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Background  Smartphones and their applications (apps) impact society and health care. With the growth of smartphone users and app downloads in China, patients with chronic diseases have access to a self-management strategy for physical activity. Although studies report physical activity apps improve the physical activity of patients, data is limited concerning their use of these apps. Therefore, this study investigated the current usage, willingness to use, and barriers to using physical activity apps of Chinese patients with chronic diseases.    Methods  We designed a questionnaire to collect data from chronic disease patients in a tertiary hospital in Beijing, which was sent to 250 patients in four departments.    Results  Two hundred eighteen questionnaires were returned (87.2% response rate). Most (92.7%) respondents owned a smartphone, 34.9% had used a physical activity app, and 18.8% were current users. Additionally, 53.7% were willing to use a physical activity app designed for them. Respondents more likely to use physical activity apps were younger (i.e., ≤ 44 years), more educated, current smartphone users, and previous users of physical activity apps; moreover, they believed they needed exercise, their disease required exercise instruction and support, and their physical status needed monitored when exercising ( p  < 0.05). Main barriers to using apps reported were insufficient function, difficulty of use, extra cost, and security issues.    Conclusions  Our results indicate sizeable smartphone ownership among Chinese patients with chronic diseases; moreover, over half of our participants report they would use a physical activity app designed for them. This information can be leveraged by healthcare workers managing patients with chronic diseases.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12911-017-0446-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Facilitators and barriers to using physical activity smartphone apps among Chinese patients with chronic diseases