The effect factors on sustained use of physical activity apps

The physical activity apps have been used as intervention tools to improve public exercises. However, this type of intervention is difficult to sustain even on those have already stimulated to exercise in real-world conditions. Motivated by this, we develop a theoretical framework to explain the discontinued use of physical activity apps with app type preference and past behavior as predictors based on modern habit theory. In which, the app type preferences are distinguished by genders based on the social role theory. These analyses are conducted using a one-month app use data from 10,263 samples, which are collected from a Chinese mobile carrier. The results suggest that different genders prefer distinct PA app types. The initial engagement on PA apps and the consistency of users preference may promote the sustained use of apps.