Over a Third of Adults Use Health Apps, Wearables in 2023, Up From 2018

In 2023, about 40 percent of US adults are using healthcare-related applications, and 35 percent are using wearable healthcare devices, a new survey shows.

Released by Morning Consult, the survey polled 2,201 adults between Jan. 23 and Jan. 25. The results were compared to a previous Morning Consult poll conducted in December 2018 among 2,201 adults.

The 2023 survey shows gains in health app and wearables use. While health app use jumped 6 percentage points from 2018, wearables use increased by 8 percentage points.

Health app and wearables use varied across age groups, according to the survey. Forty-seven percent and 40 percent of respondents aged 18 to 34 used health apps and wearables, respectively, compared to 30 percent and 25 percent of adults over 65.

Of those who said they used health apps and wearables, most use them daily.

Among health app users, 50 percent said they use the apps once or multiple times a day, while 18 percent said they use them a few times a week. An even larger proportion of wearables users (61 percent) said they used the devices at least once a day, and 15 percent said they used them a few times a week.

Health app users are most likely to use the technology to track exercise, fitness, steps, or heart rate (75 percent), sleep (48 percent), weight (46 percent), and diet (41 percent). Meanwhile, the top reasons for owning and using wearables are: it encourages me to achieve my fitness goals (31 percent), I am interested in tracking my health data (24 percent), and it encourages me to lose/control my weight (13 percent).

Further, the survey shows that the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly impact health app or wearables use, with most respondents saying they used the technologies the same amount after the pandemic as before.

Specifically, around 45 percent of health app users said they now use the technology about the same amount as pre-pandemic, versus 32 percent who said they use it "much" or "somewhat" more often. Similarly, 44 percent of wearables users said they use the devices about the same amount as before the pandemic, while 37 percent said they use the devices more since the pandemic hit.

Also, despite increased use overall, healthcare consumers remain worried about data privacy. Thirty-seven percent of health app users and 30 percent of wearables users are concerned about data privacy.

Data privacy is not the only potential issue with wearable device use, particularly those that are medically prescribed. Survey results published last March show that 20 percent of healthcare consumers find their devices hard to use. The software research firm Software Advice polled 450 US patients who use medically prescribed wearable devices.

Survey respondents noted several usability issues related to using wearables, including manual data entry resulting in recording inaccurate data (87 percent). Additionally, 39 percent of respondents cited security vulnerabilities as a major drawback to wearables use.

But, data has also shown that most Americans who use wearables believe the devices have improved their fitness and health. A survey that polled 2,005 US consumers in the first quarter of 2022 revealed that around 41 percent own a smartwatch or fitness tracker, up 2 percentage points from 2021. Ninety percent of those who own these devices use them to track fitness and monitor health.