Table 1.
App features and characteristics.
| App feature or characteristic | Description of feature or characteristic | Relevant construct(s) & principle(s) |
| Export of Data | Feature that allows the user to communicate or send information/ data to a health care provider (eg, email and EHR/PHR) | Relatedness (care team collaboration and support) |
| Gamification | Feature that offers points, badges, or movement through levels as a health objective is achieved or the more a patient is engaged (see Figure 1) | Autonomy (extrinsic motivation, engagement) |
| General education | Feature that provides basic educational material about a disease/condition, including causes, treatment, or management | Autonomy (intrinsic motivation); competence (knowledge) |
| Plan or orders | Feature that provides a plan of action for reaching target goal, including specific, executable steps to guide the process (see Figure 2) | Competence [actionable insights]; Autonomy [goal-setting] |
| Reminder | Feature that prompts the user to partake in a specific behavior through the use of a predetermined alert (see Figure 3) | Competence [cue to action] |
| Community forum | Feature that functions as a message board or chat room and allows likeminded individuals, whether patients with similar health conditions or their caregivers, the opportunity to share questions and experiences | Relatedness (social support, social norms); autonomy (acknowledging individual perspectives) |
| Social media |
Feature that connects the user to Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms, thereby allowing the user to communicate progress with family, friends, colleagues, or others with ties to the user | Relatedness (social support, contextualization) |
| Addresses symptoms | Feature that addresses and assists in managing a disease that is associated with pain or other noticeable symptom(s) | Competence (educate, inform); autonomy (self-monitoring) |
| Tailored education | Feature that offers patient-specific education tailored to a person’s needs, interests and usage depending on his/her stage or progression of disease (eg, week of pregnancy) | Relatedness (personalization); competence (knowledge, skill development) |
| Tracker | Feature that allows for self-monitoring by recording information in order to modify personal attitudes or behaviors to achieve a predetermined goal or outcome (see Figure 4) | Autonomy (self-monitoring, self-regulation) |
| Cost | Identification of cost of the app (free, upfront payment, and/or in-app purchases) | N/A |
| Usability | Identification of satisfactory usability based on compliance with five interface design heuristics | Nielsen’s usability heuristics for user interface design |