Fitness apps may provide long-term motivation to stay active
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- Reviewed by Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
Fitness apps can help motivate people to exercise, but how long can the effect last? A study published online Sept. 23, 2025, by the British Journal of Sports Medicine explored how an app used to track daily steps could improve the physical activity of more than 500,000 people over a two-year period.
The participants used an app for one to two weeks to establish a baseline number of average daily steps. The researchers classified them into four categories: low (less than 5,000 steps); medium (5,000 to 7,499); high (7,500 to 9,999); and very high (10,000 and above).
The participants then used the fitness app to record their daily steps for two years. They received a small incentive (points redeemable for consumer goods like movie tickets and gas) for meeting step goals, such as 10% higher than their baseline or their previous month’s average.
Approximately 40% of participants had increased their daily steps by more than 1,000 at the one- and two-year marks. People in the low step category had the greatest increase, averaging almost 2,000 more steps per day from their baseline at one year and maintaining that number at two years. While the study results suggest that many people who regularly wear a fitness app increase their activity because of the app, other factors probably also contributed to the motivation to improve.
Image: © Oleg Breslavtsev/Getty Images
About the Author
Matthew Solan, Former Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch
About the Reviewer
Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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