Promoting engagement with a mental health smartphone app: evidence from a randomized field experiment

Using a randomized field experiment, we provide evidence on how university students respond to interventions designed to encourage downloading and engaging with a mental health smartphone application (hereafter referred to as “app”). Our intervention targeted all students, both mentally healthy and unwell, and our sample was broadly representative (n = 1,812; women = 60%, men = 30%, non-binary/undisclosed = 10%). Paying students a small amount to download and engage with the app increased downlo