Challenges and Opportunities of Big Data in Healthcare Mobile Applications
Pith reviewed 2026-05-25 17:03 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
Healthcare mobile apps generate growing volumes of data that bring both challenges and opportunities for improving healthcare systems.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
The volume of data gathered by healthcare mobile applications is increasing day by day and presents critical challenges and opportunities for designing new tools in healthcare systems and improving health condition.
What carries the argument
Big data generated by healthcare mobile applications, which instantly gather and analyze user data to support health-related functions.
If this is right
- Developers face new demands to manage data scale while building health tools.
- Users may benefit if data analysis yields improved health monitoring features.
- Healthcare systems could incorporate app-derived insights into broader services.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- The review format leaves open how specific technical solutions might address the challenges mentioned.
- Connections could be drawn to data privacy regulations that affect mobile health data use.
- Future work might test whether particular app categories produce more usable data than others.
Load-bearing premise
The premise that the increasing volume of data from mobile apps can be leveraged to design new tools and improve health conditions.
What would settle it
Empirical evidence that data volume growth from these apps has not led to any measurable new tool designs or health improvements despite years of collection.
read the original abstract
The health and various ways to improve healthcare systems are one of the most concerns of human in history. By the growth of mobile technology, different mobile applications in the field of the healthcare system are developed. These mobile applications instantly gather and analyze the data of their users to help them in the health area. This volume of data will be a critical problem. Big data in healthcare mobile applications have its challenges and opportunities for the users and developers. Does this amount of gathered data which is increasing day by day can help the human to design new tools in healthcare systems and improve health condition? In this chapter, we will discuss meticulously the challenges and opportunities of big data in the healthcare mobile applications.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript is a qualitative discussion chapter reviewing challenges (e.g., privacy, scalability) and opportunities (e.g., analytics for health improvement) in big data from healthcare mobile applications. It poses whether the increasing volume of gathered data can help design new tools and improve health conditions, answering via general discussion rather than evidence-based analysis.
Significance. The topic is relevant to mHealth, but the paper offers no new empirical findings, derivations, case studies, or falsifiable predictions. Its value, if any, is limited to serving as a high-level overview; it does not advance the field or provide actionable insights beyond definitional statements.
major comments (1)
- Abstract: the central premise—that increasing data volume 'can help the human to design new tools... and improve health condition'—is posed as an open question but receives no supporting analysis, evidence, or even structured review of prior work, leaving the discussion unsupported.
minor comments (2)
- Abstract contains grammatical issues (e.g., 'one of the most concerns', 'By the growth of mobile technology') that should be corrected for clarity.
- The manuscript would benefit from explicit section headings, citations to specific mHealth studies, and concrete examples of the challenges/opportunities mentioned.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for their review. We respond point-by-point to the major comment below, clarifying the scope of this discussion chapter.
read point-by-point responses
-
Referee: Abstract: the central premise—that increasing data volume 'can help the human to design new tools... and improve health condition'—is posed as an open question but receives no supporting analysis, evidence, or even structured review of prior work, leaving the discussion unsupported.
