Accuracy of Mobile Applications versus Wearable Devices in Long-Term Step Measurements.
Filippo Piccinini1, Giovanni Martinelli1, Antonella Carbonaro2
1Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, 47014 Meldola (FC), Italy.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|November 10, 2020
Summary
Smartphone fitness apps show significant inaccuracies in daily step counts compared to wearable devices. Wearable devices offer precise and accurate health data for reliable mHealth applications.
Area of Science:
- Digital health
- Biomedical engineering
- Health informatics
Background:
- Patient-generated health data from fitness sensors can revolutionize healthcare.
- Real-time measurement of life parameters offers new communication avenues for patients and professionals.
- Daily step count is a fundamental parameter tracked by many fitness applications and devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the accuracy and precision of smartphone applications against wearable devices for daily step count measurement.
- To inform users about expected differences in measurements between various system typologies.
- To assess the reliability of health data collected via different mobile health (mHealth) technologies.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of daily step count data.
- Evaluation of measurements from smartphone applications and wearable devices.
- Assessment of accuracy and precision across different device types.
Main Results:
- Smartphone applications demonstrated an approximate 30% difference in measurements compared to wearable devices.
- Smartphone applications were found to provide inaccurate measurements for long-term analysis.
- Wearable devices exhibited precise and accurate step count measurements.
Conclusions:
- Smartphone applications are unreliable for accurate, long-term health data analysis.
- Wearable devices are recommended for precise and accurate health monitoring in mHealth.
- The reliability of previous studies using phone-based applications should be critically reviewed.
