The Most Popular Commercial Weight Management Apps in the Chinese App Store: Analysis of Quality, Features, and Behavior Change Techniques.
Lan GengGenyan JiangLingling YuYueming XuWei HuangZhiqi ChenXiaoyan QiTing ZhangMei ZhaoPublished in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth (2023)
The study found that the overall quality of weight management apps in China is moderate, with a particular weakness in the quality of information provided. The most prevalent BCTs in these apps were reviewing behavioral goals, providing guidance, self-monitoring of behavior, goal setting, and offering performance feedback. The most common features were the need for web access, monitoring and tracking, goal setting, and sending alerts. Notably, higher-quality weight management apps in China tended to incorporate more BCTs and features. These findings can be valuable for developers looking to improve weight management apps and enhance their potential to drive behavioral change in weight management.