Health parameters monitoring by smartphone for quality of life improvement

•Aim of the work is to provide an overview of most significant health-care applications.•A comparison of such applications to the traditional medical devices is discussed.•The strong and weak points of each application is highlighted.•Limits and possible future research direction are argued.

The large diffusion of smartphones equipped with new built-in sensors has stimulated researchers to develop applications in different fields. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of the most significant health-care applications. Interest is focused on the use of (i) 3D accelerometer for actimetric, body posture and falls monitoring, (ii) camera for evaluating cardiovascular system parameters, blood oxygen saturation, and eye pathologies, and (iii) microphone for recognizing diseases of the respiratory system. A comparison of these applications to traditional medical devices is discussed, in order to highlight strong and weak points. Limits and possible future research directions are argued.