Telepsychological Mobile Applications in the Spanish Android Market

The use of Android mobile applications aimed at addressing users' psychological health is increasing. However, no review has been conducted on public Android commercial telepsychological applications in Spain.

A systematic search was carried out in the general applications section of Google Play Store based on 20 keywords in Spanish. Applications in Spanish or English that were relevant from the perspective of the search terms were included in the analysis.

Of the 1,000 applications retrieved, only 43.59% (337/773) met the inclusion criteria, of which 49.26% (171/337) were Spanish. Most of them were Self-applied treatment applications (52.96%, 29.59%, Spanish; 23.37%, English). A total of 69.44% (37.38% Spanish; 31.95% English) did not indicate the origin of the information and the academic link was anecdotal (3.25%).

The low percentage of relevant applications, high prevalence of self-help applications, absence of references on the origin of the information, absence of academic support, and lack of certifications encouraged us to recommend caution to consumers and professionals in their adoption of these applications for the treatment of any psychological disorder.