Mindfulness-based mobile applications: literature review and analysis of current features.
JMIR mHealth and uHealth November 1, 2013 Inmaculada Plaza, Marcelo Marcos Piva Demarzo, Paola Herrera-Mercadal et al.
Interest in mindfulness has grown rapidly, especially in psychology and medicine, where mindfulness-based therapies show effectiveness for chronic diseases. Mobile applications for health promotion are also increasingly popular, but research on mindfulness-based mobile applications (MBMAs) is scarce. This study reviewed features of 50 MBMAs from online markets and 11 relevant literature items. Of the apps, 59% focused on daily meditation practice, 13% on mindfulness training, and 11% on assessments. Common features included reminders (19.4%), statistics tools (15.7%), and audio tracks (13.9%). Only 37% provided statistics or reports, and 28% allowed social network access. No evaluations of health outcomes from MBMAs were found, and no randomized clinical trials assessed their impact on mindfulness training or health indicators.