Health insurance company says people with Apple Watches move 51% more

Apple Watch with workout app open (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

New figures show that people who were given an Apple Watch moved as much as 51% more than before.
Insurance firm AIA gave Apple Watches to members of its AIA Vitality program.
People who moved the most saved on their monthly Apple Watch payments.

A health insurance company that gives people Apple Watches says that its numbers show as much as a 51% increase in physical activity among wearers.

An AIA Australia report shows that over 50s increased their physical activity by an average of 51% when they were wearing an Apple Watch. The overall increase across all age groups was a still-impressive 35%, according to the insurer.

Aia Apple Watch Movement Increase (Image credit: AIA Australia)

AIA Australis offers those who take out the AIA Vitality program the chance to bag an Apple Watch. If people meet movement goals the payments for their new watch shrink, possibly as far as making the wearable free. That does raise the question of whether the movement was thanks to the Apple Watch's presence or simply an indicator of how much people will move around if it means getting something for free.

The rich health and wellbeing insights Apple Watch users gain, combined with the behavioural principle of "loss aversion" that has been built into this AIA Vitality benefit, led to the significant increases in activity levels.

However, the why doesn't really matter so long as people are moving — and presumably reducing the claims made to AIA in the process.

Looking to get moving yourself? The Apple Watch Series 7 is the best Apple Watch you can buy today and is well worth checking out for anyone who is yet to take an Apple wearable for a spin.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.