Smartwatches and fitness trackers are everywhere now, and more Americans are buying them than ever. But a new study suggests that owning one and actually getting meaningful health value out of it are two very different things.
Researchers from Yale School of Medicine analyzed data from 17,395 participants across three national survey cycles covering 2020, 2022, and 2024, and the picture they found is more complicated than the wearable industry would like to admit.
What the numbers actually show
Wearable device use among US adults climbed from 30.2% in 2020 to 41.1% in 2024. The problem is that everything else stayed flat or got worse. Only around half of wearable users reported wearing their device every day, and that number has not improved over time.
The data sharing numbers are even more concerning. Willingness to share wearable health data with doctors dropped from 81.3% in 2020 to 73.4% in 2024. Actual data sharing with clinicians barely moved, sitting at just 14.2% in 2020 and reaching only 19.2% in 2024. That means fewer than one in five wearable users are sharing their health data with the professionals who could actually use it to provide insights.
Why the gap keeps growing
The study found that better digital literacy made people more willing to share their data, but that willingness did not translate into actual sharing in practice. The researchers point to the health system itself as the main bottleneck.
Your doctor’s system is not set up to receive data from your wearable. Most medical records cannot connect with consumer devices, and there is no standard process for clinicians to routinely review what your Apple Watch or Fitbit has tracked.
The researchers conclude that simply getting more people to wear these devices will not close this gap. The health system needs to build the infrastructure to use the data that people are collecting.
