Dietary mobile apps - acceptance among young adults : a qualitative study

The rapid development in the performance of smartphones has led to a widespread growth in software applications, or apps for short [2, 3]. These also include food and nutrition apps (hereinafter referred to as food apps), such as e.g. food tracking apps. These apps are similar to weight logs; they record eating behavior and generate visual feedback (actual vs. target) about e.g. energy and nutrients [4]. However, most of the available food apps are not scientifically evaluated [2, 4, 5–9]; functions and data quality may vary significantly [4]. In view of the population’s affinity to technology-based tools, food apps could represent an appropriate intervention strategy to trigger changes in lifestyle and eating behavior [5, 10–13]. The competence cluster nutriCARD aims to develop a food app for adolescents and young adults which will positively influence eating behavior. This qualitative study was carried out in order to determine reasons for (non-) use of food apps [14] early on in the development process, focusing on the following area of interest: From the perspective of young adults, which factors must a food app incorporate in order to be used in the long-term?