Fitaware: Mediating Group Fitness Strategies With Smartwatch Glanceable Feedback

Smartwatch fitness trackers seek to encourage healthy behavior through rich glanceable feedback that is easily accessible. This research examines how smartwatches can be used in existing group-based physical activity community interventions to provide group and individual feedback as the means to channel competitive and cooperative strategies. Seeking to avoid relying on in-person or web-based interventions that are known to have high drop-out rates, this paper presents a smartwatch-centered system that tracks steps and provides glanceable group dynamics-based feedback about personal and group performance. An 8-week deployment program with 27 participants shows successes and challenges with smartwatch-centered interventions. Most notably, the smartwatch was integral for groups with high levels of group cohesion to successfully mediate friendly competition, cooperation, and support, leading to better adherence to individually set physical activity goals and higher engagement levels with the smartwatch and the program.