Mobile Application for Healthcare: The Case of COVID-19 in Mobile Apps

The COVID-19 era has forced us to reduce our face-to-face interactions. For this reason, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have substituted this direct relationship among people. One tool able to support health authorities by monitoring and mitigating the ongoing COVID-19 is Mobile Applications (mApps). They have also facilitated follow-up among patients and practitioners and provided direct guidance to citizens, so they can play their part in the control of the disease. The main purpose of this paper is to understand and analyse the features and functionalities of the COVID-19 mApps currently available in the widely used smartphone applications stores, such as Play Store and iTunes. The first results obtained at this stage of the research have permitted us to give a preliminary taxonomy of the mApps, specifically concerning COVID health management in Italy. The research found 71 mApps operating in the principal stores, focusing on the underlining features and aspects useful for making users more responsible and enabling self-management regarding their own health. MApps in the COVID period could represent organisational support for maintaining a useful relationship among patients and health operators concerning health care assistance. To do this, it is necessary to determine optimal capabilities and evaluate the utility and clinical benefit of these tools. Doing this, we have been able to recognise and obtain the first data and information through this research.