Physical activity is closely linked with health and well-being; however, many Americans do not engage in regular exercise. Older adults and those with low socioeconomic status are especially at risk for poor health, largely due to their sedentary lifestyles. Fitness technology, including trackers and smartphone applications (apps), has become increasingly popular for measuring and encouraging physical activity in recent years. However, many questions remain regarding the effectiveness of this technology for promoting behavior change. Behavior change techniques such as goal setting, feedback, rewards, and social factors are often included in fitness technology. However, it is not clear which components are most effective and which are actually being used by consumers. We discuss additional strategies not typically included in fitness technology devices or apps that are promising for engaging inactive, vulnerable populations. These include action planning, restructuring negative attitudes, enhancing environmental conditions, and identifying other barriers to regular physical activity. We consider which strategies are most conducive to motivating behavior change among sedentary adults. Overall, fitness technology has the potential to significantly impact public health, research, and policies. We suggest ways in which app developers and behavior change experts can collaborate to develop successful apps. Advances are still needed to help inactive individuals determine how, when, where, and with whom they can increase their physical activity.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 197. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 10 September 2026.
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#252,383
of 34,323,687 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Public Health
#185
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#4,313
of 467,034 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Public Health
#4
of 62 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,323,687 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 23,436 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.3. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 467,034 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 62 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
