In many health care settings (at home, at clinics, et al), it is uneconomical, impractical, or unaffordable to maintain a well-equipped diagnostics laboratory. There is an urgent need for disposable diagnostic systems that require no complex instrument support (Fig. A), or significant training. Especially, the combination of inexpensive POC diagnostic device with ubiquitous smartphone-based detection technology will create a new paradigm shift for cost-effective, mobile, personalized, health monitoring in both the developed and the developing countries. We have exploited an inexpensive, electricity-free, thermal battery for nucleic acid amplification testing by taking advantage of exothermic reaction. We are leveraging ubiquitous smartphone technology to develop a non-instrumented, inexpensive, smartphone-based molecular diagnostic platform (dubbed the “smart cup”) (Fig. B), which may pave the way for the development of home-based molecular diagnostics (i.e., HIV viral load test at home, cervical cancer self screening) and mobile health (mHealth).