Quality and Privacy Policy Compliance of Mental Health Care Apps in China: Cross-Sectional Evaluation Study

Abstract

Background: The global prevalence of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety is escalating, yet access to high-quality care remains severely limited. Although mental health care apps can enhance outcomes, their handling of highly sensitive personal data poses significant privacy risks. Objective: This study systematically investigated Chinese mental health care apps, assessing their quality and privacy policy compliance through an integrated framework of the Information Security Technology–Personal Information Security Specification (GB/t 35273-2020) and the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Methods: A comprehensive search on the Chinese iOS and Android platforms identified apps for evaluation by 2 independent reviewers. Each app was assessed for general characteristics, professional context, functionality, quality, and privacy policy compliance using a previously published privacy policy compliance scale and the MARS. Results: A comprehensive analysis of the 115 identified apps revealed that all provided privacy policy links on their marketplace interfaces. Of these 115 apps, 104 (90.4%) displayed policy reminders during log-in, but only 85 (73.9%) implemented policy pop-ups or required active user confirmation. The average privacy policy compliance score across the 115 apps was 60.83% (SD 21.75%), with the highest average compliance in general characteristics (80.58%, SD 19.01%) and the lowest in information destruction (49.57%, SD 28.67%). Only 2 (1.7%) of the 115 apps notified third parties to promptly delete personal information. The mean MARS score was 3.41 (SD 0.26), indicating generally good app quality. A significantly positive correlation was found between MARS total scores and overall privacy policy compliance (r=0.354; P