Researchers develop app that monitors mental health by measuring phone-use

Amid  the rise in mental health issues during the Covid-19 lockdown, researchers have developed a mental health mobile app that can detect anxiety and depression by how individuals use their phones.

The app called PROSIT was created by the researchers at the Dalhousie University. The app tracks features like exercise, sleep, call frequency, message histories and music tastes

Also, the app will ask the users to record a 90-second audio clip to talk about their best and exciting part of the week and they will be asked to self-report their feelings on a five-point scale.

PROSIT can collect information about a user’s mental health by tracking how they type.Rita Orji, a computer scientist at Dalhousie who helped in the development of the app, said, “When people are emotional, angry, you want to send an emotional text. Not only the speed of your typing changes, but also the force you apply on the keyboard to type also changes”

Although the app cannot provide complete detail about the mental health of the user, it can provide useful information regarding his/her mental state.

In order to tackle the privacy issue, the use of app requires a signed consent and the data will be stored in a secure location.