Upgrading Trackers & Apps

According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Wellocracy, the majority of Americans currently using wearable activity trackers or mobile apps share their personal health and wellness data with others. Also, most Americans want to see personalized feedback on their data and are willing to pay for it especially from a trusted health expert.

Wellocracy developed by Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health, offers a free source of impartial easy-to-understand information on activity trackers, wearable devices, and mobile apps used to empower people to get and stay healthy.

However, according to the survey, 50 percent of women and 56 percent of men aged 35-44 reported that it is hard to stay motivated to live a healthy life, and about half wished they could make better use of the technology to track their health.

According to Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, Director, Center for Connected Health at Partners HealthCare, consumers are embracing personal connected health technologies but want more than just charts and graphs showing how many steps they have walked, calories consumed, and the number of hours of deep sleep they get during the night.

“They crave expert guidance, feedback on their personal health data, and the knowledge that someone who cares is watching and encouraging their progress. So if the value of wearable devices and apps is going to be more than a passing fad, we need to include personalized motivation and feedback mechanisms to keep individuals engaged. Without these features, health trackers will end up in a drawer after just a couple of weeks which is a trend we are unfortunately seeing today,” added Kvedar.