Fitness apps are leading the mHealth app market, claiming 78 percent of the market of users.
The percentage doubled from 2013 to 2015, climbing from 39 percent to 78 percent, according to Citrix's annual Mobile Analytics Report. At the same time, women's health monitoring apps such as Period Diary, Baby Bump and My Pregnancy declined in popularity, falling from 47 percent use in 2013 to 14 percent in 2015. Average users spent 4.6 minutes on the app, with peak use time between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. for fitness apps and 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. for women's health monitoring apps.
Additionally, mHealth apps are increasingly keyed to wearable medical devices. Currently, the most popular apps are running apps such as MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper, but Fitbit and other transmitting pedometers are growing in popularity.
"Mobile operators need to consider how the proliferation of wearable devices will drive growth of mobile health app usage and data services," the study's authors noted.