Wearables Woo Consumers Despite Security Concerns

Users of wearables and mobile health apps don’t feel their data is “sufficiently secured” by tech manufacturers, says a study by Healthline.

The health information and tech solutions company said on Tuesday (July 28) that it had conducted a survey across nearly 3,700 consumers last month, covering attitudes on digital health. That survey, Healthline said, showed that as many as one quarter of those surveyed do not feel that data is secure on either Fitbit or health data apps. And 45 percent of those people using the health technology told Healthline that they are concerned that health care data may be vulnerable to hacking.

Those concerns are not enough to turn users off of the data tech — 15 percent of those surveyed own a Fitbit or other activity tracker. And a vast majority of that population, or 80 percent, feels that the devices are an aid to keep motivated in fitness activity.

More than half of the respondents use at least one mobile app, with a range of use averaging about two apps. Roughly 40 percent of consumers stopped using apps within six months of starting to use the app, with a key “de-motivator” coming through the feeling that those consumers were “not making enough progress.”

And in other data gleaned from the survey, when faced with illness over the past year, roughly three quarters of consumers went to their primary physician, with another 20 percent taking treatment at an urgent care clinic and a minority opting to visit a retail health clinic at, say, a drug store chain.

In reference to telehealth: A slim minority, or 10 percent, has used the services, but a vast majority of that subset found that the experience was at least as good as an in-person/office visit with a doctor.

Health professionals in turn are starting to utilize wearables as well, with 4 percent of consumers stating they were recommended by their doctor to try a mobile app, with an additional 2 percent noting they were “formally prescribed” the app. Food and calorie counters were among the most heavily prescribed apps.

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