Happtique certifies first round of apps

Happtique, a mobile health solutions company, has certified 19 health and medical apps that meet certain benchmarks in privacy, security and operability.

Apps certified by the company’s Health App Certification Program (HACP) successfully completed technical testing as well as content testing by independent clinical experts. All developers of the apps also submitted their privacy policies, proof of FDA approval (if applicable) and documentation of content sources.

The move to lend more legitimacy to the safety, privacy and security of apps comes amid concern that the more than 40,000 apps in the market are largely unregulated and untested.

For example, the iPharmacy Drug Guide & Pill ID app recently came under fire for compromising users’ medical and personal information. App risk management service Appthority discovered that the app, which is designed to identify a person’s medications and required regimen, uses an inadequate encoding scheme to encrypt user data, according to an article in PC Magazine.

Moreover, users’ searches for drugs on the app are transmitted over the network without any encryption. Also, iPharmacy transmitted essential personal information, as well as device identifiers, exact geo-location, WiFi access points, a list of apps on a device, etc., to three ad networks and all of the apps’ activities are tracked by Google Analtyics and other networks, according to the article.

In light of privacy and security risks, "one of the major barriers to widespread clinical adoption of health apps is the inability of providers and patients to identify which apps to use,” said Corey Ackerman, president and COO of Happtique, in a statement.

"The developers who submitted their apps for this inaugural class are true pioneers in mHealth. By voluntarily subjecting their apps to rigorous HACP testing and making appropriate adjustments to meet the standards, these developers are demonstrating their commitment to improving health for providers and patients," HACP Director Sandy Maliszewski said.