Table 3.

The mHealth App Trustworthiness (mHAT) checklist.

Question		Yes	No	Not applicable	In progress	Comments
Informational content
Information accuracy	Does the app provide accurate measurements?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app inform end-users about errors in measurements?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app ensure that personalised data tailored to end-users are precise?	□	□	□	□
	Is the information on the app certified by an: in-house team? external third-party team?	□	□	□	□
	Is the information provided by the app backed by robust research?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app recommend regular updates to: fix bugs inherent within the app? amend app contents based on improved research?	□	□	□	□
Understandability	Is the app accompanied by clear end-user safety guidelines?	□	□	□	□
	Is the research-backed evidence used to create the app easy to locate and understand?	□	□	□	□
Transparency	Does the app highlight potential risks or side-effects resulting from its use?	□	□	□	□
	Are the ‘terms of service’ concise and easy to read?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app require only minimal personal data of end-users?*	□	□	□	□
	Are the privacy policies concise, clear and easy to understand?	□	□	□	□
Organizational attributes
Brand familiarity	Does the company have other reputable products or services to associate the app with?	□	□	□	□
Reputation	Does the company curating the app have clear policies on how to handle end-user data?	□	□	□	□
	Does the company make their data handling history and data breaches available to end-users?	□	□	□	□
	Is the app affiliated with a non-governmental organization or a reputable government agency?*	□	□	□	□
	Does the company value data protection regulations?	□	□	□	□
	Does the company utilise skilled personnel within the app development domain?	□	□	□	□
	Has the company developed similar apps in the past?
Societal influences
Recommendations	Can end-users readily suggest the app to others?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app have good reviews?	□	□	□	□
	How easily can end-users locate the app? Does it appear: in the top results of search engines? as a featured app in the app store?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app store display how often the app has been downloaded?	□	□	□	□
External factor	Does the app accompany a wearable device?	□	□	□	□
Technology-related features
Usability	Is the app easy to use and have a friendly end-user interface?	□	□	□	□
	Is the app visually appealing (aesthetics)?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app send out a reasonable number of notifications?*	□	□	□	□
	Are the features of the app customisable?	□	□	□	□
	Is the app accessible by its target audience?*	□	□	□	□
Privacy	Is the data generated from the app secured by end-to-end-encryption?	□	□	□	□
	How is the data generated from the app stored: locally on the device? encrypted?	□	□	□	□
	Is privacy a core consideration throughout the app design phase, i.e. a privacy by design approach?	□	□	□	□
	Is the data generated from the app anonymised so that individuals are non-identifiable?	□	□	□	□
	Can users easily access all of their data e.g. address, billing information?	□	□	□	□
User control
Autonomy	Do the functions of the app give end-users the overall impression of freedom to control the use of their data?	□	□	□	□
Empowerment	Does the app allow end-users to restrict data sharing to third-parties such as social networking sites?	□	□	□	□
	Do end-users act as the proprietors of the data generated from the app?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app seek explicit end-user permission before sharing data with third-parties?	□	□	□	□
	Does the app allow end-users to opt-in and decide which data can be stored or processed?*	□	□	□	□
	Does the app allow end-users to easily delete their data?	□	□	□	□

App: application.

Certain items in the checklist have been marked with asterisks to signify that they are context-specific.