State of knowledge on smartphone applications concerning contraception: A systematic review

Women's knowledge of contraception is incomplete and a wide variety of information sources are used. Since the advent of smartphones, 325,000 healthcare apps have become available. Our aim is to conduct a literature review on smartphone applications for contraception.

15 databases in English, Spanish and French were examined, which included studies published between 2007 and 2018 that describe or compare mobile applications for reversible contraceptive methods and interventional studies. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Cochrane scale or a scale created by the authors.

1786 articles were listed and 22 were included in the main text. In two randomised controlled trials, apps did not influence the choice of a contraceptive method. Two studies showed a significant improvement in knowledge after using an app. Comparative studies reported a large number of apps, the majority of which contained only incomplete information and few interactive features.

Many applications deal with contraception, but few have reliable and exhaustive information. Further studies are needed to measure the impact of apps on observing compliance.