Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

1. Studies with adults (≥ 18 years)

2. Type 1 diabetes

3. Studies focusing on mHealth apps^a

4. Studies carried out in any country and settings (such as primary care, outpatient or community settings)

5. Published in peer reviewed scientific journals

6. Published in English

1. Studies focusing on mHealth apps for diabetes prevention or pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes

2. Studies with pregnant women or children with diabetes as the study population

3. mHealth apps addressing single self-care domains like physical activity, diet management, educational aspects or psychosocial aspects alone

4. Studies focusing on reviewing apps in application stores, review studies, technical design, or technical evaluation of mHealth apps (irrelevant study designs)

5. Studies conducted before 2010

6. Studies with software applications that are solely web-based and can only be accessed through an internet browser application in the mobile device

7. Studies where the outcomes of interest were not measured or reported or were irrelevant (common irrelevant outcomes were for example HbA1C, time or percentage time in target blood sugar range, quality adjusted life years, economic outcomes etc.)