Farr-Wharton, Geremy

Fatehi, Farhad

Ireland, David

Karunanithi, Mohan

Ly Tong, Huong

Wade, Victoria

University of Queensland eSpace

Page 24 
What Users Like and Dislike About Mobile Apps for Diabetes:  a Qualitative Analysis of 
5964 Reviews on 57 Android Mobile Apps 
Farhad FATEHI1, Geremy FARR-WHARTON2, Huong LY TONG3, David IRELAND2, Victoria WADE4, Mohan 
KARUNANITHI2 
1. The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia 
2. CSIRO, Canberra, Australia 
3. Australian Institute of Health Innovation, New South Wales, Australia 
4. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia 
 
Aim 
Diabetes is the leading target for mobile health app developers. Despite rapid advancement in mobile technology 
and vast proliferation of mobile apps, the uptake of mobile health apps remains low. To identify the potential 
reasons for low uptake of diabetes apps, we explored user reviews of the apps to investigate end-user experiences 
and understand what users benefited from mobile apps and where their concerns laid. The aim of our study was to 
determine the strengths and weaknesses of currently available Android mobile apps for diabetes from the users’ 
perspective in order to produce key design and feature considerations for future diabetes apps.  
 
Method 
We searched the Google Play store for diabetes-related applications and retrieved their metadata including all 
available reviews left by the users for each app. A total number of 5964 user reviews from 57 apps were 
downloaded and exported to NVivo ™ software. We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of the reviews using 
grounded theory methodology.    
 
Results 
Six main themes emerged through qualitative analysis of the users’ feedback for the diabetes-related Android 
apps: 1) User self-administered care management; 2) User data storage, sharing and privacy considerations; 3) 
App customisation, accessibility and user interface design; 4) Associated app costs; 5) Data augmentation; 6) 
Technical support and user feedback. Under each theme, several key design and feature considerations emerged 
that are fundamental to the success of future diabetes apps.  
 
Conclusion 
The results of this study revealed the most important features of diabetes-related mobile apps from the users’ 
perspective. While a number of these features are specific to diabetes management, several features can be 
equally regarded as important in other chronic diseases. This will inform app developers on how to create and 
improve their apps and lead to higher uptake of mobile health apps. 
 
Correspondence: 
Farhad Fatehi 
The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia 
f.fatehi@uq.edu.au 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


What users like and dislike about mobile apps for diabetes: a qualitative analysis of 5964 reviews on 57 Android mobile apps

https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:ea744ff/Fatehi_2018_What_Users_Like.pdf

What users like and dislike about mobile apps for diabetes: a qualitative analysis of 5964 reviews on 57 Android mobile apps

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