Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec 9;22(12):e23170.
doi: 10.2196/23170.

COVID-19 Mobile Apps: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Haridimos Kondylakis #  1 , Dimitrios G Katehakis #  2 , Angelina Kouroubali #  1 , Fokion Logothetidis #  2 , Andreas Triantafyllidis #  3 , Ilias Kalamaras #  3 , Konstantinos Votis #  3 , Dimitrios Tzovaras #  3
Affiliations

COVID-19 Mobile Apps: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Haridimos Kondylakis et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: A vast amount of mobile apps have been developed during the past few months in an attempt to "flatten the curve" of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

Objective: This systematic review aims to shed light into studies found in the scientific literature that have used and evaluated mobile apps for the prevention, management, treatment, or follow-up of COVID-19.

Methods: We searched the bibliographic databases Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease, PubMed, and Scopus to identify papers focusing on mobile apps for COVID-19 that show evidence of their real-life use and have been developed involving clinical professionals in their design or validation.

Results: Mobile apps have been implemented for training, information sharing, risk assessment, self-management of symptoms, contact tracing, home monitoring, and decision making, rapidly offering effective and usable tools for managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions: Mobile apps are considered to be a valuable tool for citizens, health professionals, and decision makers in facing critical challenges imposed by the pandemic, such as reducing the burden on hospitals, providing access to credible information, tracking the symptoms and mental health of individuals, and discovering new predictors.

Keywords: COVID-19; eHealth; mobile apps; mobile health; systematic survey.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flow diagram. WHO: World Health Organization.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): situation report – 78. World Health Organization. 2020. Apr 07, [2020-07-01]. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/2....
    1. Mahmood S, Hasan K, Colder Carras M, Labrique A. Global preparedness against COVID-19: we must leverage the power of digital health. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020 Apr 16;6(2):e18980. doi: 10.2196/18980. https://publichealth.jmir.org/2020/2/e18980/ - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Triantafyllidis A, Kondylakis H, Votis K, Tzovaras D, Maglaveras N, Rahimi K. Features, outcomes, and challenges in mobile health interventions for patients living with chronic diseases: A review of systematic reviews. Int J Med Inform. 2019 Dec;132:103984. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.103984. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kouroubali A, Koumakis L, Kondylakis H, Katehakis DG. An integrated approach towards developing quality mobile health apps for cancer. In: Moumtzoglou A, editor. Mobile Health Applications for Quality Healthcare Delivery. Hershey, PA: IGI Global; 2019. pp. 46–71.
    1. Smith AC, Thomas E, Snoswell CL, Haydon H, Mehrotra A, Clemensen J, Caffery LJ. Telehealth for global emergencies: implications for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) J Telemed Telecare. 2020 Jun;26(5):309–313. doi: 10.1177/1357633X20916567. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1357633X20916567?url_ver=Z39.88... - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types