10 Red Flags in a Health App, and 5 Green Ones

A health app knows things your closest friends might not: your cycle, your diet, your sleep, the symptoms you looked up at 2am. Before you hand that over, it is worth spending five minutes checking whether the app deserves it.

We build health apps for a living, so we have strong opinions about this. Here is the checklist we would use if we were choosing one ourselves. Save it for the next time you are scrolling an app store.

The 10 red flags

1. It wants everything before it shows you anything

If the first screen asks for your contacts, location, photos and microphone before you have seen a single feature, close it. A good app asks for a permission at the moment it needs it, and tells you why.

2. You cannot find the privacy policy in under a minute

It should be linked from the store listing and from inside the app. If it is buried, or only exists as a PDF on a page that no longer loads, that tells you how much thought went into it.

3. The privacy policy says "partners" a lot

"We may share your information with trusted partners" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Look for a plain list of who receives your data and why.

4. There is no way to delete your account

You should be able to leave and take your data with you, or have it removed. If deletion means emailing a support address and hoping, that is a red flag.

5. It promises results

Health is personal and complicated. An app that guarantees an outcome, a cure, or a number by a date is selling, not helping.

6. Notifications that guilt you

"You haven't logged in 3 days. Don't give up now!" An app should remind you, not shame you back into opening it.

7. Every screen is a feed

Endless scrolling is built to keep you in the app. A health tool should help you do the thing and get on with your day.

8. It never mentions a professional

Good wellness apps are clear about their limits and point you to a qualified doctor when something needs one. If an app positions itself as the final word, be careful.

9. Everything is behind a paywall, including your own data

Paying for features is fair. Paying to see or export information you entered yourself is not.

10. Nobody seems to be behind it

No company name, no contact address, no website that works. If something goes wrong, who do you talk to?

The 5 green flags

1. It explains itself in plain language

What it does, what it does not do, and where your data goes, written so a non-expert can follow it.

2. It asks for the minimum

Only the information it needs for the feature you are using, with sensible defaults you can change.

3. It works in your language

Health information lands better in the language you think in. An app that speaks more than one language has thought about who it is for.

4. You can share on your terms

The best apps let you pull together a clear summary and decide yourself who sees it: your doctor, a family member, nobody.

5. You spend less time in it than you expected

Log something in seconds, read something useful, close it. That is a feature, not a weakness.

How we think about it

These are the standards we hold our own apps to: Tanaya for women's wellness, RiteFood for everyday nutrition, MenGO for men's health and OneHealth Digital for clinics and hospitals. We do not always get everything right on the first try, but this list is the bar.

If you are choosing a health app this week, run it through the list. Ten minutes now can save you a lot of second-guessing later.

You can find all of our apps at systemonsilicon.com.