Telehealth by SimplePractice

Telehealth by SimplePractice Review: Easy to Join, Thinner Than the Browser

One link per session and $0 for clients: how joining works

Clients pay nothing, and neither store lists ads or in-app purchases; session fees come from your practice, so confirm cost and insurance coverage with its office. Reminders can go out 24, 48 or 72 hours ahead and again about 10 minutes before the start, each with a unique link that stops working when the session ends. The first launch asks you to pick "I am a Clinician" or "I am a Client", previews your camera and connection, and, if the practice uses a waiting room, holds you there until you are admitted. Doxy.me says its patients join from any device without a download, while Teladoc Health and Doctor On Demand book you with their own clinicians; this app only reaches practices already on SimplePractice.

Screen share, whiteboard, captions: what the phone app leaves out

SimplePractice's help pages list what the phone app drops. Clients can share a screen only from a computer or an iPad, so a phone user can watch a worksheet but not show one. A shared whiteboard appears on a phone, yet drawing, typing and stickers need a computer. Live captions run only in web browsers, where a client sees one minute of text at a time, and the session timer is missing from the app. What stays: raise hand, plus camera flip, hidden self-view and a Reduce background noise toggle under the gear icon. Chat typed during the call is deleted when the appointment ends. On mobile data, SimplePractice estimates 2 to 20 MB per minute.

Data safety, Apple's label and the June 17, 2026 transcript default

Google Play's Data safety form lists only app interactions and crash logs as collected, with no third-party sharing, encryption in transit and deletion on request. Apple's label links a user ID, device ID, product interaction and diagnostics to you, with nothing marked for tracking. On the clinician's side, Note Taker, a $35-a-month add-on, turns call audio into a transcript, deletes the audio and keeps the text up to 7 days; only the clinician sees its Record audio button. Clinicians enabling it from June 17, 2026 have de-identified transcripts retained by default unless they opt out, and retained copies cannot be deleted. ClearHealthCosts (Jeanne Pinder, July 7, 2026) reported therapist objections. Ask your clinician whether Note Taker runs in your sessions.

42 of 199 recent Play reviews: drops, links and Bluetooth

Reliability is the weak spot on Android. Of the 199 newest English reviews on Google Play, posted August 31 to September 30, 2026, 42 give one or two stars; about half of those describe freezing, lag, lost audio or dropped calls, and three say text-message links fail where email links work. In 12 of the 199, some rated four or five stars, switching to another app mid-call, often a calendar to book the next visit, drops or interrupts the session. Bluetooth audio comes up in 19 of the 199 reviews Google ranks most relevant, from 2020 to July 2026. Even the help center disagrees on phone minimums: iOS 13 and Android 10 on one page, iOS 15 and Android 14 on another.