Success and Satisfaction of Two Diabetes Mobile Apps

A crossover randomized trial published in JMIR Diabetes assessed mobile app usability among diabetes patients. The study included 92 diabetes patients (mean age, 54 years; range, 19–74 years); the majority (n = 64/92, 70%) had type 2 diabetes. They tested two Android apps—mySugr and OnTrack—for seven tasks: enter a carb intake, enter an exercise activity, enter an insulin dose, enter a blood glucose (BG) reading, locate a BG report for days of the weeks, locate a BG report for each meal, and email a BG report. Overall user satisfaction score was marginally acceptable (62), with the mean satisfaction score higher for OnTrack (68) than mySugr (55). All seven tasks had a mean task completion time of seven minutes; mean task success and accuracy rates were 82% and 68%, respectively. Patients with less education and who reported more competence, autonomy, or connectivity with a health care provider reported higher user satisfaction. Patients with a high school education or less had lower task success, while patients who sought greater autonomy and wanted to learn about their BG and carbohydrates patterns had greater task success.