Introduction: The rehabilitation is well known to improve the symptoms, quality of life, and even survival in patients with chronic respiratory or cardiovascular disease.

Aims and objectives: We evaluated the efficacy of smartphone application-based rehabilitation programs specialized for patients with chronic respiratory or cardiovascular disease.

Methods: A total of 108 patients were recruited (48, 45, and 15 patients from pulmonary, cardiac, and geriatric department, respectively). They underwent smartphone application-based pulmonary or cardiac rehabilitation based on their underlying disease for 12 weeks. Clinical outcomes, including exercise capacity, symptom score, and quality of life questionnaires, were compared between the baseline and the end of rehabilitation.

Results: A total of 85 patients completed the follow-up visits. Their mean age was 65.3 ± 9.3 years and 60 (70.6%) were men. Fifty-six (65.9%) patients had smoking history. For pulmonary rehabilitation (n = 41), COPD assessment test (median 14 to 6, P < 0.001), ?EQ-5D-5L (median 8 to 6, P = 0.003), and HINT-8 (median 15 to 11, P < 0.001) were significantly improved. For cardiac rehabilitation (n = 33), maximal oxygen consumption (median 21.8 to 23.9 ml/kg/min, P = 0.053), and HINT-8 (median 11 to 10, P = 0.062) were marginally significantly improved. For geriatric patients (n = 11), HINT-8 (median 16 to 11, P = 0.029) was significantly improved.

Conclusions: Smartphone application-based rehabilitation improved clinical outcomes in patient with chronic respiratory or cardiovascular disease.