AHA ACLS

Review by eFreeware

AHA ACLS is a medical reference app built for clinicians who run codes and deliver bedside advanced cardiac life support. It comes from Massachusetts General Hospital IS, and it carries the endorsement of the American Heart Association; the developer describes it as the product of work with Harvard-trained physicians, starting as an internal tool at Mass General before expanding to a wider audience. The reason to consider it is simple enough: it gathers the algorithms, drug dosing and event timing that a resuscitation team needs into one place on a phone.

The app targets the clinicians who actually stand at the bedside during an arrest: doctors, nurses, PAs, NPs and EMTs. That is a narrower audience than most medical apps serve, and the developer treats it that way. The app is built for use at the point of care rather than for study or exam preparation.

It has been on Google Play since March 2021 and has passed 50,000 installs, with a 3.5 average from 186 ratings. The download is free, and the developer sells an annual subscription at $2.99 with a three-day free trial.

The algorithm set at the center of the app

The core of AHA ACLS is a set of four algorithms: cardiac arrest, tachycardia with a pulse, bradycardia with a pulse, and post cardiac arrest care. The developer's emphasis is on reaching them quickly, which makes sense for a tool that is meant to be opened mid-resuscitation rather than browsed at leisure.

Content runs beyond the algorithm flowcharts. The app includes drug therapy with dosing and the reversible causes that teams are expected to work through during an arrest. For a clinician who already knows the material, having it laid out in a structured form is the point; for someone in training, it is a way to follow the same structure the team is using.

Once ROSC is reached, the cardiac arrest algorithm offers a shortcut to post cardiac arrest care. That transition is easy to fumble when attention is split between a monitor, a patient and a team, so having it built into the flow is a sensible piece of design.

The developer says all content is vetted by the AHA science team and by practicing Harvard-affiliated physicians, and that the app reflects the 2020 release of AHA recommendations for ACLS. It is also described as regularly updated to keep the clinical content current.

Timers, logging and the ROSC handoff

Around the algorithms sits a timing and logging layer. The app provides timers and lets the user log rounds of CPR, doses of epinephrine and defibrillations as they happen. In a real arrest, those intervals drive decisions, and writing them down after the fact is unreliable.

The latest update brought Pause and Resume CPR buttons, which the developer says improve chest compression fraction calculation. That figure now shows in the Logs section, under total CPR time and total pause time. That is a meaningful addition for anyone who reviews a code afterward or takes part in quality improvement work.

The same update introduced haptic prompts during cardiac arrest, with a setting to switch them on or off, and a choice of epinephrine reminder interval at three, four or five minutes. The update also includes performance improvements. The choice of interval matters because protocols and local practice vary, and a fixed reminder would not fit every team.

What the app asks of you

Unlimited access to all content requires an active subscription, so the free download is a way in rather than a complete free tool.

The subscription renews automatically unless it is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and the charge goes to the card linked to the Google account used for the purchase. Management and cancelation happen through Google's subscription settings, and any unused part of the trial is forfeited when a subscription is bought.

The practical requirement is the one implied by the whole design: this is a point-of-care tool, so it assumes the user is a clinician who already understands ACLS and needs the protocol, the doses and the clock in front of them. It is positioned for clinicians at every stage of training, but the content is written for people delivering care, not for lay readers.

Getting value out of it on shift

The sensible way to approach AHA ACLS is to settle the settings before a code rather than during one. Choosing the epinephrine reminder interval and deciding whether haptic prompts help or distract are both decisions best made calmly, and both live in the settings the recent update added.

During an arrest, the app's value comes from speed of access: four algorithms, the arrest pathway with its ROSC handoff, and timers that let one team member own the clock. Assigning the logging to a specific person — often someone not doing compressions — is the pattern the design seems to assume, since the Pause and Resume buttons and the epi logging all depend on someone pressing them at the right moment.

Afterward, the Logs section becomes the useful part. Total CPR time, total pause time and the calculated chest compression fraction give a team something concrete to discuss in a debrief or a quality review, which is where an app like this can quietly earn its subscription.

Anyone using it mainly for training should treat it as a companion to a course rather than a substitute, since it presents the protocols and doses without teaching the reasoning behind them.

A narrow tool with a clear job

The case for AHA ACLS rests on its provenance and its focus. For a clinician who wants an endorsed reference rather than a general medical app, that combination is the appeal.

The limits are equally clear. It covers four ACLS algorithms and the material around them, and it is priced as a subscription rather than a one-off purchase. The 3.5 average from 186 ratings suggests a mixed reception among those who have tried it, and the developer's own framing — real-time clinician feedback driving ongoing changes — reads as an acknowledgment that the app is still being refined.

None of that undermines the core proposition. It is a focused instrument for a high-stakes moment, and the recent additions around compression fraction and epinephrine timing show where the developer's attention is going.

A strong pick for clinicians who run codes

The annual price of $2.99 is low enough that the decision turns on fit rather than budget, and the three-day trial gives a chance to see whether the layout suits how you work.

If your need is exam preparation or general cardiology reference, the app's scope — four algorithms and the clinical content around them — will feel narrower than you want. If you run codes and want the clock, the doses and the pathways in front of you, this is built for exactly that.

Treated as a bedside aid from a credible source, it is a reasonable addition to a clinician's phone.

What's new in version 3.4.0

1. New haptic feature to prompt actions during Cardiac Arrest 2. Settings option to turn off/on haptic feature, as well as choosing reminder for Epi dose timing (3 vs 4 vs. 5 min) 3. New Pause and Resume CPR buttons to enable better calculation of chest compression fraction (CCF) 4. In Logs, calculated CCF now appears at the bottom after “Total CPR time" and “Total Pause time" 5. Performance improvements