Study finds many health apps downloaded but go unused
NEW YORK — Like the treadmills and stationary bikes that become rec room coatracks, fitness and other health-related smartphone apps are acquired in large numbers by Americans, but over time, many are left unused by those who download them, according to a new study.
The results of an online national survey — published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research mHealth and uHealth online Nov. 3 and analyzed by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center — show that 58% of 1,604 adult smartphone users had downloaded one of the estimated 40,000 available health-related mobile applications, and 42% had downloaded five or more.
“Our study suggests that while many Americans have embraced health apps along with their smartphones, there are challenges to keeping users engaged, and many Americans who might benefit are not using them at all,” said Paul Krebs, study lead investigator, clinical psychologist and an assistant professor at NYU Langone. “There is still much more to be learned about how we can broaden the appeal and make best use of the wide variety of health apps now available — not just for fitness and nutrition, but for other purposes, such as monitoring sleep and scheduling medical appointments.”
Among survey respondents, some 41% said they would never pay anything for a health app, 20% would pay only up to $1.99, while 23% said they would pay at most between $2 and $5.99. In the survey population, those most likely to use health apps were overall younger, more educated, of higher income, of Hispanic ethnicity, or obese (with a body mass index of 30 or more).
Some 65% of those surveyed said the apps had improved their health, and a majority also had a strong degree of faith in health apps’ accuracy and effectiveness. Most downloaded and used health apps are related to personal fitness and nutrition: to track physical activity (53%), food consumption (48%), weight loss (47%) and exercise instruction (34%). Some 65% of respondents, equally split among men and women, reported using their apps daily.
But as many as 46% reported having downloaded an app they no longer used. In addition, concerns about cost, disinterest over time, and privacy were apparent barriers to wider and more effective use of the apps.
“Smartphone applications have tremendous potential to help market healthy lifestyle habits to people who may be harder to reach in other ways, especially minorities, and those with lower incomes and serious health problems,” stated study senior investigator and NYU Langone epidemiologist Dustin Duncan. But far more must also be done to test and validate the health benefits of apps, added Krebs. He suggested that app developers also need to address consumer concerns about privacy, keeping purchase costs low, and reducing the burden of data entry.
According to Krebs, the most common reasons for people not downloading apps were lack of interest, cost, high volume of information that needed to be entered on a daily basis, and concern about apps collecting their personal data.