Examining the Role of "Green Apps" in Fostering Community Engagement for Sustainable HCI

Research in the "Sustainable HCI" community is shifting from individual to broader perspectives to enable more significant impacts from their insights for sustainable futures. A critical aspect of this shift is strengthening community engagement, where individuals come together to exchange ideas and practices around sustainability. In this study, we examine the extent to which "green apps" available in app stores support community engagement. Our findings reveal that while many green apps address individual sustainability concerns, they do not fully embrace the opportunity for higher levels of interaction among users, such as interpersonal, community and organisational interactions. This paper outlines a pathway for enhancing community engagement in green apps and highlights the need for greater integration of interactions beyond the individual level.