Validation of three Android Wear smartwatches (Huawei Watch, Polar M600 and Asus Zenwatch 3) and Fitbit Charge for measuring amount of steps and time of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity

Background: Consumer-level devices for monitoring physical activity are increasingly popular with both consumers and researchers. A distinction should be made between activity trackers and smartwatches. Activity trackers (e.g. Fitbit Flex, Misfit Shine) are specifically built to keep track of people’s activity levels. In recent literature, these activity trackers have been the subject of different validity studies. Although smartwatches also have the ability to assess activity levels, it is not their main function as they include many other functions as well, such as surfing the web, getting SMS/mail/social media notifications , answering calls/mails/SMS, playing music, using GPS, etcetera. Recent trends show that people attach great importance to what activity trackers and smartwatches state about their physical activity level. Therefore, it is important to also explore how accurately physical activity and sedentary behavior can be tracked via smartwatches. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate concurrent validity of four Android Wear smartwatches (Polar M600, Huawei Watch, Asus Zenwatch3 and Motorola Moto360 Sport) with an ActiGraph accelerometer for measuring steps and MVPA. Methods: In this study, a free-living protocol will be used in which 36 adults will engage in usual daily activities over 2 days while wearing two different smartwatches on the same wrist (of the preferred hand) and an ActiGraph accelerometer on the hip. Validity will be evaluated on both by comparing each smartwatch with the ActiGraph, using correlations and Bland-Altman plots. Results: Specific results on the degree of agreement between the measurements by the various smartwatches and the Actigraph will be presented at the ISBNPA conference. Conclusions: By investigating the concurrent validity of these smartwatches with regard to physical activity and sedentary behavior, important information will be elucidated on the potential use of these smartwatches for research purposes (e.g. as a measurement instrument or as intervention monitoring tool). Second we will be able to inform (potential) consumers about the accuracy of smartwatches to track physical activity and sedentary behavior.