Smartphone Apps Just as Accurate as Wearable Devices for Tracking Physical Activity

Sources: The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, TIME, Self, Medical Daily, Mother Jones, UPI, Penn Medicine News, February 11, 2015 A new study published in JAMA by Meredith Case, Holland Burwick, Kevin Volpp and Mitesh Patel is the first to compare the accuracy of smartphone apps to wearable devices when measuring physical activity. The researchers tested 10 smartphone apps and devices and found that the smartphone apps were just as accurate as the devices at tracking steps. “Our findings suggest that smartphone apps could prove to be a more widely accessible and affordable way of tracking health behaviors,” says Patel.