Most Fitbit users actualized updating and reminding affordances, while few actualized novel affordances reflecting self-regulation and social connection, suggesting Fitbit should focus on core tracking and reminding while providing optional features that foster guidance, community, accountability, and personal relevance.
Key Findings
Results
Updating was the most frequently actualized affordance among Fitbit users across both survey and app review data.
351 survey participants reported actualizing the updating affordance
749 review mentions of updating were identified in the Google Play Store data
Combined total of 1100 instances across both data sources
Updating underscored Fitbit's role in tracking progress
Results
Reminding was the second most frequently actualized affordance among Fitbit users.
319 survey participants reported actualizing the reminding affordance
143 review mentions of reminding were identified
Combined total of 462 instances across both data sources
Reminding underscored Fitbit's role in sustaining routines
Results
Gamification-related affordances (competing and rewards) were actualized by a moderate number of users.
Competing was actualized by 99 survey participants with 88 review mentions, for a total of 187
Rewards were actualized by 133 survey participants with 32 review mentions, for a total of 165
These affordances highlighted the gamification dimension of Fitbit
Results
Comparing and guidance affordances reflected benchmarking and instructional support at moderate levels of actualization.
Comparing was actualized by 151 survey participants with 8 review mentions, for a total of 159
Guidance was actualized by 118 survey participants with 25 review mentions, for a total of 143
These affordances reflected benchmarking and instructional support uses of Fitbit
Results
Several affordances including searching, encouraging, and watching others were less commonly actualized.
Searching was actualized by 135 survey participants with 2 review mentions, for a total of 137
Encouraging was actualized by 75 survey participants with 19 review mentions, for a total of 94
Watching others was actualized by 68 survey participants with 3 review mentions, for a total of 71
Results
Recognizing and self-presentation were the least commonly actualized affordances among the predefined list.
Recognizing was actualized by 58 survey participants with 0 review mentions, for a total of 58
Self-presentation was actualized by 47 survey participants with 1 review mention, for a total of 50
Results
Three novel affordances emerged from user interactions with Fitbit that were not in the predefined list.
Encouraging others was reported by 14 survey participants with 1 review mention, for a total of 15
Accountability was reported by 3 survey participants with 9 review mentions, for a total of 12
Self-comparison was reported by 3 survey participants with 5 review mentions, for a total of 8
These novel affordances reflect self-regulation, an extension of social connection, and personal meaning
Methods
The study used a two-stage mixed methods design combining a cross-sectional survey and automated analysis of app store reviews.
A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted with 442 US-based Fitbit users engaging in regular exercise
15,000 user reviews were collected from the Google Play Store
2,674 (17.8%) comments were automatically categorized into affordance themes
1,182 (7.9%) were manually validated as relevant
A generative pretrained transformer-based approach guided by survey-identified affordances was used to classify reviews
Alshawmar M, Tulu B, Wilson E, Hall-Phillips A, Aljadani I, Agu E. (2026). Exploring Common and Novel Actualized Affordances of Fitbit: Mixed Methods Study.. JMIR human factors. https://doi.org/10.2196/85412