This is the install-this-week version: the free tools that earn a place on a new FY1's phone before the first shift, one per job, no filler. The comprehensive category-by-category map, wellbeing, pay, communities and all, lives at /blog/best-free-resources-fy1-doctors-uk; this page is the starter pack.
The eight to set up first
MicroGuide (or your trust's equivalent): the local antimicrobial guidance, which is the law your prescriptions answer to; download your trust's guide before day one. Your trust induction app or handbook: escalation numbers, bleep policies, where things are; unglamorous, constantly used. askiatroX: clinical questions answered in natural language with citations resolving directly into NICE, CKS, SIGN and SmPC sources, free, the thirty-second route to the guideline with the trail attached, which is the habit worth building from question one. NICE CKS bookmarked: the canonical topic reference behind those citations, for when you want the whole picture. MDCalc or the iatroX calculator set: 80+ scores and calculations, because nothing scored is ever done in your head on a ward. The emc: summaries of product characteristics, the definitive licensed detail when the medicines question outgrows quick references. Mind the Bleep: the free FY1-specific project, practical guides written for exactly your week, from bleeps to payslips. Horus or Turas: your e-portfolio, activated now and fed weekly, because November-you will send thanks.
The strong seconds
Geeky Medics for skills and OSCE-style refreshers that stay useful on real wards; Life in the Fast Lane for ECGs, still the free standard; e-LFH for the mandated modules and foundation curriculum e-learning; Zero to Finals when a topic needs rebuilding from the ground; the iatroX free tier's question banks, notably the PSA bank, directly relevant to a brand-new prescriber, for turning quiet moments into retrieval practice with guideline-grounded explanations; and iatroX Rounds, the free daily diagnosis game, one case a day, name it in as few clues as you can, a two-minute reasoning habit with a streak attached.
What not to install in August
Anything paid, yet: the free ecosystem above covers the actual first-months needs, and paid tools earn their place around postgraduate exams, not before. Anything duplicating a job already covered: two medicines references and three question apps is clutter, not preparedness. And nothing you have not opened by September deserves October: prune monthly, and let the phone stay a toolkit rather than a museum. The organising principle behind all of this, one reliable tool per actual job, is unpacked at /blog/starting-fy1-2026-resources-on-my-phone.
Making the pack pay
Two habits turn the installs into an education. Cited answers, always: when a tool answers a clinical question, follow the citation once, so that verification becomes reflex rather than aspiration; it is the difference between using references and trusting them. And capture: the week's real questions, logged in one line each and closed properly, become next month's knowledge instead of next month's identical lookup, the loop, and its portfolio payoff, is at /blog/turn-first-year-doctor-into-cpd-portfolio-evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Is there anything here the trust will provide anyway?
Often MicroGuide access and always the induction materials; the point is having them installed and logged in before the first shift, not discovering mid-bleep that a password portal stands between you and the antimicrobial guide.
What single install matters most?
The local antimicrobial guide, by a distance, with the escalation numbers saved beside it. National elegance is optional on night one; local law is not.
When does paid software start making sense?
At the first postgraduate exam, when a curated adaptive bank with mocks earns its fee; until then, free is not a compromise, it is the correct kit.
Do I need anything specialty-specific for my first rotation?
Usually just the local layer: the specialty's trust guidelines and one reference habit for its common presentations, which the tools above already cover. Specialty-specific depth becomes worth adding when you know the rotation's actual gaps, week three, not week zero.
Websites or apps, where both exist?
Whichever opens faster on your phone under pressure, which is usually the app for the daily tools and the browser for the rest. Test once in airplane-mode-level haste; the answer becomes obvious.
What about note-taking and jobs-list apps?
Any tool you will actually use beats the perfect one you will not: the built-in notes app runs half the country's FY1 lists. The requirements are two-second capture and glanceable review; brand is irrelevant.
Anything worth setting up for wellbeing alongside the clinical kit?
Two saves and one join: Practitioner Health's details, the BMA wellbeing line, and the cohort group chat, all before they are needed rather than after. August optimism is exactly when to install February's supports.
How do I avoid the pack going stale by winter?
A monthly two-minute prune: delete what October never opened, and let real usage promote or demote the rest. The pack above is August's best guess; your December phone should reflect your December job, which is the whole discipline in one sentence.