U.S. consumers download many healthcare apps. But a large portion of consumers arent using them consistently, or even at all, says Dr. Kamal Jethwan, senior director of Partners HealthCare Connected Health.

At Connected Health, an electronic health information and mobile health research organization affiliated with Boston healthcare system Partners Healthcare, Jethwan will oversee a $468,000 grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation to find out why consumers get bored with health apps and what providers and app developers at wearable device manufacturing companies and elsewhere can do to spur more interest.

Connected Health will use the grant to create a focus group of 30-40 consumers, equip them with a range of wearable devices that track levels of fitness, weight loss and other health metrics and research how the group uses apps and wearables. Over time the focus group will be expanded to as many as 120 users.

At the same time Connected Health will begin to develop a software algorithm Connected Health calls an engagement engine that will give consumers recommendations on the best wearable device for them and a sustainable plan to use the device based on their goals and level of fitness, Jethwan says.

Web-connected wearable devices that allow consumers to track fitness, weight loss and other health metrics is a growing business. U.S. sales of just wearable fitness devices totaled an estimated $2 billion in 2014, up from $854 million in the prior year, says management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company Accenture Plc. And more there are more than 100,000 healthcare apps available for download, Accenture says.

But many people dont think mobile health apps have made them significantly healthier. Only 29% of smartphone owners taking part in a recent survey by the New York University School of Medicine Department of Population Health say using health apps has made a big and positive impact on their current state of health. Thats compared with 60.3% who see little to moderate improvement and 10.5% who say their health did not improve or even declined.

The time demands of mobile apps are the main reason consumers give up on them, the survey suggests. 44.5% of survey respondents say it takes too long to enter data, compared with 40.5% that say they lost interest and 36.1% that discontinued use because of follow-up costs such as paying for an upgrade to a more robust version of a health app. Many apps are based on what commercial programmers think is cool or how they think consumers may want to use a specific app, says Paul Krebs, an NYU assistant professor and author of the study.

But healthcare apps and wearable devices can have a bigger impact on the U.S. healthcare system by helping providers and patients better track major health problems such as obesity, heart disease and cancer. To build its database and engagement engine Connected Health will use feedback from its user group of adults 18-65 with a body mass index rating of mildly obese to overweight. Body mass index is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The initial focus group will be asked to rate their wearable and health app experience based on 160 metrics Connected Health will compare and measure over a two-month to four-month period, Jethwan says.

Eventually, with the development of an algorithm, Connected Health intends to build recommendation software that will allow users to compare up to eight wearable devices and build an activity plan that is personalized for them. The recommendation engine will be available online through Wellocracy, a series of web pages created by Connected Health to educate individuals on how to use activity trackers, wearable sensors and mobile apps to improve health and wellness. The level of tracking information has to be coupled with actions to motivate patient use, Jethwan says.

For instance, if a consumer is using a fitness tracker device and app to determine how many steps she takes per day, an improved app may also serve up ways to keep her engaged, such as app features that ask her to join a walking group and then provide links to groups near her. Apps and wearables can do more than collect data, they can be engaging, Jethwan says.

Until wearable manufactures, health app developers and others build health better apps, consumers wont use health and wellness apps and wearables very long, Kreb says. Most health apps just are not very well developed, Krebs says. They dont have features that make users want to institute change and change their behavior.