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Engagement with physical activity mobile apps has been reported to be a core precondition for their effectiveness in digital behavior change interventions. However, to date, little attention has been paid to understanding the perspectives, needs, expectations, and experiences of potential users with physical activity mobile apps.
The aim of this study was to investigate the features that are judged to be important for engagement with a physical activity mobile app and the reasons for their importance.
A qualitative focus-group methodology with elements of co-design was adopted in this study. Participants reporting sedentary lifestyles and willingness to improve their physical activity behavior through mobile technology were recruited. The focus group sessions consisted of 13 participants (8 men and 5 women, mean [SD] age 41.9 [7.1] years). Two researchers conducted the data analysis independently by using the inductive thematic approach.
Four main themes emerged in relation to the research question and were named as follows: “physical activity participation motives,” “autonomy and self-regulation,” “need for relatedness,” and “smart.” Additionally, 2 subthemes originated from “physical activity participation motives” (ie, “medical guidance” and “weight loss and fitness for health”) and “smart” (ie, “action planning” and “adaptable and tailored”).
Features enhancing autonomy and self-regulation and positively affecting health and physical well-being as well as the need for relatedness, adaptability, and flexibility should be considered as core elements in the engagement of potential users with physical activity mobile apps. The emerged findings may orient future research and interventions aiming to foster engagement of potential users with physical activity apps.
Regular physical activity is widely recognized as a protective factor against cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, and some forms of cancer [
Mobile technology provides a valid tool to foster interventions [
For these purposes and according to previous observations, a mixed-methods research design with a specific focus on qualitative methodologies (eg, focus groups, interview with open-ended questions, think-aloud studies) may be preferred [
The aim of this study was to elicit the preferences and perspectives of sedentary potential users toward features of a physical activity mobile app. Hence, we intend to elucidate why specific functionalities and features are judged to be important in the design process of a physical activity mobile app that contributes to increasing potential users’ engagement.
This study adopted a focus group methodology with elements of co-design. This study design aimed to address users’ perspectives and expectations in relation to a physical activity mobile app. The cocreation of a fit-for-purpose digital product designed with and around the users represents the real added value of this methodology. Co-design activities allow users to express their creativity and contribute to the development process as experts of their own experiences [
The participants were recruited according to the following eligibility criteria: (1) age between 30 years and 50 years, (2) no preexisting health conditions that would impede physical activity, (3) no clinical conditions related to physical inactivity (eg, obesity, diabetes), (4) insufficient physical activity screened with the Global Activity Questionnaire [
The aim of the focus group and the eligibility criteria were specified in the recruitment materials (social media, snowball sampling methods, and posters placed on the university campus). Recruitment stopped when no further relevant insights of participants’ experiences and novel themes emerged from the focus groups [
While the materials were being developed, design features were primarily defined in order to fulfil the most relevant physical activity participation motives and to implement the behavior change techniques (eg, action planning, goal setting, problem solving, self-monitoring) [
Participants were invited to the University of Milan-Bicocca. Before starting the focus group session, participants were given the information sheet describing the nature of the study. They subsequently signed the informed consent form. As the first focus group activity, participants introduced themselves and shared their previous personal experiences with physical activity and with mobile apps. Subsequently, a folder with materials for co-design was provided. Participants were asked to design their own physical activity app according to their preferences for specific functionalities and features. According to the user-centered methodology and the iterative nature of the co-design process, materials and the track for the following co-design sessions were consequently adapted in order to better elicit users’ views about what specific functionalities are expected to be important and why. The first session consisted of evaluating and designing potential physical activity app features (functionalities and features were written on post-its given to participants at the beginning of the focus group session) according to different topics (ie, feedback and monitoring, goal setting and planning, challenges and social features, problem solving). A brief discussion was then conducted when each topic was completed. In the latter session, participants were asked to cut out images of features printed on a paper sheet and paste them on a printed smartphone frame according to their preferences. Once the whole activity was accomplished, a general discussion was conducted. In both co-design sessions, participants were also provided with blank post-its to suggest any further functionalities they would like to see implemented in a physical activity app. Changes to the co-design task relied on the aim to characterize the activity with more concrete stimuli and to stress the creative act of cocreating the product. Therefore, this did not influence the scope of focus group sessions (ie, elicit potential users’ views and preferences for design features) but, rather, provided an opportunity for a better expression of participants’ views and perspectives.
The focus group sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were qualitatively analyzed using inductive thematic analysis [
Two focus groups were formed (N=13, 8 men and 5 women). The mean (SD) age of the participants was 41.9 (7.1) years. All the participants reported doing less than 120 minutes of light-to-moderate physical activity per week; 4 participants reported having previously used smartphone apps to support physical activity.
