Objective: To explore effectiveness of exercise intervention and group cognitive therapy on mobile phone dependence in college students. Methods: A total of 762 college students from a university in Wuhan were selected through random cluster sampling method in Oct. 2019. Among them, 126 students with higher risk for mobile phone dependence were selected as experimental group which were assigned to four groups:open exercise group(basketball,31),close exercise group(baduanjin,31), group cognitive group(30) and control group(34). The exercise group attended 60 min intervention twice a week for 10 weeks. The effectiveness was evaluated through the changes in the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI). Results: The 10week exercise and group based cognitive therapy intervention can improve mobile phone dependence behavior among college students ( F group= 4.54, F time = 3.67, P <0.05). Among them, the open exercise group and the group cognitive therapy group showed slightly better effects( t= 0.06, P >0.05). In the follow up visit two months after intervention, no significant difference between the closed exercise group and the post test results( t=1.23, P >0.05). In the dimensions of out of control and withdrawal, the open exercise was more effective than the closed exercise intervention( t=2.58, 2.67, P <0.05). Conclusion Open exercise group has similar effect on improvement in mobile phone dependence with group cognitive therapy among college students, while closed exercise intervention shows better long term effect.