App-synopsis: self-assessment on trust or distrust of health-apps

Mobile devices and the apps running on them have become an integral part of daily life and this also includes the areas of medicine and health. Target audiences include those interested in their health, patients, and professional users. Nevertheless, the sheer number of available apps makes it hard for users to decide whether an app they are interested in is trustable or not. Nevertheless, such a decision should be based on a careful analysis of the available information. If left to their own devices, especially casual users may tend to forget certain aspects when performing such an evaluation. In order to provide them with a guideline on how to perform their evaluations, we propose a checklist covering the most important aspects for deciding whether an app can be entrusted with information that - especially when it comes to personal, health related information - is usually of a highly sensitive nature.