Text and video messages designed to help people quit smoking nearly doubled the success rate for attempted quitters, compared to people who didn’t have such assistance, in a new review of several studies.

Researchers found nine percent of would-be quitters made it without cigarettes for at least six months when reminded and encouraged through cell phone messages, compared to five percent who went it alone.

“We can’t say all text messaging interventions are going to work. It depends on how they were developed, but it certainly shows there’s reason to believe that mobile phone-based interventions are a good option to think about adding to your portfolio of smoking cessation services,” said Robyn Whittaker, the lead author of the review

from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Cell phone programs included in the review involved a text or video sent to smokers each day for several weeks, preparing them for their designated quit day with motivation and advice.

Once the quit day arrived, participants often received multiple messages a day for weeks, offering encouragement, tips on getting through cravings and additional resources to get back on the horse after a relapse.

In an earlier review of the research several years ago, Whittaker and her colleagues found such interventions were helpful in the first few weeks of quitting, but there wasn’t enough evidence to say whether they had any impact beyond that.

In their latest analysis, published in The Cochrane Library, the group was able to include three more studies – for a total of five – comparing cell phone messaging to no extra help. Whittaker and other review authors were involved in most of these original studies.