Happtique Releases Draft Standards For Certification Process

Happtique, a catalog of health apps that can be found in the iTunes App Store, has been mentioned a few times here at Smart Phone Health Care. The company recently released its draft standards that will be used under its certification program for fitness, medical, and health apps. The 15 page document can be found here. Until August 15, Happtique is allowing for people to comment on these standards here.

According to this article about Happtique and its draft standards, these standards differ from the ones that were published in a draft by the FDA last year. The goal of Happtique is to list and sell apps in their catalog based on their efficiency, and standards of “operability, privacy, security, and reliability of content.” CEO of Happtique Ben Chodor recently spoke about the certification process, and its necessity because of how many medical, health, and fitness apps that are currently available and the difficulty involved in discerning the good from the bad:

We believe the certification process will lead to the identification of truly high quality apps, thereby giving healthcare professionals and consumers alike the confidence they need in the apps they are recommending or using.

The more I hear about Happtique, the more I am impressed. I think I would rather have this company certifying apps, than having the FDA regulating them. It will be interesting to see the catalog and which apps meet their standards. As I look around at different health, medical, and fitness apps, it is difficult at times to determine if an app is worth downloading or not, especially when it’s newer and there aren’t too many reviews out.