other for aortic imaging. )
⊝ apps content is quite heterogeneous: some are on clinical cases, others on healthy subjects and finally, the presentation differs from one app to another
⊝ available only in English

These articles might interest you:

Anatomy and Physiology: Apps

The resources on this page are examples of tools that students, faculty, and staff in the health sciences may find useful. Some may require that you create and/or pay for an account. The Library and ISU do not offer institutional subscriptions to these resources unless otherwise noted.

Sources for More Apps

Anatomy Apps

The student plan for this app includes comprehensive 3D models, interactive learning, virtual dissection, a library of videos, and interactive radiology images.

Teach Me Anatomy is a comprehensive, easy to read anatomy reference. Each topic combines anatomical knowledge with high-yield medical and clinical insights, seamlessly bridging the gap between scholarly learning and improved patient care.

This is free application to learn about human anatomy. (Available only for Android)

Dentistry Apps

Dental Dictionary by Farlex gives you free, instant access to more than 55,000 dental terms and thousands of audio pronunciations and images, all from authoritative sources, including McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, Dorland’s, Gale, and more.

This real-time 3D medical education and patient communication tool, featuring incredibly detailed anatomical models of the human dental anatomy.

Evidence Based Practice Supporting Apps

ACP develops three different types of clinical recommendations: Clinical Practice Guidelines, Clinical Guidance Statements, and Best Practice Advice.

The Prevention TaskForce (formerly ePSS) application assists primary care clinicians to identify the screening, counseling, and preventive medication services that are appropriate for their patients.

When you face a challenging clinical question or need to confirm your approach, you can turn to UpToDate for trusted answers based on the latest evidence and best practice.

Productivity Apps

Can’t stop scrolling? Have trouble focusing? Forest is the cutest focus timer to help you stay focused and boost productivity!

Focus To-Do is an easy-to-use time and task management application that helps you to manage tasks anywhere and anytime, and helps you to perform tasks efficiently.

Apps for Relaxation and Meditation

Our wellness and sleep therapy sessions offer guided mindfulness and meditation, daily motivation, guided sleep sessions and coaching by world-renowned experts, personalized for the way you live your life. We’ll help you feel less stressed, get better sleep and be your best self whether you have 5 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes during your commute or need to fall asleep quickly.

The number 1 free meditation app. Guided meditations, sleep music tracks and talks led by the top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists and teachers from Stanford, Harvard, the University of Oxford and more. Music tracks from world-renowned artists. Join millions learning to meditate on Insight Timer to help calm the mind, reduce anxiety, manage stress, and sleep deeply.