2022 iOS Apps and COVID-19: Can They Help Our Eye Patients?

ABSTRACT

Purpose: 85% of US adults have a smartphone with 87 million people using a health or wellness app monthly in 20201. There are 350,000 eHealth apps2. Roughly 33M adults in the US have the chief complaint of vision loss. An estimated 93M are at high risk for serious visual impairment3 . Only half have visited an eye doctor in the past 12 months, due to COVID 193. American adults over the age of 18 fall into the demographic of mobile app users. Do free apps help our eye patients during this pandemic? Methods: We used the search terms “vision test” and “eye exam” in the Apple App Store to compile a list of the top 10 free apps. We looked for how many free apps have eye charts that are “recognized” such as Snellen chart, Landolt C, LogMAR chart, Amsler grid & Visual Field. Control Inclusion criteria 1) free;2) English language;3) ≥50 reviews, ≥4 star rating in the Apple App store. Exclusion criteria 1) foreign languages 2) paid apps. Results: Results: Top 10 iOS apps (from most downloads to least) in the Apple App Store seen in Table 1. For all iOS apps, Snellen vision test 9/10;Landolt C 1/10;LogMAR chart 3/10;Amsler grid 3/10;Visual field 1/10. Only 1 app connected you with a local optometrist or ophthalmologist. Only 3/10 apps had >1K reviews. iOS apps do not provide a number of downloads. Conclusions: Although many adults have not received an eye exam over the past 12 months, physicians can still connect with their patients through public education with the use of mobile apps. However, current eHealth apps can improve their content for eye patients.