Fitness apps — especially those that are doctor recommended — may be a step in the right direction for anyone looking to reap the long-term benefits of walking, says Samantha Hajna.

The Brock University Assistant Professor of Health Sciences says endorsement from a health authority, and the use of behaviour change theories, could boost apps’ ability to help people establish healthy habits such as walking.

Hajna and a group of researchers from the University of Cambridge explored ways apps can help people walk more. Their study focused on Active 10, a mobile phone app created by Public Health England in 2017 to increase brisk walking levels for at least 10 minutes at a time.

“Many apps have been shown to help people increase their levels of physical activity over the shorter term, but evidence on the longer-term benefits of apps is limited,” she says.

“Our study is the first to show that an app endorsed through national public health campaigns can have a measurable impact on brisk walking levels beyond two years.”

Brisk walking, considered to be a moderate intensity exercise, is faster than most people’s regular stride and is accompanied by an increase in heart rate, heavier breathing and an increase in body temperature. Regular brisk walking has been linked to better health outcomes, says Hajna.

The researchers analyzed anonymous data on more than 200,000 users’ walking times and intensities collected between July 2021 and January 2024.

The team found people increased their levels of brisk walking by nine minutes per day right after downloading the app. While the increase may seem small, the increased brisk walking boosts health, says Hajna.

The study reported retention rates of 35 per cent at six months and 21 per cent at 12 months, which Hajna says is a substantial increase over those observed by other health and fitness apps.

She attributes the relative success of Active 10 and the favourable retention rates to the app being free, interactive and endorsed by a public health authority.

Although the study was focused on the U.K. and Active 10, Hajna says features that have made the British app successful can be adapted elsewhere to support long-term behaviour change and well-being.

For example, Active 10 allows users to set motivating factors and goals, earn rewards, monitor progress and expand knowledge by reading articles on health, features seen in other exercise tracking apps.

“There’s a big interest in ‘personalized medicine,’ or tailoring interventions according to peoples’ individual profiles,” says Hajna. “An app that allows you to set your own goals according to your lifestyle is a huge opportunity for change.”

Having a public health authority or health care provider endorse a physical activity app as a way of managing health conditions “can help motivate people to use that app,” she says.

This is because people tend to trust their doctors and take exercise more seriously if it is “prescribed” by them, says Hajna.

An effective roll-out of a physical activity app could involve doctors recommending it to their patients at higher risk of being physically inactive and monitoring performance during follow-up visits, she says.

An app’s success also depends in part on the user’s physical and social surroundings, she says, adding that factors such as access to green spaces or opportunities to socialize while exercising could impact whether people choose to walk more.

“We might have the best fitness app on the market, but if we are unmotivated to exercise or live in an unsafe neighbourhood, we are unlikely to get up and go for that walk. When recommending exercise to patients and the public, the full range of factors that help people make healthier choices need to be considered,” she says.

 The team’s full results and analysis are contained in their study, “Evaluation of the NHS active 10 walking app intervention through time-series analysis in 201,688 individuals,” published Aug. 6 in npj Digital Medicine.