QuitPal: An Innovative App to Quit Smoking

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What if the tools to quit smoking were easier to find than cigarettes?

Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of smartphones—more U.S. adults have them in their pockets than cigarettes—the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed QuitPal, a mobile app to help people quit smoking.

NCI’s new app QuitPal

The free app provides tools to help those who want to be smoke-free with research-based strategies, including:

A calendar function to set quit dates, track financial goals, and schedule reminders
A log to track daily smoking habits
Graphic features showing money saved and packs of cigarettes not smoked
Health milestone alerts and craving tips to keep users motivated
Facebook and Twitter integration to update friends when goals are reached
Video diary features and the ability to receive personalized video messages from loved ones
Access to NCI’s Cancer Information Service by toll-free phone line or live Web chat

Because most mobile applications designed to help smokers quit are not based on research, they often lack the information needed to be successful. To address this gap, NCI conducted three rounds of research with smokers to guide the development of QuitPal.

To begin, NCI met with focus groups of current smartphone users to learn how participants select the health-related apps they use. Researchers also asked the participants why they use some apps and delete others.

In a second round of testing, NCI shared design mock-ups of the app with adult smokers with smartphones. Researchers gauged the participants’ reactions to the mock-ups and asked how important the participants felt current features were.

In the third and final round of testing, the app was field tested to confirm the stability of the code. During this time the app was beta-tested with adult smokers. User feedback was then incorporated before the public launch.

NCI’s research shows that behavior intervention reinforces positive health change and can help smokers quit. Based on this research, QuitPal offers specific information to keep smokers busy during cravings and tips to stay away from temptations.

Visit SmokeFree.gov to download the app or search “QuitPal” in the iTunes App Store. It is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

See a list of HHS mobile apps to support a healthy body and mind.

What other apps would you like to see?

Join the Conversation

Your Ideas

Android. Not just iPhone

I would like to see all your apps be cross platform. Android has a 51% market share of all mobile devices sold as of February 2013 and yet the majority of your apps are only available on Apple products. I came here to download the QuitPal app but am unable because I am on an Android. Speaking as a developer for a government agency, it is poor form to provide products that only work on a single platform. When creating apps for a large government entity that will be consumed by the general public, you should always make your product available on as many platforms as possible. This is akin to writing a website that only works in IE. Please, take the time to make your apps platform independent and then port them to the proper platform.

Thanks for develpoing an cross compatible APP for use with android as well.

combine the technology of cigarette smoke detectors (by Hoyles, etc) with the daily smoking habits tracker. develop a mobile cigarette smoke/flame detector (wrist or armband mounted perhaps)which will send a silent entry to the tracker on mobile phone, including time and date the smoke/flame device detected the evidence of smoking. include a feedback feature for the mobile phone which will send a text or voicemessage giving the count of cigarettes smoked thus far in the day (at intervals selected by the user) with a comparison to the previous day (or week, or month).

apps for android

Add cessation medication adherence module

Thank you for your interest in the NCI QuitPal app and suggestions to make it available for Android devices and in Spanish. We agree that making this resource available to a wider audience is important, and hope to be able to do so. We will be able to consider future enhancements to the app as additional resources become available. -- Office of Communications and Education, National Cancer Institute