Smart Health Facilitator: Chinese Consumers’ Perceptions and Interpretations of Fitness Mobile Apps

Abstract

A phenomenological study was conducted to explore how Chinese consumers perceive fitness mobile apps in their everyday lives. Twenty in-depth interviews were used to collect data. Findings suggested that the meanings of mobile fitness apps are multidimensional, dialectical, and multilayered. On the positive side, mobile fitness apps embody control, empowerment, and networked individualism which assist Chinese consumers in achieving their fitness goals, maintaining healthy lifestyles, and enhancing the quality of their lives. On the negative side, mobile fitness apps have a constraining effect, geographically and temporally speaking. Some participants even linked fitness app use to their feelings of loneliness. Practical implications were offered to mobile fitness app companies and health organizations.