Investigation of the validity and reliability of a smartphone pedometer application

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the validity and measurement agreement of a smartphone pedometer application and a traditional pedometer, both compared to manual step count, in six environments. The study also examined the relative reliability of two positions of the smartphone pedometer application in the six environments. Twenty participants carried two smartphones (iPhone 4S) with the same pedometer application (Pedometer FREE GPSþ) in two device positions together with a traditional pedometer (Yamax LS2000) while walking in six environments. The pedometer application in the chest position (app chest) differed significantly from the manual step count when walking uphill (p ¼ 0.003), the application in the trouser (pants) position (app pants) differed for downhill (p ¼ 0.001) and the traditional pedometer (trad ped) differed upstairs (p ¼ 0.007). The measurement agreement was high for app pants uphill, app chest downhill and trad ped downstairs. The relative reliability was fair for app chest, but poor for app pants. In conclusion, the pedometer application and traditional pedometer were valid for step self-monitoring in some environments, and the measurement agreement compared to manual step count was mainly medium to high. The relative reliability for the smartphone pedometer application was partly acceptable. Smartphones could be useful in some environments for physical activity self-monitoring. ARTICLE HISTORY

Accuracy of “S Health” pedometer application during walking and stair climbing

“…The way the phone is carried during self-selected walking speed does not affect the results. They were comparable when the phone was carried in a backpack or a handbag [15] or in the chest or pants pocket [16], indicating that the phone need not be carried in a back trouser pocket, as previously suggested [15]; therefore, people can carry them in whichever way they are accustomed to [8].…”

“…There are few research reports assessing smartphone accuracy during stair climbing. Previous reports consistently showed increased error, specifically decreased accuracy of pedometers [13] as well as smartphone pedometers [13,16].…”

SNapp, a Tailored Smartphone App Intervention to Promote Walking in Adults of Low Socioeconomic Position: Development and Qualitative Pilot Study

“…Evidence for the measurement accuracy of step counter apps is mixed. Some studies have demonstrated that apps can provide valid step counts [67][68][69], whereas others have found that they underestimate step counts, mainly because people do not always carry their phones on their person throughout the day [70][71][72][73]. Nevertheless, meta-analyses have indicated that app-based PA interventions can significantly increase the daily step count in adult populations [74][75][76].…”

An Approach to a Novel Device Agnostic Model Illustrating the Relative Change in Physical Behavior Over Time to Support Behavioral Change

“…To meet the WHO goal by 2030, new efforts and methods are needed to be able to change PB behavior. There are a number of studies conducted in relation to increasing PA (Ball et al, 2017;Conn et al, 2011;Tuso, 2015), decreasing SB (Gardner et al, 2016;Kozey-Keadle et al, 2011;Lewis et al, 2017;Nigg et al, 2017), and that aim to monitor or change the activity pattern using different kinds of self-monitoring technologies or devices (Åkerberg et al, 2016;Bravata et al, 2007;de Vries et al, 2016;Hellstrom et al, 2018;Nigg et al, 2017;Romeo et al, 2019). There are also many cross-sectional studies performed where patterns regarding PA and/or SB are mapped or investigated on a population level in different countries (Barker et al, 2019;Hagströmer, 2007;Howitt et al, 2016;Mengesha et al, 2019).…”