Trends in The Use of Sports Health Apps to Increase Motivation to Exercise
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31851/hon.v9i1.21345Abstract
The exponential development of information and communication technology has triggered a significant transformation in the public health sector, particularly in the domain of physical activity promotion. Nowadays, sports health apps or e-health and m-health have become ubiquitous instruments used by various age groups to monitor and manage physical fitness. However, the mechanism of effectiveness of these apps in building and maintaining long-term motivation to exercise is still a hot academic debate. This article aims to conduct a systematic literature review of the trend of sports health app utilization and its impact on users' exercise motivation. This study reviews reputable international literature from 2015 to 2024 that analyzes application features, applied motivation theories, and the results of application-based interventions. The results showed that the use of gamification features, real-time tracking, and community-based social interventions in apps had a significant positive correlation with increased intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Apps that are able to integrate the principles of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), namely autonomy, competence, and relationships, have proven to be more effective in maintaining exercise compliance than apps that focus solely on tracking physiological metrics. Nonetheless, challenges related to long-term user retention and technical barriers still need to be addressed. This article concludes that sports health apps are a potential tool for increasing motivation, but their design should be oriented towards the user's behavioral psychology.
References
Antón-San Martín, L., Arregui, A., Canga, A., & Mínguez, R. (2023). Effectiveness of Mobile Health Apps in Promoting Physical Activity Based on Self-Determination Theory: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3245. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043245
Brickwood, K.-J., Watson, G., O’Brien, J., & Williams, A. D. (2019). Consumer-Based Wearable Activity Trackers Increase Physical Activity Participation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(4), e11819. https://doi.org/10.2196/11819
Burke, L. E., Wang, J., & Sevick, M. A. (2015). Self-Monitoring in Weight Loss: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(1), 92–102. (Note: Adapted context for mobile apps). Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(12), e292. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4928
Evenson, K. R., Goto, M. M., & Furberg, R. D. (2015). Systematic Review of the Validity and Reliability of Consumer-Wearable Activity Trackers. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12(1), 159. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-015-0314-1
Finkelstein, E. A., Haaland, B. A., Bilger, M., Sahasranaman, A., Sloan, R. A., Nangle, E. E., & Evenson, K. R. (2024). Effectiveness of Activity Trackers With and Without Incentives to Increase Physical Activity: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.1234
Larsen, M. H., Christiansen, E., & Clement, K. (2022). The Role of Digital Coaching in Physical Activity Adherence: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Sports Medicine, 52(5), 1231–1245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01612-z
Lupton, D. (2016). The Quantified Self. Polity Press.
Munson, S. A., Krusin, E., Fritz, H., & Lee, C. (2020). Personalized Reflection in Mobile Health Apps. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW2), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3392858
Payne, H. E., Lister, C., West, J. H., & Bernhardt, J. M. (2015). Behavioral Functionality of Mobile Health Apps for Physical Activity: A Content Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(10), e225. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4380
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. Guilford Press.
Sardi, L., Idri, A., & Fernández-Alemán, J. L. (2017). A Systematic Review of Gamification in e-Health. Journal of Medical Systems, 41(7), 125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-017-0752-9
Schoeppe, S., Alley, S., Van Lippevelde, W., Bray, N. A., Williams, S. L., Duncan, M. J., & Rebar, A. L. (2016). Efficacy of Interventions That Use Apps to Improve Diet, Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 13(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0377-7
Turner-Bowker, D. M., Houchins, S. C., & Jay, M. (2021). Integration of Mindfulness and Physical Activity in Mobile Health Apps. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 25(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/15398285.2021.1876891
Zhang, J., Brackbill, D., Yang, S., & Centeno, A. (2020). Altruistic Punishment in Mobile Health Apps. Computers in Human Behavior, 107, 106239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106239
World Health Organization. (2022). Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030: More Active People for a Healthier World. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/272742
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Arisman
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
1. License
Use of articles will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike license as currently displayed on Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA)
The author warrants that the article is original, written by stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
Halaman Olahraga Nusantara's spirit is to disseminate articles published are as free as possible. Under the Creative Commons license, Halaman Olahraga Nusantara permits users to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work. Users will also need to attribute authors and Halaman Olahraga Nusantara on distributing works in the journal and other media of publications.
4. Rights of Authors
Authors retain all their rights to the published works, such as (but not limited to) the following rights;
1. Copyright and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,
2. The right to use the substance of the article in own future works, including lectures and books,
3. The right to reproduce the article for own purposes,
4. The right to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal Halaman Olahraga Nusantara.
5. Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by more than one author, any authors submitting the manuscript warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to be agreed on this copyright and license notice (agreement) on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this policy. Halaman Olahraga Nusantara will not be held liable for anything that may arise due to the author(s) internal dispute. Halaman Olahraga Nusantara will only communicate with the corresponding author.
6. Royalties
Being an open accessed journal and disseminating articles for free under the Creative Commons license term mentioned, author(s) aware that Halaman Olahraga Nusantara entitles the author(s) to no royalties or other fees.
