Ethics
MAY
The study protocol was submitted to the Cantonal Ethics Committee in Geneva (Req-2018-00356), which replied that the app was not a medical device and therefore the study did not need to be approved. The commission therefore did not review the protocol, but wrote in an e-mail dated 16 May 2018 that: “All indications are that this study is being conducted in accordance with the general ethical principles that apply to all research involving human subjects”. The online consent form described the study, risks and benefits, how confidentiality was maintained, and explained the data collection and data sharing procedures. Participants’ information was kept confidential and accessible only to the members of the research team (the project leaders, a computer expert and two research assistants). The dataset for analysis was anonymized, the only person who could access the code linking participants’ names and their responses to questionnaires was a computer expert under the supervision of the first author. There was no risk associated with the app itself and with the data collection procedure. We used appropriate security measures to protect the data. Participants in the control group were able to access to full Stop-Tabac app after the end of data collection. Results were published [