Authors: The abstract introduces the motivating question to frame the chapter. The manuscript is a qualitative review chapter that then examines challenges (privacy, scalability, security) and opportunities (analytics for personalized interventions, population health insights) drawn from the mHealth literature. It structures the discussion around these themes to explore how growing data volumes from mobile applications can inform tool design and health outcomes. As a review rather than an empirical study, it synthesizes prior work rather than generating new data or predictions; this format is standard for discussion chapters and provides the requested structured overview. revision: no
Circularity Check
No significant circularity detected
full rationale
The paper is a purely discursive review chapter with no equations, derivations, fitted parameters, predictions, or first-principles results. Its central premise—that rising data volume from healthcare mobile apps creates challenges and opportunities—is definitional to the topic and posed rhetorically in the abstract, then addressed via discussion rather than any claim that reduces to its own inputs by construction. No self-citations or ansatzes are present, so no load-bearing circular steps exist.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
MIRASS: Medical informatics research activity support system using information mashup network
Kiah, M. L. M.; Zaidan, B. B.; Zaidan, A. A.; Nabi, M.; Ibraheem, R. “MIRASS: Medical informatics research activity support system using information mashup network”, 5 Journal of Medical Systems, Vol. 38, No. 4, 2014, pp.37
work page 2014
-
[2]
Mobile Health (mHealth) App Market - Industry Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts to 2023
work page 2023
-
[3]
Top 8 Healthcare Predictions for 2019
Behera, K. Top 8 Healthcare Predictions for 2019
work page 2019
-
[4]
Labrique, A. B.; Vasudevan, L.; Kochi, E.; Fabricant, R.; Mehl, G. “mHealth innovations as health system strengthening tools: 12 common applications and a visual framework”, Global Health: Science and Practice, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2013, pp.160–171
work page 2013
-
[5]
3D data management: Controlling data volume, velocity and variety
Laney, D. “3D data management: Controlling data volume, velocity and variety”, META Group Research Note, Vol. 6, No. 70, 2001, pp.1
work page 2001
-
[6]
Andreu-Perez, J.; Poon, C. C. Y.; Merrifield, R. D.; Wong, S. T. C.; Yang, G.-Z. “Big data for health”, IEEE J Biomed Health Inform, Vol. 19, No. 4, 2015, pp.1193–1208
work page 2015
-
[7]
Big data: the management revolution
McAfee, A.; Brynjolfsson, E.; Davenport, T. H.; Patil, D. J.; Barton, D. “Big data: the management revolution”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 90, No. 10, 2012, pp.60–68
work page 2012
-
[8]
Big healthcare data: preserving security and privacy
Abouelmehdi, K.; Beni-Hessane, A.; Khaloufi, H. “Big healthcare data: preserving security and privacy”, Journal of Big Data, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2018, pp.1
work page 2018
-
[9]
Promises and challenges of big data computing in health sciences
Huang, T.; Lan, L.; Fang, X.; An, P.; Min, J.; Wang, F. “Promises and challenges of big data computing in health sciences”, Big Data Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2015, pp.2–11
work page 2015
-
[10]
A systematic review of techniques and sources of big data in the healthcare sector
Alonso, S. G.; de la Torre Díez, I.; Rodrigues, J. J. P. C.; Hamrioui, S.; López-Coronado, M. “A systematic review of techniques and sources of big data in the healthcare sector”, Journal of Medical Systems, Vol. 41, No. 11, 2017, pp.183
work page 2017
-
[11]
Recommender systems for health informatics: state-of-the-art and future perspectives
Valdez, A. C.; Ziefle, M.; Verbert, K.; Felfernig, A.; Holzinger, A. “Recommender systems for health informatics: state-of-the-art and future perspectives”, Machine Learning for Health Informatics, Springer, 391–414
-
[12]
Recommender systems in mobile apps for health a systematic review
Ferretto, L. R.; Cervi, C. R.; de Marchi, A. C. B. “Recommender systems in mobile apps for health a systematic review”, 2017 12th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), IEEE, 1–6
work page 2017
-
[13]
Integrating mobile sensing and social network for personalized health-care application
Li, H.; Zhang, Q.; Lu, K. “Integrating mobile sensing and social network for personalized health-care application”, Proceedings of the 30th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, ACM, 527–534
-
[14]
Knowledge-based dietary nutrition recommendation for obese management
Jung, H.; Chung, K. “Knowledge-based dietary nutrition recommendation for obese management”, Information Technology and Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2016, pp.29–42
work page 2016
-
