Our team of experts continually monitor, assess and ask questions, so they can give consumers, professionals and health and care bodies across the world accurate, impartial and up to date advice on finding the best apps.

Here, we pick the most significant market developments from over the past month:

Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health to Launch Safe mHealth Platform with ORCHA

ORCHA is working with the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health to launch a safe mHealth platform, enabling countries such as Uganda to adopt digital health.

ORCHA CEO elected for techUK Health and Social Care Council

Through her position on the Council, Liz, ORCHA’s CEO and Co-Founder, will work with the other Council members to guide the work of the programme team, provide a sounding board for activity, and steer the work of techUK in order to represent the healthtech industry in its totality.

Accessible Apps: Which Languages are Most Supported?

With the recent rise in mHealth app usage across the globe, accessing health information in multiple language is of vital importance. Our breakdown of accessible languages reveals that the apps on ORCHA’s App Library support 36 different languages.

On behalf of NHS organisations, ORCHA tests more apps than anyone else, looking at effectiveness, safety, security and usability. Here are three top scoring apps that will help kick-start New Year’s resolutions:

My Quit Route provides advice and tools to help with quitting smoking. It can be used either on its own or in combination with Nicotine Replacement Therapy (such as patches, gums, sprays or lozenges), stop smoking medications (such as Champix or Zyban) or e-cigarettes. Read My Quit Route’s ORCHA Review here.

Fitbit is the world’s leading app for tracking all-day activity, workouts, sleep and more. The app can be used on its own to track basic activity and runs on your phone, or can be connected with one of Fitbit’s many activity trackers, helping you track multiple aspects of your health, including steps, distance, calories burned, sleep, and weight. Read Fitbit’s ORCHA Review here.

Dry Days by AlcoChange is a great companion for changing drinking habits. You can see how much money is saved by cutting down alcohol intake, it tracks your sleep and mood, and allows users to share progress with friends and family. Read Dry Days’ ORCHA Review here.

Having grown from an initial 5 people to 37 since 2016, ORCHA is continually expanding throughout the UK and internationally. It has been exciting for the whole ORCHA Team to witness this growth and the impact of the company within the digital health industry.

We are, therefore, delighted to have been chosen by leading business experts as one of the top 20 North West most exciting companies to watch out for in 2020! We are proud to stand alongside some fantastic, innovative companies, and look forward to further improving patient outcomes across the globe with our digital health solution.

Over the next year, ORCHA plans to double in size, place its solution in many more countries, and continue to be the world leader in health & care app reviews and distribution.

To read more about why ORCHA is one of “the region’s most exciting companies to watch out for for the year ahead”, and to see the other nominees, please follow this link.

The use of mHealth (mobile health) applications has risen significantly in recent years, not only in industrialised nations, but also in developing countries. The increased use of mobile technology in low- and middle-income countries provides an opportunity for mHealth to improve populations’ access to effective healthcare.

As such, it’s important that mHealth apps are supported in multiple languages. Whether for accessing health information, diagnosing and tracking diseases, and providing details of public health services, ORCHA understands the need for health app which are supported in multiple languages. We review apps developed in many countries across the world, and our Review includes looking at the supported languages that an app can be viewed in or translated into.

What are the top 5 most supported languages for apps on ORCHA’s App Library?

• English: 3,853 apps on our App Library are available in English
• German: 355 apps can be translated into or are available in German
• Spanish: 333 apps on ORCHA’s App Library are accessible in Spanish
• French: French speakers can access 306 apps on our App Library
• Italian: 252 apps reviewed by ORCHA are available in or can be translated into Italian

Whilst this suggests that a large proportion of demand for health and care apps comes from European-speaking countries, ORCHA has also reviewed apps that are supported in Chinese (234), Japanese (226), Russian (222), Turkish (103), Arabic (67), Thai (55) and Vietnamese (46). Our App Library supports 36 different languages in total.