To assess the effect of a self-management intervention delivered by mobile application (APP) for depression among community-dwelling individuals with spinal cord injury.Randomized controlled trial.General communities in China.Community-dwelling individuals with spinal cord injury who were diagnosed within two years were recruited in this study. It was a convenience sample with an average age of 41.71, 82.7% participants were males.Participants in the intervention group received 5 sessions on self-management training provided by nurse-led multidisciplinary team via APP at the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 12th weeks respectively after they discharge from hospitals. A routine telephone counselling was provided for each participant in the control group by follow-up nurses at the 12th week after they discharge.The outcome of this study is depression, which is not the primary outcomes in the registration of this program. Depression was measured by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) at discharge (T0), the 12th week after discharge from hospitals (T1), and the 24th week after discharge from hospitals (T2).There were 98 participants (49 in the intervention group and 49 in the control group) completing the intervention and data collection. Compared with the control group, the intervention group had lower level of depression at T2 (B=-5.76; 95% CI= -9.97, -1.54; P =.007). Small to moderate effect sizes on depression favouring the intervention were demonstrated at T1 (Cohen's d=-.178) and T2 (Cohen's d=-.535).APP-based self-management support can be a potential intervention to reduce depression among community-dwelling individuals with spinal cord injury.Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.