The DOI matches its Crossref record; 11 of the 11 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Health App Use Among US Mobile Phone Owners: A National Survey
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Mobile phone health apps may now seem to be ubiquitous, yet much remains unknown with regard to their usage. Information is limited with regard to important metrics, including the percentage of the population that uses health apps, reasons for adoption/nonadoption, and reasons for noncontinuance of use. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine health app use among mobile phone owners in the United States. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1604 mobile phone users throughout the United States. The 36-item survey assessed sociodemographic characteristics, history of and reasons for health app use/nonuse, perceived effectiveness of health apps, reasons for stopping use, and general health status. RESULTS: A little over half (934/1604, 58.23%) of mobile phone users had downloaded a health-related mobile app. Fitness and nutrition were the most common categories of health apps used, with most respondents using them at least daily. Common reasons for not having downloaded apps were lack of interest, cost, and concern about apps collecting their data. Individuals more likely to use health apps tended to be younger, have higher incomes, be more educated, be Latino/Hispanic, and have a body mass index (BMI) in the obese range (all P<.05). Cost was a significant concern among respondents, with a large proportion indicating that they would not pay anything for a health app. Interestingly, among those who had downloaded health apps, trust in their accuracy and data safety was quite high, and most felt that the apps had improved their health. About half of the respondents (427/934, 45.7%) had stopped using some health apps, primarily due to high data entry burden, loss of interest, and hidden costs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that while many individuals use health apps, a substantial proportion of the population does not, and that even among those who use health apps, many stop using them. These data suggest that app developers need to better address consumer concerns, such as cost and high data entry burden, and that clinical trials are necessary to test the efficacy of health apps to broaden their appeal and adoption.
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In the citing paper
“Strengths include the addition of measures, such as the Flesch-Kincaid metrics and the IMS, which have not been employed in previous app reviews [16,21,22].”
From Patient-facing cancer mobile apps that enable patient reported outcome data to be collected: A systematic review of content, functionality, quality, and ability to integrate with electronic health records (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“One study revealed that around half of all mHealth app users stop engaging for various reasons, including loss of interest [14].”
From Usability of Mobile Health Apps for Postoperative Care: Systematic Review (2020) · cites this paper as [14]
In the citing paper
“The widespread use of smartphones makes app-based intervention delivery a viable and scalable medium.”
From A Therapeutic Relational Agent for Reducing Problematic Substance Use (Woebot): Development and Usability Study (2021) · cites this paper as [10]
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Cites
A General Inductive Approach for Analyzing Qualitative Evaluation Data
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Mobile medical and health apps: state of the art, concerns, regulatory control and certification
Kamel Boulos, M. N., Brewer, A. C., Karimkhani, C., Buller, D. B., & Dellavalle, R. P. (2014) · Online Journal of Public Health Informatics · doi:10.5210/ojphi.v5i3.4814 · Cited by 659
Arnhold, M., Quade, M., & Kirch, W. (2014) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.2968 · Cited by 446
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Chuah, S. H., Rauschnabel, P. A., Krey, N., Nguyen, B., Ramayah, T., & Lade, S. (2016) · Rowan Digitals Works (Rowan University) · Cited by 213
Knight, E., Stuckey, M. I., Prapavessis, H., & Petrella, R. J. (2015) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.4003 · Cited by 112
Smartphone Medical Applications for Women’s Health: What Is the Evidence-Base and Feedback?
Derbyshire, E. J., & Dancey, D. (2013) · International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications · doi:10.1155/2013/782074 · Cited by 99
Smartphones and Pediatric Apps to Mobilize the Medical Home
Singh, A., Wilkinson, S., & Braganza, S. F. (2014) · The Journal of Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.05.037 · Cited by 61
Using MapMyFitness to Place Physical Activity into Neighborhood Context
Hirsch, J. A., James, P., Robinson, J. R. M., Eastman, K. M., Conley, K. D., Evenson, K. R., & Laden, F. (2014) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2014.00019 · Cited by 39
High Quantity But Limited Quality in Healthcare Applications Intended for HIV-Infected Patients
Cortés, M. D. L. A. R., Cuenca, M. R. C., Verdugo, R. M., & Cidoncha, E. C. (2014) · Telemedicine Journal and e-Health · doi:10.1089/tmj.2013.0262 · Cited by 26
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Torous, J., Nicholas, J., Larsen, M. E., Firth, J., & Christensen, H. (2018) · Evidence Based Mental Health · doi:10.1136/eb-2018-102891 · Cited by 790
The mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ): Development and Validation Study
Zhou, L., Bao, J., Setiawan, I. M. A., Saptono, A., & Parmanto, B. (2019) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/11500 · Cited by 675
Shcherbina, A., Mattsson, C., Waggott, D., Salisbury, H., Christle, J., Hastie, T., Wheeler, M., & Ashley, E. (2017) · Journal of Personalized Medicine · doi:10.3390/jpm7020003 · Cited by 625
Torous, J., Lipschitz, J., Ng, M., & Firth, J. (2020) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.167 · Cited by 546
Mobile Health Apps to Facilitate Self-Care: A Qualitative Study of User Experiences
Anderson, K., Burford, O., & Emmerton, L. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156164 · Cited by 502
Metadata
- Authors
- Krebs, P., & Duncan, D. T.
- Affiliations
- VA NY Harbor Healthcare System (US)
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Krebs, Paul
- Venue
- JMIR mHealth and uHealth
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2015-11-04
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e101
- ISSN
- 2291-5222 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4704953
- OpenAlex
- W2126335261
- Cited by
- 1,274
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 47 · 2025: 98 · 2024: 101 · 2023: 128 · 2022: 127 · 2021: 156 · 2020: 211 · 2019: 140 · 2018: 151 · 2017: 85 · 2016: 28
- FWCI
- 160.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMIR mhealth and uhealth (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Verizon Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Health, Technology, Consumer Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- health apps, mobile health, app adoption, fitness apps, nutrition apps, data privacy concerns, app cost, obesity
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