[15]
Health-aware food recommender system
Ge, M.; Ricci, F.; Massimo, D. “Health-aware food recommender system”, Proceedings of the 9th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems, ACM, 333–334 6
-
[16]
Connected-Health Algorithm: Development and Evaluation
Vlahu-Gjorgievska, E.; Koceski, S.; Kulev, I.; Trajkovik, V. “Connected-Health Algorithm: Development and Evaluation”, Journal of Medical Systems, Vol. 40, No. 4, 2016, pp.109
work page 2016
-
[17]
ExerTrek: a portable handheld exercise monitoring, tracking and recommendation system
Ho, T. C. T.; Chen, X. “ExerTrek: a portable handheld exercise monitoring, tracking and recommendation system”, 2009 11th International Conference on E-Health Networking, Applications and Services (Healthcom), IEEE, 84–88
work page 2009
-
[18]
Rabbi, M.; Aung, M. H.; Zhang, M.; Choudhury, T. “MyBehavior: automatic personalized health feedback from user behaviors and preferences using smartphones”, Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, ACM, 707–718
work page 2015
-
[19]
FitYou: integrating health profiles to real-time contextual suggestion
Wing, C.; Yang, H. “FitYou: integrating health profiles to real-time contextual suggestion”, Proceedings of the 37th International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research & Development in Information Retrieval, ACM, 1263–1264
-
[20]
Wang, S.-L.; Chen, Y. L.; Kuo, A. M.-H.; Chen, H.-M.; Shiu, Y. S. “Design and evaluation of a cloud-based Mobile Health Information Recommendation system on wireless sensor networks”, Computers & Electrical Engineering, Vol. 49, 2016, pp.221–235
work page 2016
-
[21]
Ouedraogo, B.; Gaudart, J.; Dufour, J.-C. “How does the cellular phone help in epidemiological surveillance? A review of the scientific literature”, Informatics for Health and Social Care, Vol. 44, No. 1, 2019, pp.12–30
work page 2019
-
[22]
Taking connected mobile-health diagnostics of infectious diseases to the field
Wood, C. S.; Thomas, M. R.; Budd, J.; Mashamba-Thompson, T. P.; Herbst, K.; Pillay, D.; Peeling, R. W.; Johnson, A. M.; McKendry, R. A.; Stevens, M. M. “Taking connected mobile-health diagnostics of infectious diseases to the field”, Nature, Vol. 566, No. 7745, 2019, pp.467
work page 2019
-
[23]
Introduction of mobile health tools to support Ebola surveillance and contact tracing in Guinea
Sacks, J. A.; Zehe, E.; Redick, C.; Bah, A.; Cowger, K.; Camara, M.; Diallo, A.; Gigo, A. N. I.; Dhillon, R. S.; Liu, A. “Introduction of mobile health tools to support Ebola surveillance and contact tracing in Guinea”, Global Health: Science and Practice, Vol. 3, No. 4, 2015, pp.646–659
work page 2015
-
[24]
Mobile based Notifiable Disease Surveillance-Case for Kenya
Moturi, C. A.; Kinuthia, R. M. “Mobile based Notifiable Disease Surveillance-Case for Kenya”, International Journal of Computer Applications, Vol. 95, No. 7, 2014
work page 2014
-
[25]
Tatem, A. J.; Huang, Z.; Narib, C.; Kumar, U.; Kandula, D.; Pindolia, D. K.; Smith, D. L.; Cohen, J. M.; Graupe, B.; Uusiku, P. “Integrating rapid risk mapping and mobile phone call record data for strategic malaria elimination planning”, Malaria Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2014, pp.52
work page 2014
-
[26]
Early detection of malaria foci for targeted interventions in endemic southern Zambia
Davis, R. G.; Kamanga, A.; Castillo-Salgado, C.; Chime, N.; Mharakurwa, S.; Shiff, C. “Early detection of malaria foci for targeted interventions in endemic southern Zambia”, Malaria Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2011, pp.260
work page 2011
-
[27]
Kamanga, A.; Moono, P.; Stresman, G.; Mharakurwa, S.; Shiff, C. “Rural health centres, 7 communities and malaria case detection in Zambia using mobile telephones: a means to detect potential reservoirs of infection in unstable transmission conditions”, Malaria Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, pp.96
work page 2010
-
[28]
Accessible and inexpensive tools for global HPAI surveillance: A mobile-phone based system
Lin, Y.; Heffernan, C. “Accessible and inexpensive tools for global HPAI surveillance: A mobile-phone based system”, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Vol. 98, Nos. 2–3, 2011, pp.209–214
work page 2011
-
[29]
Mobile messaging as surveillance tool during pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Mexico
Lajous, M.; Danon, L.; Lopez-Ridaura, R.; Astley, C. M.; Miller, J. C.; Dowell, S. F.; O’Hagan, J. J.; Goldstein, E.; Lipsitch, M. “Mobile messaging as surveillance tool during pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Mexico”, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 16, No. 9, 2010, pp.1488
