We report on a 10-month in-the-wild study of the adoption, engagement and discontinuation of an activity tracker called Habito, by a sample of 256 users who installed the tracker on their own volition. We found ‘readiness’ to behavior change to be a strong predictor of adoption (which ranged from 56% to 20%). Among adopters, only a third updated their daily goal, which in turn impacted their physical activity levels. The use of the tracker was dominated by glances – brief, 5-sec sessions where users called the app to check their current activity levels with no further interaction, while users displayed true lack of interest in historical data. Textual feedback proved highly effective in fueling further engagement with the tracker as well as inducing physical activity. We propose three directions for design: designing for different levels of ‘readiness’, designing for multilayered and playful goal setting, and designing for sustained engagement.

1. How Do We Engage with Activity Trackers?
A Longitudinal Study of Habito
Ruben Gouveia, Evangelos Karapanos & Marc Hassenzahl

2. 1200
steps
Activity trackers have the
potential of encouraging
physical activity
Chan et al., 2002
Steps per day increased from 7,029 to
10,480 after 4 weeks of intervention.

3. 1 in every 10 US adults has purchased an
activity tracker for personal use
Hammond, 2014

4. One third of these stop using their
devices within 6 months of receiving it.
Hammond, 2014

5. do activity trackers create new practices up
to a point they are no longer necessary or
fail to address users needs?

6. inquiring into the adoption, engagement
and discontinuation of activity trackers

7. inquiring into the adoption, engagement
and discontinuation of activity trackers
#1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement

8. inquiring into the adoption, engagement
and discontinuation of activity trackers
#1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement
#2 look at the impact engagement has on physical activity levels

9. inquiring into the adoption, engagement
and discontinuation of activity trackers
#1 look at the frequency, duration, and nature of users’ engagement
#2 look at the impact engagement has on physical activity levels
#3 acquire a long-term, naturalistic estimate of adoption rates

10. Habito
!! !

11. goal setting
how frequently do users update their goals?
do people with different goals engage differently?
how do people engage with their activity trackers
as they progress towards their goals?

12. informational and
persuasive messages
how many messages do users read per session?
how do informational strategies trigger action
compared to persuasive?

13. contextualising historical
data through location
how frequently do people engage
with their historical information?

14. 256 users downloaded Habito over
the course of 10 months
none of these users were recruited or rewarded towards usage

15. usage sessions
physical activity
30 seconds;
4 minutes
4 minutes;
500 meters;

16. stages of behavior change
questionnaire
understanding how different stages of ‘readiness’ impacted adoption

17. stages of behavior change
questionnaire
understanding how different stages of ‘readiness’ impacted adoption
precontemplation currently have no intention of being active
contemplation not active but intend to be soon
preparation trying, but not regularly active
action regularly active, but for less than 6 months
maintenance regularly active for 6 months or more

18. 62% (159) stopped using Habito
within their first week of use
97 adopters, which used the app for more than a week

19. precontemplation
5 of 36, 14%
contemplation
preparation
action
maintenance
14 of 26, 54%
19 of 33, 58%
7 of 24, 29%
4 of 19, 21%
Readiness for use:
motivation and adoption

20. Glances
sessions in which users open and
close Habito with no additional
actions or inputs
57%, 5 sec
Review Engage
22%,12 sec 21%,45 sec
sessions with at least one
additional actions and last
up to 22 seconds
sessions with at least one
additional actions and last
more than 22 seconds
Usage sessions

21. Glances
73%
Review Engage
18% 9%
Usage sessions

22. Usage sessions
historical information was only accessed
in 30% of all usage sessions
even more, 87% of these concerned an ongoing day

23. Only 31% of users updated their
preset goal of 1000 steps
Design strategies

24. novel content prolongs engagements
and brings users back quicker
Recurring
7sec
Novel
15sec
21min 13min
session
duration
time to next
session

25. dual nature of persuasive messages: short-
term change, yet aversion and reactance
Informational
13sec
Persuasive
7sec
13min 22min
38min 29min
session
duration
time to next
session
time to next
walk
distance walked
to next session
203meters 359meters

26. current trackers work at intermediate stages of behaviour change,
where users have the intention but not the means to change, but
they only represented 50% of our population
designing for different levels of readiness
strategies for remaining stages is still a pressing question
implications for design

27. increasing self-efficacy and competence of people in initial
stages of behaviour change
designing for different levels of readiness
implications for design

28. designing for playful goal setting
enforcing goal setting can create unrealistic goals
implications for design
playful goal setting to help people reflect upon their
goal-setting practices

29. designing for sustained engagement
creating checking habits with activity trackers
implications for design
keeping a minimum of engagement with trackers is important.

30. implications for design
supporting novelty into tracking feedback: information
gratification leads to quicker re-engagments
designing for sustained engagement

31. designing for sustained engagement
implications for design
CatchUp: just-in-
time comparisons
supporting just-in-time comparisons as a means to
support checking habits

32. ruben.gouveia@m-iti.org
our study explored the real-world,
long-term use of activity trackers
more of our work at: experiencedesign.m-iti.org

33. Understanding engagement is a
precondition towards the development of
successful behaviour change strategies
ruben.gouveia@m-iti.org
more of our work at: experiencedesign.m-iti.org