ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2021
Influence of COVID-19 Lockdowns on the Usage of a Vision Assistance App Among Global Users With Visual Impairment: Big Data Analytics Study.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Critical Success Factors for Avoiding the Disruption of Assistive Technology Services in the Post-Pandemic Era.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Stargardt's Connected Research Network Inaugural Meeting: Landscape Review and Horizon Scanning of Stargardt Disease.Translational vision science & technology · 2025Review
- Comprehensive Review: High-Performance Positioning Systems for Navigation and Wayfinding for Visually Impaired People.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMillions of individuals with visual impairment use vision assistance apps to help with their daily activities. The most widely used vision assistance apps are magnifier apps. It is still largely unknown what the apps are used for. Lack of insight into the visual needs of individuals with visual impairment is a hurdle for the development of more effective assistive technologies.
objectiveThis study aimed to investigate how needs for visual aids may vary with social activities, by observing the changes in the usage of a smartphone magnifier app when many users take breaks from work.
methodsThe number of launches of the SuperVision Magnifier app was determined retrospectively from 2018 to 2020 from among active users worldwide. The fluctuation in app usage was examined by comparing weekday vs weekend periods, Christmas and new year vs nonholiday seasons, and COVID-19 lockdowns vs the easing of restriction during the pandemic.
resultsOn average, the app was used 262,466 times by 38,237 users each month in 2020 worldwide. There were two major trough points on the timeline of weekly app usage, one aligned with the COVID-19 lockdowns in April 2020 and another aligned with the Christmas and new year week in 2018 and 2019. The app launches declined by 6947 (11% decline; P<.001) during the lockdown and by 5212 (9% decline; P=.001) during the holiday weeks. There was no significant decline during March to May 2019. App usage compensated for seasonal changes was 8.6% less during weekends than during weekdays (P<.001).
conclusionsThe need for vision assistance technology was slightly lower during breaks and lockdowns, probably because the activities at home were different and less visually demanding. Nevertheless, for the entire user population, the needs for visual aids are still substantial.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.