The Positive Outcomes of Using a Weight-Loss App

There are thousands of weight-loss apps out there, and it is fair to wonder whether using one really helps. Here is the encouraging answer: when scientists pooled the randomized trials, people who used an app lost more weight on average than people who did not. Let’s walk through the results, what helped most and how to get the most out of an app. This is general education, not medical advice, and it does not recommend any particular app.

The good news

A 2022 meta-analysis in JMIR mHealth and uHealth by Antoun and colleagues gathered 34 randomized trials in which at least one group used a smartphone app, searching studies up to January 2022. Compared with control groups:

• At 3 months: people using an app lost on average about 2.0 kg more (95% confidence interval 1.8 to 2.2 kg).
• At 6 months: about 2.8 kg more (interval 2.6 to 3.0 kg).

The authors concluded that apps have a real role in weight loss, with a modest but measurable effect. For a tool that fits in your pocket, that is a meaningful boost, and it grew between three and six months.

What helped most

• A person behind the app. When an app was combined with intensive behavior coaching or feedback from a human coach, the weight loss was significant: about 2.0 kg at 3 months and 2.6 kg at 6 months. The authors judged that the human part of the program looks key to larger weight loss, so having someone in your corner really counts.
• A tracker plus behavior support. Programs that paired an app with a tracker and a behavioral component did best, averaging about 2.1 kg at 3 months and 3.8 kg at 6 months.
• Not the number of features. Neither the number of features nor specific features were linked to more weight loss. A simple app you actually enjoy using can do as much as a complicated one.

How to get the most from an app

• Use it to notice patterns. Logging meals, activity or weight can show you what a typical week really looks like. See our guide to calorie-tracking apps for how far to trust the numbers.
• Add people. A friend, a group, a coach or a clinician checking in with you seems to be where the larger effects come from.
• Keep it simple. Choose one or two things to track and stick with them.
• Be kind to your relationship with food. If counting food or numbers makes you anxious or controlling, it is okay to step back. A licensed professional can help, and in the U.S. you can call or text 988 at any time.

A few things to keep in mind

• The studies vary a lot. The results differed so much from trial to trial (statistically, the heterogeneity was 81 to 91 percent) that the averages hide a wide range, from clearly helpful to no different from the control group.
• Most were short. The longest was a year, and the two longer trials showed no difference from the control group.
• Blinding is hard. About a third of the studies had a high risk of bias, partly because people know whether they are using an app.
• It averages different apps. The review did not report a pooled result for apps used on their own, and a trial of a coached program says little about any one app.

Where Weight Wire fits

Disclosure: this is our own site. Weight Wire has a free private journal, a food and barcode lookup, and calculators that support the self-monitoring side of this research. They are not coaching, and the review above did not study them, so think of them as tools for noticing patterns, not as a proven weight-loss program. Everything is educational and not medical advice.

The takeaway

On average, people who used apps in trials lost a few kilograms more than people who did not, and the best results came when an app was paired with human support. That is a real, encouraging result, and it is not a guarantee for any one person or app. The practical message is a happy one: a tool you will keep using, plus some support, is a great combination.

Sources

• Antoun J, Itani H, Alarab N, Elsehmawy A. The effectiveness of combining nonmobile interventions with the use of smartphone apps with various features for weight loss: systematic review and meta-analysis. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2022;10(4):e35479.