Depression Management: A Descriptive Evaluation of Depression Apps in the Google Play Store

This research explores how mobile app features and functionality can influence its usage for depression management and overall mental health. It examines the functionalities and features of depression apps associated with the app download count. A search of “Depression” apps carried out in December 2017 using the Google Play Store retrieved 248 apps related to depression. Over 80% of the apps had mainly singular purposes of psychoeducation (36 %), therapeutic treatment (25.2%), medical assessment (18.3%), symptom management (13%), support resources (17%), non-medical functions (14.78%) while forty-six (20%) apps had multiple functions. An app's number of installs was positively correlated with the rating, number of raters and user interface; but negatively correlated with cost and content rating. Symptom tracking apps were most installed, while medical assessment apps were found not to be the choice apps for Depression management.