Frequently Asked Questions

My Fitness Counts is a research app designed to study activity and heart health through your phone. It is a spinoff study of MyHeart Counts and is now availble to many more people as it is available on both iOS and Android. Stanford University scientists plan to use data gathered from app users to inform future studies and pave the way for MyHeart Counts on both Android and iOS.

If you are 18 years of age or older and living in the United States with an iPhone (iPhone 7 or newer, and iOS 13.x or newer) or Android phone (Android 4.4 and above, and 720p and above), you are eligible. 

MyHeart Counts was a great success, but the main thing holding it back was that it was only available on iOS and we wanted to change that in order to research a broader cohort. We created My Fitness Counts as an application that is available on both Android and iOS and to inform future versions of MyHeart Counts on both platforms.

Physical activity is known to be one of the best “drugs” to prevent heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases. Both smartphones and wearable devices can now keep track of how active we are throughout the day. We have the opportunity to directly measure activity in people throughout the world to improve our understanding of the relationship between activity and heart health. It will also let us study ways to help people improve their activity and heart health over time, which could prevent more heart disease around the world.  

The purpose of the research study “My Fitness Counts” is to find out what keeps the heart healthy and help us learn how to combat heart disease and stroke, by collecting research data on your daily activity, fitness, and cardiovascular health status. Prior research using surveys on physical activity and fitness have shown that these can reduce the risk of developing heart and blood vessel disease, such as heart attack and stroke (also called cardiovascular disease). Mobile phones and wearable devices can now measure physical activity and fitness, offering improved methods to research the impact of activity and fitness on cardiovascular health. The goal of this study is to use the quantitative capabilities and wide availability of mobile devices to enhance our knowledge of the relationships between activity, fitness, and heart health.

You do not have to sign this authorization form.  But if you do not, you will not be able to participate in this research study. Signing the form is not a condition for receiving any medical care outside the study.

Yes, if you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your authorization regarding the use and disclosure of your health information (and to discontinue any other participation in the study) at any time.  After any revocation, your health information will no longer be used or disclosed in the study, except to the extent that the law allows us to continue using your information (e.g., necessary to maintain integrity of research).  If you decide to withdraw from the study, there will be no consequences to you. 

No, My Fitness Counts is a free app and there are no additional costs other than basic expenses like the personal time it will take to respond to the survey questions and perform the study tasks. If study data is sent over cellular instead of Wi-Fi, it may impact your cellar bill. 

The study will present new surveys over the course of 1 week.  You may optionally continue using the app for fitness tasks and provide feedback while the study is active. Additionally, active participation should be less than 10-15 minutes per day.

No, My Fitness Counts is a research study. You will not get medical treatment or health advice if take part. If you have questions about your health, please see your doctor. The My Fitness Counts app and participation in this study are not a substitute for health care or health insurance. The data collected by the My Fitness Counts app will not be reviewed by a physician for medical evaluation. Consult a physician for any medical questions. You and/or your health insurance must pay for any services, supplies, procedures, and care that you require during this study for routine medical care.

Go to the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and download My Fitness Counts. Log in by entering your email and password that you used to join the study previously and follow the prompts to sign in. New information will be added to your existing study information.

Your privacy is very important to us. We will take great care to protect it. Please see our privacy policy here. 

This is a walking test that has been used extensively as an easy-to-perform measure of fitness. The study begins with a Physical Activity Readiness questionnaire, which advises you about talking to your doctor before increasing activity or assessing fitness. We are also implementing a feature to give you the typical distance expected for your age, gender, height, and weight. Heart rate data will be capture with your phone's camera and additionally with wearable device capable of recording heart rate while walking.

For most of us, we only see our doctor or nurse a few times per year but our phone is with us every day. This can help with measuring our daily activities plus give us access to heart information 24/7, wherever you are. We can also get feedback on different ways to help improve our daily behaviors to keep our heart healthy. By expanding our study to Android users, we are drastically expanding the amount and diverstiy of people being studied. 

Yes. Your name will be removed before the data goes to the computer for storage and then later used for analysis. Only researchers will have access to the data.

No. The data will be used for research only.

Because you have a heart, and every heart counts! Everyone is at risk for heart disease and stroke and it’s the #1 killer in the world. You can help us gather information to help better understand and prevent heart disease while learning more about your own health and risk factors and areas for improvement.

If you have further questions that aren’t addressed here, please contact the study by email at Myheartcounts@med.stanford.edu.