Four themes were developed in relation to the research question and were named as follows: “physical activity participation motives,” “autonomy and self-regulation,” “need for relatedness,” and “smart.” Two subthemes were developed in relation to the “physical activity participation motives” theme: “medical guidance” and “weight loss and fitness.” Additionally, 2 subthemes originated from the “smart” theme: “action planning” and “adaptable and tailored” (see
Summary of the themes and subthemes that emerged from the thematic analysis.
Themes and subthemes | Description | |
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Medical guidance | A physical activity app should contain features that include medical support, providing feedback about physiological parameters related to health. |
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Weight loss and fitness for health | A physical activity app should contain features that contribute to physical benefits and cardiovascular fitness. |
Autonomy and self-regulation | Physical activity app design should include features (eg, monitoring, goal setting, feedback) that contribute to increasing self-regulation and autonomous behaviors. |
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Need for relatedness | It is crucial that a physical activity app contains features that leverage the motivational component of social support and promote privacy, safety, and comparison with oneself. |
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Subjects ask for a flexible physical activity mobile app that provides context-aware suggestions and goal-oriented feedback. |
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Action planning | Physical activity app design should include activity suggestions in relation to users’ personal goals and flexible programs. |
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Adaptable and tailored | Potential users would prefer a customized physical activity mobile app that can deliver tailored suggestions and that is built on their own characteristics and motivations. |
Participants highlighted the importance of using a physical activity app focusing on participation motives. Most of them reported that their intention to practice physical activity did not originate from intrinsic motivation or pleasure, but from health and well-being–related or duty motives.
…I consider physical activity as a responsibility to feel healthy, rather than a pleasure. It is an effort that I make to feel better.
…For some people, fitness is a pleasure. Personally, I would exercise because it would make me healthy, not because I’d like it.
Specifically, physical activity participation motives can be attributable to the desire for medical guidance and a specific focus on weight loss and fitness.
Positive opinions about the opportunity to be informed and supported by medical sources (eg, medical doctors or devices) were expressed. This aspect would contribute to making the app more credible, reliable, and trustworthy. Moreover, thanks to the presence of a medical perspective, participants expected the app to be able to provide feedback about the physiological parameters strictly related to health.
…Physical activity should be supported and monitored by a sports doctor, and after an exercise electrocardiogram… It could be dangerous otherwise!
…I would like to be supported by a virtual personal trainer, but I need something more such as a doctor, an expert who gives reliable and evidence-based recommendations.
Focus group participants remarked the importance of physical activity for weight loss and fitness, thereby contributing to physical benefits and cardiovascular health.
…My eating habits are important but my physical well-being is also a fundamental aim for me: to get my fitness back, to control my body weight and my heart […] I always imagine an app matching with my main aim, which is weight loss, blood pressure and heart control. I imagine an app as an instrument supporting physical well-being.
…I am interested because my hope is to lose weight. I have perennial fight with my weight…”
Most of the participants reported monitoring, goal setting, and feedback as the key components for a physical activity app design. These features would help increase not only self-regulation in physical activity but also autonomous behaviors.
…It must be something [app] that helps me to reach my goal. It should be a calculator of what I did and what I should have done…
…I consider information like how far and how long I have run, the distance and other similar data that I consider the starting point. These may then help to add further elements that an app should offer.
…you receive a notification on your smartphone like “you are worsening, your conditions are decreasing”
In particular, regarding monitoring and feedback features, most participants said that they were interested in having records and statistics about their itineraries.
…I would like my physical activity to be monitored and analyzed with charts and stats. I would prefer to see daily, weekly, and monthly statistics.
…I would like the app to track my paths. It could motivate me to do more, improving my results. Also, I imagine an app providing an archive of previous paths.
Focus group participants expressed social support as a fundamental component that could help to create higher levels of daily commitment, to make exercise a more enjoyable activity, as well as to increase motivation and overcome laziness.
…I should find someone who motivates my goal setting. Not daily goals, but goals helping me to use the app regularly […] It would push me to share with others, to be more active…
…If you have an appointment, then you can’t quit.
…I have always been very lazy. Laziness leads me to be idle when I’m alone. So, it would be better if there was someone with me.
…You have to find someone at your own pace.
Although peer support was shown to be a core element, most of the participants expressed avoidance to social comparison, exhibitionism, and competition, and preferred privacy, safety, and comparison with oneself.
…I almost never share my private life […] I don’t think it is interesting to know or to let others know what I usually do.
…It could be dangerous to let you know what I do, or to let me know what you do every day.
…I would exercise for personal motives and not for competing […] Everything I do is for a comparison with myself: I like seeing my own improvements.
Furthermore, the possibility to interact with a virtual personal trainer who is aware of the personal motivation, abilities, and preferences was reported as a core element.
…I would like to rub the smartphone to bring up a personal trainer […] I do not perceive the human component. I would need the relationship with a personal trainer, with someone able to show the exercises right in front of you.
…I would need an app like a personal trainer who monitors me […] Someone who supports me.
