Surgeon General Launches Healthy Apps Challenge

Application developers with an interest in fitness take note: Uncle Sam is on the lookout for your best ideas that combine mobile technology and healthy living. The U.S. Office of the Surgeon General launched the Healthy Apps Challenge on Dec. 6, designed to encourage the development of mobile applications that help people make healthy choices. The contest asks developers to create health, wellness and fitness apps that provide health information to the general public and help those users engage in healthy behaviors.

Winning apps will be chosen in three categories:

1. Fitness/physical activity — apps aimed at people who don’t normally exercise regularly.
2. Nutrition/healthy eating — apps focused on quickly prepared home meals and obtaining healthy food while on the go.
3. Integrative health — apps designed to pull together multiple aspects of wellness, such as healthy sleep habits and lifestyle behavior change.