Toward Research-Informed Design Implications for Interventions Limiting Smartphone Use: Functionalities Review of Digital Well-being Apps

Background: Much research in human-computer interaction has focused on well-being and how it can be better supported through a range of technologies, from affective interfaces to mindfulness systems. At the same time, we have seen a growing number of commercial digital well-being apps. However, there has been limited scholarly work reviewing these apps. Objective: This paper aims to report on an autoethnographic study and functionality review of the 39 most popular commercial digital well-being apps on Google Play Store and 17 apps described in academic papers. Methods: From 1250 apps on Google Play Store, we selected 39 (3.12%) digital well-being apps, and from Google Scholar, we identified 17 papers describing academic apps. Both sets of digital well-being apps were analyzed through a review of their functionalities based on their descriptions. The commercial apps were also analyzed through autoethnography, wherein the first author interacted with them to understand how these functionalities work and how they may be experienced by users in their daily lives. Results: Our findings indicate that these apps focus mostly on limiting screen time, and we advanced a richer conversation about such apps, articulating the distinctions among monitoring use, tracking use against set limits, and 4 specific interventions supporting limited use. Conclusions: We conclude with 6 implications for designing digital well-being apps, namely calling to move beyond screen time and support the broader focus of digital well-being; supporting meaningful use rather than limiting meaningless use; leveraging (digital) navigation in design for friction; supporting collaborative interaction to limit phone overuse; supporting explicit, time-based visualizations for monitoring functionality; and supporting the ethical design of digital well-being apps.