To what extent are health apps relevant today? Who uses them? What potential do they bear and what challenges do they face? At the moment, we are exploring the trends underway in digital health apps at a number of events, for example at this week’s AOK-Tag 2016 (AOK Day 2016). For this event, we took another look at the data contained in the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Gesundheitsmonitor survey and analyzed those findings that provided information on people’s use of health apps. The data – which were collected in summer 2015 – show that 29% of Germans already have a health app installed on their smartphones. More than one in three people indicated they would use this app for the purpose of self-management if they fell ill. One in five people indicated they would welcome the idea of having their own health data – drawn from the information already held at real-life doctors’ offices – on their smartphones. Nevertheless, data security and data protection are also considerable issues on citizens’ minds.
