JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Vaping rates in Canada are continuing to rise despite high interest in quitting among individuals who currently use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Existing cessation interventions are not resulting in the outcomes expected and smartphone apps have the potential to address this gap. With rates of smartphone usage continuing to rise globally, demand for health apps is increasing. Apps increase the equity and accessibility of interventions and individuals often prefer this means over traditional behavior change interventions (e.g., face-to-face counseling). Although limited, current evidence highlights that apps can be effective cessation support. A gap remains in understanding the user experience of vaping cessation apps, which is critical to informing their effectiveness for vaping cessation.

Objective:

The purpose of this study is to explore the user experience of vaping cessation apps through an analysis of app reviews. More specifically, this study aims to identify both the positive and negative experiences of app users, as well as highlight recommendations from app users to improve the quality of these apps.

Methods:

Vaping cessation apps were identified through searches on the Canadian and American versions of the Apple App Store and Android Google Play Store. Searches revealed a total of 11 vaping cessation apps, which resulted in a total of 310 reviews for analysis. Reviews were analyzed using a deductive content analysis approach.

Results:

Our analysis resulted in reviews being coded into five primary categories: Content, Functionality, Esthetic, Cost, and Other, which were further divided into three secondary categories and various tertiary categories. Reviews most commonly discussed Content, Functionality and Cost. Comments regarding content tended to be positive, praising various features. In contrast, comments tended to criticize functionality, indicating issues with the functioning of an app. Reviews both praised and criticized cost with comments specifically referring to the payment required to download an app or upgrade an app to the premium version.

Conclusions:

This study is the first of its kind to evaluate the user experience with vaping cessation apps via an analysis of app reviews. App developers may benefit from reading our novel findings to identify areas to focus on when developing and updating apps. Our study forms a basis for the development of future vaping interventions as well as future studies. Future research should be conducted on vaping cessation interventions with an emphasis on the user experience because there is limited research in this area for comparison.