Overview
- Published in the British Journal of Health Psychology on Oct. 22–23, the peer-reviewed study from UCL and Loughborough used Machine-Assisted Topic Analysis to examine large-scale user posts.
- The team filtered 58,881 references to five top-grossing apps into 13,799 negative posts, surfacing shame when logging food, irritation at notifications, disappointment at unmet goals, and eventual disengagement.
- App targets were often driven by users’ weight goals rather than public health guidance, with reports of unrealistic or unsafe recommendations, including an example of being told to consume negative 700 calories a day.
- Users also described technical failures such as syncing errors, data loss, and limited logging options, which compounded frustration and eroded trust.
- Authors urge psychologically informed, user-centered design that prioritizes well-being and intrinsic motivation, note the analysis focused on negative posts, and early industry reaction has been limited beyond a detailed statement from WW.