The App Factory Project promotes development of smartphone and tablet mobile applications (apps) to address high-priority health needs of people with disabilities. Mobile healthcare, or mHealth, is an important new tool for self-management of chronic conditions. However, growth in development of mHealth “apps” may increase health disparities by leaving behind vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities. The App Factory aims to ensure that people with disabilities are full participants in the growth of mHealth.
We are addressing this aim in two ways. First, we want to help people find apps that are both effective in managing health and also accessible and usable by people with disabilities. On this website, we provide results from our accessibility testing and review of popular mHealth apps and encourage readers to evaluate and share their feedback about the usability of mHealth apps … and get paid for their feedback!
Second, we provide funding support to app developers interested in making assistive or accessible mHealth apps that meet the needs of people with disabilities. We conduct an annual competition and fund 3-5 new app development projects each year. We also solicit feedback from people with disabilities to determine the high-priority needs for new app development.
It Starts With You
In a targeted effort to promote mHealth apps addressing the needs of people with disabilities, we developed the App Factory to achieve the following objectives:
Identify the need for mHealth app development targeting health and function of people with disabilities;
Develop and deploy a selection of several mHealth apps per project year based on an annual competition targeting high priority needs;
Evaluate long-term use and impact of mHealth apps on users with disabilities health, function, and quality of life outcomes;
Evaluate curated mHealth apps to determine their suitability for users with disabilities, and disseminate information about accessibility and clinical utility of these apps;
Provide training and technical assistance to people with disabilities and their support workers to aid in selection, set-up, and use of mHealth apps; and
Provide training and technical assistance to app developers to support development of apps that address the needs of people with disabilities.
Do you have an idea for an mHealth app you want us to test, or want to add your own review of an mHealth app?
Ready to take the next step? You can become a contributor to our app review process.
The Apps We’ve Helped Developed
The App Factory has spent a decade helping other developers develop their assistive or accessibility apps through our annual App Factory call for proposals. Each year we award funding to developers who submit proposals for mHealth apps that improve the lives of people with disabilities. Find out about all of the past apps we’ve helped developed.