The GGD has its own App Store with an overview of the best apps for your health. What do you need to know about the GGD AppStore? And which apps are worth trying?
In collaboration with knowledge institutes and patient and consumer organisations, all 25 GGD agencies worked on a single platform for health apps. And according to the GGD, this is badly needed: the range of health apps is enormous, but finding the right app in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store is not easy. According to the GGD, hardly anything is known about the reliability and effectiveness of all these apps. “Only a few medical apps used in medical treatments have been validated. But the rest are not yet,” said the health service.
Test method
And so the agency decided to provide the range of health apps with an independent review by expert GGD professionals. Only the best health apps then make it to the AppStore. When selecting apps, we look at, among other things, which target group is addressed, whether the app is interesting for a wide audience and whether the tool is actually aimed at promoting health. The app is then assessed on, among other things, user-friendliness, reliability, and privacy. On the website You can read more about the test method from the GGD AppStore.
The apps that pass the extensive inspection will then appear in the AppStore, which functions not so much as an actual App Store but rather is a database of approved health app. You cannot download apps directly from the AppStore, but you will be referred to the relevant App Store, where you can still download the app directly.
Different categories
The apps are divided into six different categories, including Body functions, Mental well-being, Meaning and Quality of life. The categories pretty much speak for themselves. Under Mental well-being you will find apps for mindfulness, training to stimulate your brain and apps to gain insight into your mental well-being, while under Body functions you will find well-known running apps such as Runkeeper and Running with Evy.
With each app you will find a short description, the purchase price and a rating in stars. You can even download an extensive research report to read where the app in question excels or where improvements are needed.
Which apps in the GGD AppStore are really indispensable? We briefly list the best health apps for you. In other words: a selection of apps that have received a maximum rating of five stars from the GGD.
Personal health check
Operating System: Android, iOS
price: Free
If you often worry about your health, you can Personal health check try for android and iOS. In this app you answer various questions to gain better insight into your health. Based on your answers, you will receive advice on how to improve your lifestyle. The GGD considers the information and advice reliable and concrete.
seven
Operating System: Android, iOS, Windows
Price: Free
Under the category Body functions we also find the app seven, for a seven-minute daily workout. The exercises are aimed at, among other things, weight loss, mobility and getting fit. By combining a number of these exercises, you can organize a seven-minute workout yourself. According to the GGD, the app encourages you to do a workout every day because the app turns it into a game, in which you lose a life every day if you don’t train for a day. If you skip three workouts in a month, you have to start all over again and of course you don’t want that.
VGZ Mindfulness Coach
Operating System: Android, iOS
Price: Free
Is your workout over? Then it’s time to work on your mental health with these mindfulness app from VGZ. VGZ also sees that it can be very difficult to put down everything you are doing and just be in the here and now, which is why they offer you a coach to help you through the process. For example, the app can put daily reminders in your agenda and the app encourages regular meditation and relaxation exercises, according to GGD.
The Journey
Operating System: Android, iOS
Price: Free
If your problems are a bit more serious, you can The Journey (also for iOS) give it a try. Initially, the app was developed for people with addiction or PTSD, but now the app has grown into a tool for discovering and achieving personal goals to gain more control over your life. The app helps to lower your daily tension level and also to better understand the signals your body is sending. The Journey also works as a kind of game, so that you are continuously triggered to use the app.
These are the best hiking apps
Household App
Operating System: Android, iOS
Price: Free
If the household is a heavy task for you, then the Household App (Android version can be found here) what to hold on to. With the app you can easily list all household tasks and to make it fun for children (or for yourself of course), you score points when certain tasks are completed. This makes the app great fun for children and it has a motivating effect, according to the GGD.
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