## 4 Methods
### Alternatives Used for the Study  
We considered five mHealth applications (considered as alternatives) in evaluating usability and ranking them based on users' feedback as mentioned in Table 3 [38].  
Figure 4 depicts the screenshots of the homepages of these applications. The services that these applications provide are listed below.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Alternatives** & **T2 DM mHealth Applications** \\ \hline Alt 1 & Glucose Buddy \\ Alt 2 & mySugr \\ Alt 3 & Diabetes:M \\ Alt 4 & Blood Glucose Tracker \\ Alt 5 & OneTouch Reveal \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 3: Alternatives for the system under consideration.  
Glucose Buddy (Altl)): This application provides the following services:  
* It can simply enter blood glucose, medication, and meals in one entry, as well as track blood sugar, insulin, weight, blood pressure, A1C, and other trends.
* Notes to entries can be added for future reference, and can track walks and other cardio activities automatically.
* Real-time blood sugar monitoring is a simple and hassle-free solution for diabetes management.
* It offers professional assistance and guidance. mySugr (Alt 2): The following are the best features of the mySugr application:  
Figure 4: Screenshots of the homepage of the five T2 DM mHealth applications taken into consideration.  
* It provides a personalized logging screen that can capture data from a Bluetooth-enabled blood glucose meter and it can analyze the trend to provide a quick overview of blood glucose levels.
* It provides a better searching feature for logging meals and activities, which aids with diabetes management.
* It has the capability to deliver the maximum level of data protection, in accordance with the general data protection regulation (GDPR).  
Diabetes: M (Alt 3): By offering the following services, this mHealth application delivers everything necessary for optimal health management:  
* It helps in providing the user with extensive information.
* It provides remote diabetes management that is effective.
* It displays the report in a statistical format (such as a bar chart) that helps users to understand it.
* It has the ability to recognize patterns and look for any pre-defined reoccurring problems, as well as the causes of their development.
* It incorporates an insulin bolus calculator that calculates insulin, depending on nutritional data.  
Blood Glucose Tracker (Alt 4): The following are the services provided by this application:  
* Throughout the day (such as breakfast, lunch, and supper), it monitors blood glucose at various levels to assist patients in maintaining effective blood sugar control.
* It can also track blood pressure, weight, and HbA1c levels, among other things.
* It filters history by event type/tag, where tags are useful to keep track of reactions to exercise, types of food, etc.  
OneTouch Reveal (Alt 5): The following are the distinguishing characteristics of this mHealth application:  
* It uses a unique color-coding system to organize blood sugar information in a way that novice users can understand.
* It provides automatically alerts for repeated highs or lows so that a user may take appropriate action.
* It establishes a daily goal for logging steps, carbohydrates, and activities.
* It notifies when it is time to take a blood sugar test and when it is time to take insulin.