MapMyRun
App screenshot
App demo video
Map My Run is a fitness app designed to help exercisers track their workouts (mainly running) in a variety of ways. The target audience of this app is runners aged 13 and older. Although the app has features for beginners and is capable of tracking other types of exercises, the main target audience is experienced runners. The original app is free; however, there are many features that can only be unlocked with the purchase of the premium MVP version which costs $40.99 per year. The app is available on BlackBerry OS, iOS and Android.6 (Links Below)
Global Health and Behaviour Influences from Gamification
One main theme that the app incorporates well is gamifying their user activities. Users can compete against strangers, friends or themselves in challenges created by the app developers, or in challenges that the user can create on their own. This is important in terms of behavioral change and user retention that successfully draws users back in.1 Creating leaderboards, badges, and awards that are given to top performers becomes beneficial to user retention, and therefore helps with increasing physical activity levels for certain populations.1 It is also important for gamified activities to include incentives and pleasure, not risk or fear, which according to Matura and Setiffi, is achieved with the use of leaderboards.1 No punishment or demeaning language is used which I see as a healthy route towards reaching behaviour change. Getting runners to maintain their habits and continued motivation for running is well done through this use of gamification that users can engage with. Map My Run has successfully been able to do this through many of their unique challenges and awards.
But even if the app does not explicitly demean those who do not reach their goals, only rewarding those who reach the highest on the leaderboard can send a discouraging message to those who are not able to achieve that. Those who are not already active and motivated (who are likely in most need of an exercise intervention), become discouraged when achievements are not recognized.3 Furthermore, since those who are in most need of a physical activity intervention and motivation boost are not the ones benefitting from this feature of Map My Run, the element of global health problem solving is not fully achieved.
Social Issues
Another feature that Map My Run includes is a social platform where runners can post everything about their run or fitness behaviour. Pros and cons exist with this idea. Interaction online through a virtual self is what users like to do. However, this also creates a behavioural motive driven by social pressures, where runners may be producing certain behaviours just to look good to those who are watching.2 Is this aiding individuals to develop a love for exercise and maintain fitness motivation in the long term? Not exactly.
Wearable Integration
Map my Run integrates data that is obtained through a wearable device, syncs it and displays it for the user, all in one place. Usability with this feature is fantastic, as it makes access simple and automatic. A potential problem is that this feature is not feasible for a large portion of the global population due to cost, which may contribute to the fact that the app does not quite accurately solve any pressing health issues. However, Map My Run does incorporates a lot of the tracking that a wearable does into the tracking it does on just the phone, such as tracking distance with a GPS, or tracking calories with a simple calculation using weight and height.5 The user therefore does not have to purchase the wearable to track these things. The wearable integration is simply an extra feature that aids in increasing the apps usability and validity in certain measurements (like heart rate, calories, or steps).
Who’s in Charge?
Another issue arises with stakeholders involved. The app’s development team mainly consists of software developers and engineers who do not have a professional background in running or fitness in general.5 A lot of training expertise is missing, which diminishes the quality of the information that users are getting. This is especially true for any beginners that are using this app. Beginner training plans are "one size fits all", and not personalized which is often detrimental to unique runners.7 In terms of behaviour and motivation, Map My Run training programs use notification reminders. A study by Stawarz found that relying on reminders supported repetition but hindered habit development, while the use of event-based cues led to more of an automatic response behavior wise.4 Context is important when working with clients who wish to
make health behaviour changes, and so having more evidence-based and personalized
information is important for providing users with meaningful support. This could
be achieved with the use of stakeholders with more expertise in health and fitness.
References
1. Maturo A, Setiffi F. The gamification of risk: how health apps foster self-confidence and why this is not enough. Health, Risk & Society. 2016;17(7-8):477-494. doi:10.1080/13698575.2015.1136599. ↩
2. Öhman M, Almqvist J, Meckbach J, Quennerstedt M. Competing for ideal bodies: a study of exergames used as teaching aids in schools. Critical Public Health. 2014;24(2):196-209. doi:10.1080/09581596.2013.872771.↩
3. Patel MS, Asch DA, Volpp KG. Wearable Devices as Facilitators, Not Drivers, of Health Behavior Change. Jama. 2015;313(5):459-460. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.14781. ↩
4. Stawarz K, Cox AL, Blandford A. Beyond Self-Tracking and Reminders. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI 15. April 2015:2653-2662. doi:10.1145/2702123.2702230.↩
5. Under Armour. Map My Run. https://www.mapmyrun.com/. Published 2018. Accessed June 14th, 2018 ↩
6. White S. MapMyRun Review: An Inexpensive Fitness Watch Alternative. TechnologyGuide.com. http://www.technologyguide.com/softwarereview/mapmyrun-an-inexpensive-alternative-to-a-gps-fitness-watch/. Published March 30, 2013. Accessed June 18, 2018. ↩
7. Zhou et al. Personalizing Mobile Fitness Apps Using Reinforcement Learning. Humanize. March 2018. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2068/humanize7.pdf↩
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