Identifying the Features of Iranian Mobile Applications Related to COVID 19 Disease

COVID-19 has become a pandemic in the world; with the unprecedented growth of technology, smartphones play a role in different stages including managing COVID-19 outbreak. This study aimed to investigate Iranian mobile applications related to Covid-19 disease.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on all Iranian mobile applications related to COVID-19 in 2020. A search was conducted on Iranian digital app markets on phones with Android and iOS operating systems using the following keywords: ‘COVID-19’, ‘coronavirus’, and ‘corona’ with their Persian translations. For each app, the extracted information included name, category, cost, size, latest version, requirement for Internet connectivity, subscriber count app download, user satisfaction rate, developers, and purpose of development.

The search results indicated a total of 103 apps (76 Android and 27 iOS apps). The most frequent categories were medical apps, games, and educational apps.  About 80.6% of apps were free, 15.5% of apps had in-app purchases, and 3.9% of apps required payment for installation. Most applications were developed by personal developers and 84 applications were online and 19 applications were offline. Other goals of COVID-related application developers in Iran included entertainment, providing daily statistics, raising user awareness, control and tracking, self-care, and prevention.

A wide range of mobile applications related to COVID disease are available with many capabilities. Given the findings and the positive role of this program in epidemic control, the effectiveness of screening and self-assessment programs requires the interaction of private developers and the public sector for integration