In an era increasingly dominated by digital health interventions, a groundbreaking study from the University of Cambridge reveals promising evidence that mobile health technology can effectively promote sustained increases in physical activity over extended periods. The NHS Active 10 app, specifically designed to encourage brisk walking among its users, has demonstrated an immediate and lasting impact on activity levels, according to newly published research in npj Digital Medicine.
Physical inactivity remains one of the most pressing public health challenges worldwide, directly contributing to the global burden of disease. Insufficient exercise is causally linked to higher incidences of cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, and premature mortality. The World Health Organization estimates nearly four million premature deaths each year can be attributed to sedentary lifestyles, imposing enormous economic burdens on healthcare systems, pegged at around $27 billion annually. In England alone, over a third of adults fail to reach the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity weekly, underscoring the urgent need for scalable interventions.
Against this backdrop, the NHS Active 10 app, launched in 2017, offers a novel digital approach to behavioral change by promoting brisk walking—a moderate-intensity activity that is both accessible and widely practiced in the UK. The app functions by tracking users’ walking behavior, providing personalized feedback, setting achievable goals, and delivering motivational prompts throughout the day. As walking constitutes the most common form of physical activity reported among English adults, this targeted intervention has enormous potential for public health impact.
The recent University of Cambridge evaluation represents the first large-scale, formal assessment of the app’s effectiveness over time, analyzing anonymized data from over 200,000 users who engaged with the app for at least one month between July 2021 and January 2024. The longitudinal nature of the data allowed researchers to observe not only immediate behavioral changes following app adoption but also trends in activity levels extending beyond two years.
Demographically, the user base skewed towards middle-aged and older adults, with three-quarters of respondents identifying as female and an average age of 51 years. Approximately 32% of users were aged 60 or above, highlighting the app’s reach into populations often at higher risk of inactivity-related health consequences. Upon initial download, users consented to share historical walking data, permitting a comprehensive baseline measure against which subsequent activity changes could be benchmarked.
Analysis revealed a striking immediate increase in walking behavior: on the first day of app usage, individuals increased their brisk walking by an average of nine minutes per day and their non-brisk walking by an additional 2.6 minutes. This immediate behavioral shift underscores the app’s potential to catalyze rapid engagement with physical activity, a critical factor in sustainable lifestyle change. Conceptually, these findings align with behavior change theories emphasizing the importance of prompt, actionable feedback and easy-to-understand goals.
While the initial spikes in activity gradually tapered, the decline rate was modest. Monthly decreases averaged just 0.15 minutes of brisk walking per day and 0.06 minutes for non-brisk walking. Most notably, users who continued app engagement over the long term—30 months or more—maintained an average increase of 4.5 minutes daily in brisk walking and 0.8 minutes in non-brisk walking compared to their pre-use baseline. This prolonged adherence and sustained activity enhancement are exceptional, particularly when juxtaposed with global statistics indicating that only 2.8% of health app users remain engaged after 30 days.
Retention data bolster the app’s efficacy narrative: 35% of users were still active at six months, and 21% maintained usage after one year, figures significantly exceeding industry averages. This heightened retention likely reflects the app’s user-centric design elements, such as real-time activity tracking, accomplishment celebrations through virtual trophies, and integration into daily routines. The psychological benefits of immediate positive reinforcement and visible progress may be vital drivers behind this sustained engagement.
The public health implications of this sustained modest increase are profound. Prior research from Cambridge colleagues demonstrates that an additional 11 minutes of brisk walking daily could prevent one in ten premature deaths, indicating that even the smaller gains sustained by Active 10 users could translate into meaningful population health improvements. From a health economics perspective, the widespread adoption of such digital interventions could alleviate strain on healthcare resources by reducing incidence rates of chronic, inactivity-related illnesses.
Academic voices emphasize the broader integration potential of such platforms within the healthcare ecosystem. Professor Simon Griffin, the study’s senior author, advocates for embedding app data streams into primary care, enabling general practitioners to monitor patient progress and tailor lifestyle advice more effectively. This melding of digital health tracking with personalized medicine represents an exciting frontier that could herald a paradigm shift in preventive healthcare delivery.
Beyond the statistics and analytics, personal testimonials reflect the app’s human-scale impact. Careers consultant Sonali Shukla describes how NHS Active 10 provided a tangible accountability mechanism, illuminating her actual activity patterns versus perceived exertion, particularly after lifestyle changes during the COVID-19 lockdown. The app’s persistent presence on her phone serves not just as a tracker but a behavioral prompt, encouraging regular outside movement even during challenging weather or busy days with young children.
Methodologically, the study leveraged robust time-series analytical techniques, handling large-scale, real-world data from everyday app use. This approach offers a significant advantage over controlled clinical trials by capturing naturalistic behavior in diverse populations at scale. The use of anonymized historical data access also permitted precise baseline comparison, a factor often missing in digital health evaluations.
In summary, the empirical evidence affirms that NHS Active 10 is more than a motivational novelty; it is a viable intervention capable of eliciting and sustaining improvements in physical activity. As public health systems worldwide grapple with obesity, chronic diseases, and aging populations, scalable, cost-effective digital tools like Active 10 are increasingly indispensable. Future research will need to explore optimization strategies for retention, integration with clinical pathways, and extension into broader physical activity domains to maximize health outcomes.
Subject of Research:
People
Article Title:
Evaluation of the NHS Active 10 Walking App Intervention through time-series analysis in 201,688 individuals
News Publication Date:
6-Aug-2025
Web References:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01785-x
References:
Yerrakalva, D et al. Evaluation of the NHS Active 10 Walking App Intervention through time-series analysis in 201,688 individuals. npj Digital Medicine; 6 Aug 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s41746-025-01785-x
Keywords:
Physical exercise, Digital health, Mobile health apps, Brisk walking, Physical activity intervention
