A feature-rich version of the Smoke Free app helps more people quit smoking than the basic version

What is it about?

We examined whether users who received additional content including 'missions' (short tasks given to users each day for the first month of their quit), were more likely to remain smoke free compared with people who used the app without the additional content. A total of 28,112 people took part in the experiment, half of whom, chosen at random, were given the additional content. The other half, again chosen at random, used the basic version of the app. We found that people with the additional content were about twice as likely to stay smoke free for three months as people who used the basic version.

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Why is it important?

This study provides important evidence about the ability of a feature-rich app to help people stop smoking. It suggests that giving users daily tasks designed to help them change their attitude toward smoking and being a smoker can make a quit attempt more likely to be successful. In addition, the methodology used is a low-cost and quick-response way for other researchers or developers to understand whether changes made to an existing application are more, less or about as likely to achieve the stated aim of the intervention.