work page 2009
-
[30]
Influenza-like illnesses in Senegal: not only focus on influenza viruses
Dia, N.; Sarr, F. D.; Thiam, D.; Sarr, T. F.; Espié, E.; OmarBa, I.; Coly, M.; Niang, M.; Richard, V. “Influenza-like illnesses in Senegal: not only focus on influenza viruses”, PLoS One, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2014, pp.e93227
work page 2014
-
[31]
Hanafusa, S.; Muhadir, A.; Santoso, H.; Tanaka, K.; Anwar, M.; Sulistyo, E. T.; Hachiya, M. “A surveillance model for human avian influenza with a comprehensive surveillance system for local-priority communicable diseases in South Sulawesi, Indonesia”, Tropical Medicine and Health, 2012
work page 2012
-
[32]
Laurence, C.; Wispelwey, E.; Flickinger, T. E.; Grabowski, M.; Waldman, A. L.; Plews-Ogan, E.; Debolt, C.; Reynolds, G.; Cohn, W.; Ingersoll, K. “Development of PositiveLinks: A Mobile Phone App to Promote Linkage and Retention in Care for People With HIV”, JMIR Formative Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2019, pp.e11578
work page 2019
-
[33]
Yang, C.; Yang, J.; Luo, X.; Gong, P. “Use of mobile phones in an emergency reporting system for infectious disease surveillance after the Sichuan earthquake in China”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol. 87, 2009, pp.619–623
work page 2009
-
[34]
Ma, J.; Zhou, M.; Li, Y.; Guo, Y.; Su, X.; Qi, X.; Ge, H. “Design and application of the emergency response mobile phone‐based information system for infectious disease reporting in the Wenchuan earthquake zone”, Journal of Evidence‐Based Medicine, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2009, pp.115–121
work page 2009
-
[35]
Smartphone-based food diagnostic technologies: a review
Rateni, G.; Dario, P.; Cavallo, F. “Smartphone-based food diagnostic technologies: a review”, Sensors, Vol. 17, No. 6, 2017, pp.1453
work page 2017
-
[36]
Fang, J.; Qiu, X.; Wan, Z.; Zou, Q.; Su, K.; Hu, N.; Wang, P. “A sensing smartphone and its portable accessory for on-site rapid biochemical detection of marine toxins”, Analytical Methods, Vol. 8, No. 38, 2016, pp.6895–6902. doi:10.1039/C6AY01384H
-
[37]
Giordano, G. F.; Vicentini, M. B. R.; Murer, R. C.; Augusto, F.; Ferrão, M. F.; Helfer, G. A.; da Costa, A. B.; Gobbi, A. L.; Hantao, L. W.; Lima, R. S. “Point-of-use electroanalytical platform based on homemade potentiostat and smartphone for multivariate data processing”, Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 219, 2016, pp.170–177 8
work page 2016
-
[38]
Paper microfluidics for red wine tasting
San Park, T.; Baynes, C.; Cho, S.-I.; Yoon, J.-Y. “Paper microfluidics for red wine tasting”, Rsc Advances, Vol. 4, No. 46, 2014, pp.24356–24362
work page 2014
-
[39]
Quantum dot enabled detection of Escherichia coli using a cell-phone
Zhu, H.; Sikora, U.; Ozcan, A. “Quantum dot enabled detection of Escherichia coli using a cell-phone”, Analyst, Vol. 137, No. 11, 2012, pp.2541–2544
work page 2012
-
[40]
An iPhone-based digital image colorimeter for detecting tetracycline in milk
Masawat, P.; Harfield, A.; Namwong, A. “An iPhone-based digital image colorimeter for detecting tetracycline in milk”, Food Chemistry, Vol. 184, 2015, pp.23–29
work page 2015
-
[41]
Lee, S.; Kim, G.; Moon, J. “Performance improvement of the one-dot lateral flow immunoassay for aflatoxin B1 by using a smartphone-based reading system”, Sensors, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2013, pp.5109–5116
work page 2013
-
[42]
Smartphone- interfaced lab-on-a-chip devices for field-deployable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Chen, A.; Wang, R.; Bever, C. R. S.; Xing, S.; Hammock, B. D.; Pan, T. “Smartphone- interfaced lab-on-a-chip devices for field-deployable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay”, Biomicrofluidics, Vol. 8, No. 6, 2014, pp.64101
work page 2014
-
[43]
A personalized food allergen testing platform on a cellphone
Coskun, A. F.; Wong, J.; Khodadadi, D.; Nagi, R.; Tey, A.; Ozcan, A. “A personalized food allergen testing platform on a cellphone”, Lab on a Chip, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2013, pp.636– 640
work page 2013
-
[44]
Wang, Y.; Li, Y.; Bao, X.; Han, J.; Xia, J.; Tian, X.; Ni, L. “A smartphone-based colorimetric reader coupled with a remote server for rapid on-site catechols analysis”, Talanta, Vol. 160, 2016, pp.194–204
work page 2016
-
[45]
Mobile phones create new opportunities for microbiology research and clinical applications
Koydemir, H. C.; Ozcan, A. “Mobile phones create new opportunities for microbiology research and clinical applications”, Future Medicine
