In recent years, personal fitness trackers have gone from novelty to commonplace. The data being collected has the potential to be valuable to more than just the end user, however.

According to a survey by eMarketer, eight in 10 Americans would be willing to share their personal health data with their doctors in order to assist in treatment planning. In the same survey, it was found that approximately 60 percent of individuals would share their data to contribute to medical research, 52 percent would share data for a discount on health insurance and almost 40 percent would exchange health data for money.

Consumers aren’t the only ones jumping on the wearable bandwagon. The United States Navy is in the early stages of developing a program to provide new sailors with fitness trackers as part of the Navy’s push to promote a healthier culture. While this technology has potential, not all believe fitness trackers tell the whole story.

“They are an interesting piece of information,” health studies professor Brian Schilling said. “But they are only a piece of the puzzle.”

One of the larger obstacles faced by those in favor of fitness trackers is perceived accuracy. Technology limitations make some activities more difficult to record correctly. For instance, many wearables are not sensitive enough to accurately track treadmill activity or swimming workouts. There’s also a lack of standardization. A study released in January by the American Council on Exercise found that five different fitness trackers offered five different measurements.

There are legal repercussions for inaccuracy. Nike and Apple recently settled a class action lawsuit concerning their Nike+ FuelBand. Plaintiffs alleged that the company made misleading statements regarding the device’s ability to track calories and steps. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

Fitness devices do not appear to be a waning fad like so many health and fitness products. According to the eMarketer survey, 39.5 million adults will have used wearables by the end of 2015. That’s an increase of more than 57 percent in one year. They also expect 81.7 million people to be using wearable fitness devices by 2018. With technology improving every year, don’t expect these devices to be going away anytime soon.

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