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If you’re one of the 70 per cent of UK smokers that wants to quit smoking, but hasn’t yet been successful, you’ll know that kicking the habit is not easy.

TV and film may have us believe that flushing your half-finished packet of cigarettes down the toilet is enough to miraculously cure you of the urge to light up, but anyone’s who's actually gone cold turkey will tell you differently.

The reality is that, as with any addiction, the majority of us need a bit of a helping hand to get us on our way.

That’s where Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) comes in. The therapy, which teaches the smoker to change their negative thinking patterns associated with the habit, is proven to be one of the most successful ways of breaking the cycle.

Despite its effectiveness, many people are put off by the cost of hiring a private therapist, not to mention finding a regular slot of time off from work to be able to complete a course of CBT.

Isn’t it just easier to ignore the problem and hope it goes away of it’s own volition?

Now a health-tech startup founded by medical students from Imperial College London is promising to help struggling smokers across the UK to put down the cigarettes for good with a new app that puts the therapist in your pocket.

Designed by leading health experts, Quit Genius is a downloadable CBT programme that’s been struggling smokers can access on their phone whenever they have the urge to light up.

The ‘smoking therapy app’ is the first of it’s kind, gamifying the smoker’s journey with daily streak counts, unexpected trophies and time-based challenges.

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As well as challenge elements to incentivise smokers to stay on-track, the app also allows users to set up a personalised plan to cut down at their own pace.

Much like face-to-face CBT courses, the app guides the user through an eight-week personalised programme of therapy techniques and homework.

Currently, less than two per cent of smokers looking to quit in the UK try to stop smoking by using behavioural therapy, but app creators Digital Therapeutics believe that their new piece of tech could help thousands of smokers to finally quit for good.

The health start-up has been backed by Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD) and Wayra UK, part of Telefónica Open Future_, and is available to download to iPhone from the iTunes Store.