SELECTION METHOD
A market of 4.6 million resources. A method for pulling out what actually matters.
Digital health tools are proliferating faster than the capacity to evaluate them.
Our method combines automated monitoring with structuring of existing standards, enriched by human evaluation to make those standards useful and decision-ready.
Clinical, regulatory, and cybersecurity criteria
Internationally recognized frameworks
Results you can defend in front of your governance
THE PROBLEM
Manual search isn't enough
Too much volume
The market is growing faster than your capacity to evaluate it. Searching manually through 4.6 million resources is not a strategy.
Inconsistent criteria
Popularity, store rating, word-of-mouth. The implicit criteria shift depending on who's searching — and none of them hold up.
No link to deployment
An evaluation that doesn't lead to a usable collection remains an academic exercise.
Inconsistent recommendations
Without shared infrastructure, every professional recommends based on their own reference points. The result: variability, risk, and loss of trust.
THE SOLUTION
How it works
A hybrid infrastructure: AI + human judgment
Artificial intelligence
A custom AI model continuously monitors the market based on your topics, target populations, and guiding principles. It detects, filters, and structures — at a scale that's impossible manually.
Human expertise
Our trained evaluators step in to analyze, compare, and help you decide. Because the real relevance of a tool in a given context demands human judgment.
How we structure the evaluation
Six structured dimensions, tailored to your context.
Security and privacy
Cybersecurity, data protection, regulatory compliance.
Usability
Accessibility, user experience, barriers to real-world adoption.
Context of use
Compatibility with your practices, systems, and organization.
Quality and evidence
Level of evidence, clinical endorsements, alignment with the literature.
Clinical relevance
Fit with an identified care or self-care need.
Governance
Regulatory frameworks, organizational policies, compliance.
Recognized frameworks
INESSS NICE ISO 82304-2 DiGA Digi-HTA ORCHA HONcode PEMAT WCAG SOC 2
We operationalize the most established frameworks in digital health technology assessment.
We actively track the work of the Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI), which systematically evaluates the clinical and economic outcomes of digital health by topic area.
In Quebec, we draw on the work of INESSS and initiatives such as Soignons la tech.
Our overall model aligns with WHO guidance and the Ottawa Model in health promotion.
AppGuide contributes to the science
Our work helps test and validate the applicability of existing evaluation standards to techniques related to self-care activation and the selection of appropriate tools — in real-world contexts.
The gap between popularity and quality
The highest-rated apps in the stores aren't the best clinically. Our study published in Frontiers in Digital Health documents this gap and its implications for practice.
Reliability of evaluation methods
The international standard ISO 82304-2 for health and wellness apps was tested and validated by our team in a study published in JMIR Formative Research (2025).
Feasibility in primary care
Our model has evolved through research. In 2021, we published our first study on a mental health app library, which helped shape the model.
How we roll it out
Count on 2 to 4 weeks between the first conversation and your first deployed collection.
Week 1
Scoping
We map out your priority topics, target populations, and guiding principles. The AI is configured for your specific context.
Week 2
Identification and triage
Our infrastructure scans 4.6M+ resources against your topic. Relevant candidates are identified and structured.
Week 3
Structured evaluation
Our evaluators assess the tools against our multi-criteria grid. A clear summary, a concrete recommendation — not a 50-page report.
Delivery
Collection ready to deploy
Embedded in your portal, your existing infrastructure, or presented to your teams. What isn't used goes away. What works stays.
Do you have a topic in mind?
Our method adapts to your context — populations, regulatory constraints, guiding principles.
Talk to an expert Request a demo