Free blood donation mobile applications

Blood donation (BD) is a noble act and mobile applications (apps) can help increase awareness about it. This paper analyzes and assesses the characteristics of free apps for BD as regards features and functionality. A search in Google Play, Apple Apps store, Blackberry App World and Windows Mobile App store was carried out to select 169 free BD apps from the 188 apps identified. The results presented in this paper show that the majority of the apps selected have been developed for the Android operating system. Moreover, most of the apps selected are available to help users search for donors. Few of the apps could not be installed and/or accessed. Of those that could be installed: half of them do not require any kind of authentication; a few of them are available in more than one language; half of them have a geographical restriction; around 60 % of them do not notify the user of BD events and requests; one, which is available for Android and iOS, can connect with a laboratory; around 45 % of them allow users to share information via social networks, and the majority of them do not provide BD recommendations. These results are used as a basis to provide app developers with certain recommendations. There is a need for better BD apps with more features in order to increase the number of volunteer donors.