Comparision and analysis of top 10 exercise android Apps in mainland China

Medical guidelines highly recommend physical activity and aerobic exercise in the prevention of primary and secondary cardiovascular disease. The use of exercise-promoting application software may improve clinical outcomes for cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients. The study aimed to compare and analyze the functions of the top 10 exercise Android Apps which had more than 1,000,000 downloads from the main four Android App stores in mainland China. The results showed that most of these popular apps had pedometer, exercise plan preset, user data presentation, user encouragement and community sharing functions while a few of them had exercise video clips or animation support and wearable devices. Given these data, the conclusion is that these popular apps fulfill some of the functions recommended by medical guidelines, however, lack of some functions such as pre-exercise risk assessment, the exercise intensity recording, specific instructions by professionals, and monitoring functions for CVD patients.