-
[46]
Imaging and sizing of single DNA molecules on a mobile phone
Wei, Q.; Luo, W.; Chiang, S.; Kappel, T.; Mejia, C.; Tseng, D.; Chan, R. Y. L.; Yan, E.; Qi, H.; Shabbir, F. “Imaging and sizing of single DNA molecules on a mobile phone”, ACS Nano, Vol. 8, No. 12, 2014, pp.12725–12733
work page 2014
- [47]
-
[48]
Mobilizing mHealth Data Collection in Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities
Cosco, T. D.; Firth, J.; Vahia, I.; Sixsmith, A.; Torous, J. “Mobilizing mHealth Data Collection in Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities”, JMIR Aging, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2019, pp.e10019
work page 2019
-
[49]
Mobile Apps for Caregivers of Older Adults: Quantitative Content Analysis
Grossman, M. R.; Zak, D. K.; Zelinski, E. M. “Mobile Apps for Caregivers of Older Adults: Quantitative Content Analysis”, JMIR MHealth and UHealth, Vol. 6, No. 7, 2018
work page 2018
-
[50]
Will you have a good sleep tonight?: sleep quality prediction with mobile phone
Bai, Y.; Xu, B.; Ma, Y.; Sun, G.; Zhao, Y. “Will you have a good sleep tonight?: sleep quality prediction with mobile phone”, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Body Area Networks, ICST (Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and …, 124–130
-
[51]
Smartphone applications to support sleep self- management: review and evaluation
Choi, Y. K.; Demiris, G.; Lin, S.-Y.; Iribarren, S. J.; Landis, C. A.; Thompson, H. J.; McCurry, S. M.; Heitkemper, M. M.; Ward, T. M. “Smartphone applications to support sleep self- management: review and evaluation”, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Vol. 14, No. 10, 9 2018, pp.1783–1790
work page 2018
-
[52]
A mobile application for assessment of air pollution exposure
Re, G. Lo; Peri, D.; Vassallo, S. D. “A mobile application for assessment of air pollution exposure”, Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Mobile and Information Technologies in Medicine (MobileMed 2013), Citeseer
work page 2013
-
[53]
A maker friendly mobile and social sensing approach to urban air quality monitoring
Capezzuto, L.; Abbamonte, L.; De Vito, S.; Massera, E.; Formisano, F.; Fattoruso, G.; Di Francia, G.; Buonanno, A. “A maker friendly mobile and social sensing approach to urban air quality monitoring”, SENSORS, 2014 IEEE, IEEE, 12–16
work page 2014
-
[54]
SecondNose: an air quality mobile crowdsensing system
Leonardi, C.; Cappellotto, A.; Caraviello, M.; Lepri, B.; Antonelli, F. “SecondNose: an air quality mobile crowdsensing system”, Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational, ACM, 1051–1054
-
[55]
Using smartphone technology to reduce health impacts from atmospheric environmental hazards
Johnston, F. H.; Wheeler, A. J.; Williamson, G. J.; Campbell, S. L.; Jones, P. J.; Koolhof, I. S.; Lucani, C.; Cooling, N. B.; Bowman, D. “Using smartphone technology to reduce health impacts from atmospheric environmental hazards”, Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2018, pp.44019
work page 2018
-
[56]
Big data lifecycle: threats and security model
Alshboul, Y.; Nepali, R.; Wang, Y. “Big data lifecycle: threats and security model”, 2015
work page 2015
-
[57]
Conceptual framework for the security of mobile health applications on android platform
Hussain, M.; Zaidan, A. A.; Zidan, B. B.; Iqbal, S.; Ahmed, M. M.; Albahri, O. S.; Albahri, A. S. “Conceptual framework for the security of mobile health applications on android platform”, Telematics and Informatics, Vol. 35, No. 5, 2018, pp.1335–1354
work page 2018
-
[58]
Inside Job: Understanding and Mitigating the Threat of External Device Mis-Binding on Android
Naveed, M.; Zhou, X.; Demetriou, S.; Wang, X.; Gunter, C. A. “Inside Job: Understanding and Mitigating the Threat of External Device Mis-Binding on Android.”, NDSS
-
[59]
Karim, W. “The privacy implications of personal locators: why you should think twice before voluntarily availing yourself to GPS monitoring”, Wash. UJL & Pol’y, Vol. 14, 2004, pp.485
work page 2004
-
[60]
An approach to protect the privacy of cloud data from data mining based attacks
Dev, H.; Sen, T.; Basak, M.; Ali, M. E. “An approach to protect the privacy of cloud data from data mining based attacks”, 2012 SC Companion: High Performance Computing, Networking Storage and Analysis, IEEE, 1106–1115
work page 2012
-
[61]
Information security in big data: privacy and data mining
Xu, L.; Jiang, C.; Wang, J.; Yuan, J.; Ren, Y. “Information security in big data: privacy and data mining”, Ieee Access, Vol. 2, 2014, pp.1149–1176
work page 2014
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.