ABSTRACT
This chapter overviews the existing universe of consumer health apps, including their content domains and functions, and presents several approaches to classifying apps in order to think about their development and evaluation systematically. It discusses the practical challenges of findings good health apps, related to difficulty of searching app stores and doctors' limited familiarity with apps and reluctance to recommend them. The chapter focuses on unpacking different aspects of app quality and functionality, and the challenges of evaluating these qualities. However, analyzing the ways in which different apps with comparable functionalities fit into users' lifestyles can present an interesting case study of different responsiveness to users' needs. Important aspects of quality that should be considered in apps development and selection involve accuracy of their information, usability, fit to users' needs, potential users' and health professionals' involvement in their design, fit to theory of health behavior, clinical effectiveness, and data privacy and security.
