Mark Twain famously said:

It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times.

I’m afraid I fall into the same club, though I very much hope that my current attempt at quitting the evil weed will be my last.

So can my Lumia smartphone help me give up smoking? I guess it’s a little early to tell, but I don’t think it’s likely to harm my current efforts. (Five weeks now, folks – wish me luck!)

In addition to a swathe of games and news apps to keep my hands occupied and attention away from ciggies, I’ve also installed the KickSmoking app to give myself some positive feedback on my progress.

 

You start off by entering how much cigarettes cost, how many you smoke each day, and the date and time you quit.

From that, the app is able to work out how much money you’ve saved, or contributed to the new gadget fund, as I prefer to call it.

More impressively, it also charts your body and mind’s recovery from the effects of tobacco addiction. These come over in a similar way to console game achievements. You feel like you’re really winning by holding out against temptation.

After a few hours, it pings you to tell you that your cardiovascular system has improved. A few days later that your body is now free of nicotine, and so forth. 

I find these updates more encouraging than the saved money. Apparently my cilia are now regenerating rapidly, whatever they are.

The other part of the app is a craving countdown. The developers reckon that most cravings only last three minutes. It gives you a countdown to watch instead of giving in and going to the shop for a packet of cigarettes. It’s a fairly trivial feature, but I’m sure it could help some people.

KickSmoking is available in paid ($1.99) and ad-supported varieties.

image credit: mendhak