Study: Smartphone users slow on the health app-take

WASHINGTON: US consumers are being offered a cornucopia of smartphone apps to track or manage health, but only a small number of people are using them, according to a survey released.

The Pew Research Centre’s study found that only about 7% of people surveyed used a smartphone app to track a health indicator like weight, diet, exercise routine or to monitor a chronic disease such as diabetes.

“There’s still a low uptake in terms of apps and technology,” said lead researcher Susannah Fox.

“It is surprising. We’ve been looking at health apps since 2010, and health app uptake has been essentially flat for three years.”

The research suggests that consumers are slow to latch on to smartphone technology for health even in a market with hundreds of new apps coming on the market to manage weight and track blood pressure, pregnancy, diabetes or medication.

“There’s a proliferation of choices, and consumers are being faced with a food court of options,” Fox said.

“What we see is that consumers are losing their appetite.”

Fox said her research and other studies have shown that systematic tracking for health issues is helpful.

The researchers found that 19 percent of smartphone owners have downloaded an app related to health, although these were not necessarily used for monitoring a specific health issue. — AFP