New Smartphone App Aims to Help Smokers Kick the Habit

Trying to quit smoking? A new smartphone app may help you kick the habit.

Mobile safety smartphone application developer Iconosys Inc. recently released its new "I Can Quit™" app, a new health-related smartphone app "aimed at providing assistance and tracking for person's effort to cease habits like smoking," according to a press release. 

An estimated 50 million Americans smoke, and an estimated 17 million try to quit smoking each year with very little success, the release stated. 

To succeed, they "simply need additional help to make these changes a reality."

The British medical journal The Lancet published a 2011 study, which found that nearly 11 percent of smokers who received encouraging and supportive text messages while refraining from smoking were successful in quiting, according to the press release:

In the Lancet study, text message support was provided to a portion of the 5800 study participants, encouraging them to keep up the good work in trying to quit, while a portion of the participants received a placebo text, thanking them for participating only (and without any supportive references to the effort to quit).  In further follow up interviews of participants who successfully quit the smoking habit, participants are reported to have said that the texts helped them in their efforts to stay on track with quitting, and, in particular, helped them keep from feeling isolated and alone in their mission to "kick the habit."

The I Can Quit™ Smartphone app (ICQ) does not currently provide two-way text support, but does sends supportive texts to the user throughout the day, "motivating the quitter to continue his or her efforts toward a habit-free day," the release stated.

The messages that are transmitted to the user come in at pre-programmed intervals, or can be customized in terms of content and/or frequency of transmission by the user/quitter, a loved one or a care-provider as it is requested or required.  In particular, a timer and a quota can be set as to how many and the recurrence or frequency of messages that the quitter may get throughout the day.

The app is available now for download from Amazon AppStore, Android Marketplace, GetJar, and the AppHysteria Appstore.

Iconosys plans to sell the app in the future and provide a portion of the profits to nonprofit organizations that support of programs aimed at helping quitters quit, currently the present time the app is free of charge, according to the release.