Determinants of Smartphone Health Applications Utilization among Students in University of Lagos Habeeb L. Owolabi 1 , Modinot F. Amusa 2 & Barakat O. Adekanmbi 3 Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education 1,2,3 University of Lagos, Nigeria. hablad@yahoo.com 1 ,medinahadefunke@gmail.com 2 ,badekanmbi@unilag.edu.ng 3 Corresponding author: hablad@yahoo.com, 08138456825 Abstract The use of Smartphone has become universal with little attention paid to health applications by phone users. Health applications on Smartphones are downloaded from various stores to inculcate positive health attitudes for an individual's wellbeing. The study investigated the determinants of Smartphone health applications utilization among University of Lagos students, Nigeria. The study was guided by four null hypotheses. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study included all undergraduate students at the University of Lagos. The sample of the study constituted three hundred (300) respondents while simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used. The instrument used for data collection was a validated questionnaire with a reliability of r= 0.92. Chi-square statistical analysis was used for data analysis. The finding of the study revealed that technical knowledge, awareness, student field of study and attitude of students have a significant influence on the utilization of Smartphone health application. Local mobile app developers should increase their marketing and advertising strategies for students to increase students' awareness, mobile apps should be designed in such a way that the field of study should be taken into consideration and hardware manufacturers should produce devices that have a long battery life span to encourage a positive attitude of the students towards the use of mobile health applications Keywords: Application, Health, Smartphone, Student, University, Utilization Introduction The use of Smartphone has become universal. It offers advanced technologies with functionality similar to a personal computer which is used for various purposes such as the abilities to place and receive voice calls, create and receive text messages, with those of other popular digital mobile devices like personal digital assistants (PDAs), such as an event calendar, media player, video games, GPS navigation, digital camera and digital video camera. According to AbuSaleh, Illhoiand Lincoln(2012), Smartphone is a new technology that combines mobile communication and computation in a handheld-sized device, facilitating mobile computing at the point of care. A comprehensive study was carried out by Becker (2016) and it was found that health applications assist patients in taking their medications as prescribed. Smartphones can access the Internet and can run a variety of third-party software components such as applications from places like Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Application is downloaded to carry out various functions like Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker for Period tracking, accurate predictions of ovulation period and personal health notes for a positive lifestyle change. Some other apps are Drink water reminder to track water habits, My Eyes Protection to prevent eye sprain, Healthy Eating Habits app and Quit smoking apps. The healthcare system is highly mobile, involving multiple clinical locations such as clinics, inpatient wards, outpatient services, emergency departments, operating theatres, intensive care units (ICUs), and laboratories. (Ammenwerth, Buchauer, Bludau & Haux, 2000; Banitsas, Georgiadis, Tachakra & Cavouras 2004; Bardram, 2005; Bardram & Bossen, 2005). As such, working in the healthcare system requires extensive mobility of healthcare professionals as well as communication and collaboration among different individuals, including their colleagues and patients. Healthcare professionals mainly used pagers for mobile communication until the wide availability of cell phones in the 1990s (Burdette, Herchline & Oehler). The advent of mobile Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) during the 1990s enabled healthcare professionals to organize their contacts and calendars electronically, adding another device in their pockets. The combined functionality of a pager, a cell phone and a PDA is now replaced by a single device called a "smartphone", which is becoming very popular among healthcare professionals as well as the general public (Wu, Morra, Quan, Lai, Zanjani, Abrams & Rossos, 2010). Smartphone technology and health applications are transforming health promotion. Smartphones are mobile devices with additional capabilities such as email, text messaging, video viewing, and wireless Internet access (Fukuoka, Komatsu & Suarez, 2011). Sherwood-Smith & Pritchard-Jones (2012) explained that applications, or apps, are downloadable software products that run on mobile devices. The emerging health technologies support the Healthy