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12:00 AM - NextGen UGM 2025
Pathology Visions 2025
2025-10-05 - 2025-10-07    
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Elevate Patient Care: Discover the Power of DP & AI Pathology Visions unites 800+ digital pathology experts and peers tackling today's challenges and shaping tomorrow's [...]
AHIMA25  Conference
2025-10-12 - 2025-10-14    
9:00 am - 10:00 pm
Register for AHIMA25  Conference Today! HI professionals—Minneapolis is calling! Join us October 12-14 for AHIMA25 Conference, the must-attend HI event of the year. In a city known for its booming [...]
Federal EHR Annual Summit
2025-10-21 - 2025-10-23    
9:00 am - 10:00 pm
The Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) office brings together clinical staff from the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security’s [...]
NextGen UGM 2025
2025-11-02 - 2025-11-05    
12:00 am
NextGen UGM 2025 is set to take place in Nashville, TN, from November 2 to 5 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. This [...]
Events on 2025-10-05
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AHIMA25  Conference
12 Oct 25
Minnesota
Events on 2025-10-21
Events on 2025-11-02
NextGen UGM 2025
2 Nov 25
TN

Events

Articles

Oct 31: The Long List Of Health Apps Features Few Clear Winners

Here at Shots we get all kinds of pitches about the latest smartphone app that promises a profound improvement in our health. But truth be told, Candy Crush gets a lot more exercise than all those medical apps we’ve downloaded. And it turns out we’re not alone.

Most of the 16,257 legit health apps aren’t used much, with half of all Android health apps downloaded fewer than 500 times, according to a from the IMS Institute for Health Informatics. The analysis excluded apps aimed at physicians and other health care providers.

The most popular apps are lifestyle apps — calorie counters and exercise trackers like . Just 159 of the apps use sensors to measure a person’s health status, the report concludes. And most of those are exercise tools, like heart rate monitors.

Another problem: Most health apps don’t do much. They’re little more than digital dictionaries. Only about 2,000 apps let users enter data to do things like track their health.

And fewer than 2,000 apps dealt with specific a health issue like diabetes or anxiety. Mental health was the most popular topic, with 558 apps.

There are opportunities aplenty for creating tools to help patients manage chronic diseases and other more sophisticated apps, the report says. But there are challenges, too. One of them is demographic. The biggest consumers of health care are over 65, and they’re the least likely to have a smartphone.

In September, the Food and Drug Administration issued for medical app makers, which should make it easier to know which apps are medical devices that need FDA approval, and which are good to go without.

“Physicians can see the potential benefits of mobile healthcare apps but remain wary of formally recommending apps to patients without evidence of their benefit,” the report says. Privacy and data security is a looming issue, too.

Until those issues are addressed, the report suggests, we’ll be waiting for the Candy Crush of health apps.

 

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