quitSTART app

The quitSTART app is designed to support and motivate you on your journey to become smokefree.

• The main part of the app is the “Explore” and “Quit Kit” tabs. The Explore section lets you look at brief cards with tips, inspiration, information about health effects of smoking, and challenges to try. These are intended to provide motivation and support on your smokefree journey, and include many tips that are beneficial for overall health.
• You can add any of these cards as favourites to your “Quit Kit”, so you can quickly find the ones that are relevant to you.
• The “Home” tab on the app has buttons to press if you're having a craving or if you slipped/smoked a cigarette. This will take you to a “quit card” which is advice or motivation to help you on your smokefree journey. It will also give you an option to get a notification with a smokefree tip when you're in the same location next, or at the same time tomorrow (if you feel that the location or time is a trigger for you).
• On the home page, you can also record your mood (“feeling down” or “I’m great”). If you're feeling down, the app displays a tip or inspiration to help with your mood. If you are feeling great, you can add a happy photo from your day to use as motivation later. The home page also has a “distract me” tab, with mini games to play if you need distraction.
• When you first get the app, you are asked to add information about how many cigarettes you normally smoke, and what your quit date is (this can be today, a previous day if you have already quit, or a future date if you are not quite ready yet). The “Progress” tab will calculate how much money you have saved since you quit (note this is based on US information and US dollars so will not be accurate for NZ). This page also displays your quit date, how many cravings or slips you have recorded, and a counter which shows how long since you joined the app.
• The app offers you to add notifications based on time of day or location, so if you find you are more tempted to smoke in a specific place or time, the app will give you a smokefree reminder/tip when it is most needed.
• There's also an achievement system, where you earn badges as you use the app and make progress with your smokefree journey.

For the complete app description, go to the app website(external link), Google Play(external link), App Store(external link) or, for a more detailed review, see reviews below.

Clinical review

Reviewer: Emma Riddell, Clinical Pharmacist, Te Whatu Ora
Date of review: May 2024
Platform: Android
Version: 2.1.53
Comments: This app is meant to provide motivation and support to help you quit smoking. Compared to other apps in this category, I found quitSTART to be less user-friendly and less helpful. While other apps have a counting timer to display time since you quit, this app's counter shows time since you downloaded the app. It is US-based, so your “quit date” is displayed in US format, and the estimated “dollars saved” is in US dollars, and based on estimated cost of cigarettes in America. The motivational tips/inspiration/facts were less helpful and less relevant than those I have seen in other apps. However, if you look through the motivational cards, you can ‘favourite’ the ones that appeal/work for you (these will be saved to the “quit kit” tab). If you like gaining achievements in apps, this app has a badge system where you earn badges as you use the app and progress on your smokefree journey.
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: Yes the app is relevant to a New Zealand audience, but the “quit date” is displayed in US format (mm-dd-yyyy), and the estimated “dollars saved” is displayed in US dollars and is calculated based on the average cost of cigarettes in America. Some of the stats given in the “Explore section” (eg,. health effects of smoking) are based on US information/stats – however they are still likely relevant to NZ.