…It should be something that gives tailored hints, knowing one’s motivations… like a parent who knows you, who loves you, who says what to do.
…and then, I would like something like Siri that asks to you before you start: “How do you feel today?” “Today, I don’t want to put in too much effort” “Ok, I will choose this path for you, then!
Participants imagined a physical activity mobile app presenting flexibility and adaptability toward individual circumstances and motivations. For this purpose, the app should provide context-aware suggestions, goal-oriented feedback, and action-oriented planning for a tailored support in physical activity.
Participants expressed the preference to use a physical activity app that consisted of features that suggest activities in relation to personal goals and flexible programs.
…I would like the app to propose a training. An app suggesting a training according to my goal.
…an app helping me to identify a lighter training instead of forcing me when I am particularly tired…
…I would need an app suggesting a path, for example, “Today, you have one hour available and you could choose this path. There is a park nearby.”
…an app identifying paths or outdoor gyms. So, for example, when I don’t know where to go to run it could tell me, “These are some paths you might be interested in.”
Most of the participants believed that a physical activity app should be customized to users’ characteristics and motivations and should also be able to read and detect behaviors and needs and deliver tailored suggestions.
…to customize it as much as possible, it should be tailored […] If the app knows that you have high blood pressure, it will not suggest you go running for 3 hours.
…It should be as complete as possible. It should not be based on only one parameter, but rather on different characteristics […] It should be customized, for example, according to one’s psychological and physical condition at the specific moment of the day.
…Based on the data on your goals you fill in when registering, the app should modulate the difficulty and give some short term results to achieve your goals.
…Everything needs to be flexible considering that I am flexible.
In this study, we investigated the potential features of a physical activity app that are judged to be important for engagement by sedentary potential users and the reasons for their importance. A focus group methodology with elements of co-design was adopted in order to involve participants who reflected about the app features and researchers who characterized the design process. The findings of this study suggest that features that enhance users’ autonomy and self-regulation and those that focus on the impact physical activity has on health and physical well-being were considered to be relevant for engagement. The need for relatedness was considered as a trigger for exercise if it adopts a supportive and motivational style. For this purpose, both a virtual personal trainer with human qualities embedded into the app and opportunities to develop a network of physical activity peers were judged as relevant features. A different aspect noticed in this study was that participants seemed to give importance to the private dimension of exercising and, thus, expressed a preference for self-comparison, privacy, and safety rather than competition, exhibitionism, and social comparison. Finally, participants believed that a smart, tailored interaction between user and app would foster a more effective engagement by providing an adaptable flexible approach for users to achieve personal goals.
The intentions and motives related to exercise seemed to be mostly oriented toward health and physical well-being concerns, which were partially coherent with those reported in a previous research [
The preferences of the potential users for autonomy and self-regulation features were consistent with those reported in a previous research [
The need for relatedness was perceived by potential physical activity app users as a core element for increasing their engagement with the app. Previous research has shown social support features not to be as relevant as the self-regulation feature [
Finally, participants imagined a smart, tailored physical activity app that is customized to “understand” the users’ preferences and expectations and consequently support them as and when required. For example, action planning strategies based on the user’s timetable and suggestions tailored to the user’s level of progress toward a specific goal were expected to be more engaging and effective. The findings in this study corroborate previous observations, indicating that providing tailored physical activity plans based on personal goals and current progress would help users implement their engagement and intentions to exercise [
The limitations of this study include the design of the study: a nonlongitudinal design could have limited the long-term investigation of the influence of the features emerged in users’ engagement. For this purpose, further qualitative studies may be conducted comprising a follow-up aimed to evaluate the possible effects on users’ engagement after a period of tailored smartphone app usage. Another limitation of the study is the narrow age range of participants. Actually, the decision to only include adults aged 30-50 years was based on the belief that this would have improved the quality of the findings. Perski et al [
The findings in this study provide informative data concerning sedentary potential users’ preferences and perspectives toward physical activity smartphone app features. Consistent with that reported in prior works, improving health and physical well-being were indicated as the primary motivations for exercising, as was the possibility to track relevant health-related parameters with the additional support of medical sources. Similarly, features strictly related to the behavior change techniques (ie, goal setting, feedback, and self-monitoring) were preferred to support autonomy and self-regulation. Furthermore, the preference of tailored and customized features “understanding” user’s expectations and level of progress was shown and this corroborated prior observations. Finally, features that leverage the motivational component of social support and that promote privacy, safety, and self-comparison were shown to be crucial. Nevertheless, they still represent an open question, as contrasting results emerged in prior studies. In order to increase users’ engagement with physical activity smartphone apps and, thus, to improve their effectiveness, the features described here should be taken into account in future design processes and in future research aiming to broaden knowledge on mobile health in relation to physical activity.
DB conducted the focus group sessions. DB and MD performed the thematic analysis and the entire research group was involved in reaching a consensus on the final themes. All the authors contributed to paper writing and revision.
None declared.