Functionality and User Review Analysis of Mobile Apps for Mindfulness Eating and Eating Disorders

A growing number of mobile apps have focused on healthy or problematic eating, albeit limited research has focused on evaluating such apps from users’ perspectives. To address this, we evaluated the functionalities of 27 apps on mindfulness eating, and eating disorders from the Apple App, and Google Play Stores, and conducted a content analysis of 1248 user reviews, totalling over 60,000 words. Findings indicate the main functionalities of tracking data on eating behaviours, emotions, thoughts, bodily sensations, symptoms, as well as triggers of eating disorders, and of providing interventions such as mindfulness, goal setting, psychoeducation, CBT, and holistic ones. Findings also highlight key usability and ethical challenges, which we used to inform five design implications namely tracking and reflecting on multiple aspects of mindfulness and healthy eating, supporting personalized interventions and AI-based ones, as well as the sensitive design for diagnosis, and for tracking and monitoring problematic data.