Would you share your health tracker data with your doctor?

If you’re wearing a Fitbit, Apple Watch, or Garmin right now, you’re not alone. These little gadgets, once humble step counters, have evolved into sleek, powerful devices that track everything from heart rate to sleep cycles. For many of us, they’ve become personal coaches, cheerleaders, and sometimes stern reminders to get off the couch.

But here’s a bigger question: what happens if you bring that data to your doctor? Would it actually help improve your care, or just give your physician one more chart to scroll through? And, just as importantly, would you want to share it?

A new study published in Healthcare dives right into this issue. A team of researchers from the University of South Australia’s Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity explored how everyday wearable users feel about sharing their health tracker data with their healthcare providers. The team consisted of Kimberley Szeto, Carol Maher, Rachel Curtis, Ben Singh, Tara Cain, Darcy Beckett, and Ty Ferguson, bringing together expertise in exercise science, digital health, and public health. Their findings are encouraging, but they also raise some tricky questions about privacy, trust, and the future of digital health.

Let’s zoom out for a moment. Lifestyle-related health problems, like physical inactivity, poor sleep, and unhealthy diets, are among the leading causes of chronic disease worldwide. They contribute to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and depression. The economic costs are staggering: inactivity alone costs global healthcare systems billions of dollars each year.

For decades, doctors have relied on patients’ self-reports to understand their daily habits. But let’s be honest: few of us remember exactly how many steps we took last Tuesday or how restless we were during sleep last night. That’s where wearable activity trackers (WATs) come in. They provide continuous, objective data that can paint a far more accurate picture of our daily health behaviors.

In theory, this is a goldmine for doctors. Imagine being able to spot early warning signs of poor sleep, dips in activity, or even irregular heart rhythms, long before they spiral into serious health problems. But for this to work, patients need to be willing to share their data, and doctors need to know how to use it. That’s where Szeto and her team stepped in.

The researchers surveyed 447 adults from around the world who had used a wearable tracker within the past three years. Most participants were young (under 45), female (60%), and either current or former users of popular devices like Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Garmin.

They found that 94% of participants said they’d be willing to share their tracker data with a healthcare provider; 47% had actually discussed their tracker data with a doctor, physiotherapist, or other health professional; 43% had directly shared the data, whether through apps, screenshots, or old-fashioned verbal reports; and yet privacy was the number one concern, with about one in ten participants mentioning it specifically.

Interestingly, people with chronic health conditions were more likely to share their data (they had more at stake), but they were also more likely to worry about privacy and data accuracy.

Geography mattered, too: participants in the United States were more open to sharing and less worried about privacy than those in Australia. The reasons for this difference aren’t fully clear but may reflect cultural differences in healthcare systems and attitudes toward data sharing.

What’s particularly counterintuitive is the gap between what people say they’re willing to do and what actually happens in clinics. Nearly everyone in the study said they’d share their data, but fewer than half had ever done so.

Why? The researchers suggest a few possibilities. First, doctors may not ask. In fact, many healthcare providers aren’t trained or equipped to interpret wearable data. Second, patients may not know whether their doctor would find the information helpful. Third, technology gaps may play a big role. While devices sync seamlessly with our phones, few clinics have systems to securely import and analyze patient-generated wearable data.

This gap isn’t unique to wearables. It reflects a broader challenge in digital health: people are willing, but the healthcare system hasn’t caught up.

For some, the hesitation comes down to privacy. After all, wearable trackers collect intimate data about our bodies and daily routines, when we sleep, how often we move, sometimes even our location. While most people are comfortable sharing this with a doctor, they may worry about insurance companies, employers, or tech firms gaining access.

At present, many commercial wearable devices don’t meet the strict data privacy standards required in healthcare. Until companies and healthcare systems build secure pipelines, using encryption, de-identification, and transparent data governance, some patients will understandably hold back.

As the authors note, patients are generally more willing to share data when they know it’s for healthcare purposes, not for marketing or profit. Trust, in other words, is everything.

So, should you show your step counts and sleep graphs to your doctor? This study suggests most people are ready, and many have already tried. But the healthcare system isn’t fully set up to make the most of it yet.

The authors argue that wearable data could be an “efficient and economical” way to monitor and encourage healthier behaviors, especially since so many people already own these devices. Unlike medical-grade equipment, wearables don’t have to be purchased by clinics or insurers. They’re already sitting on people’s wrists.

But to realize this potential, healthcare providers need training on how to interpret and use wearable data, systems that allow secure, seamless integration with electronic health records, clear standards for accuracy, since not all trackers are created equal, and strong privacy protections to reassure patients.

The study is part of a growing wave of research exploring how personal technology can reshape medicine. Future research will need to answer some pressing questions, including the following. Can wearable data actually improve patient outcomes, or will it just add more noise? How do we ensure this technology helps everyone, not just younger, wealthier, tech-savvy users? What’s the right balance between patient privacy and data usefulness? The answers will shape how healthcare looks in the next decade.

If you use a wearable, this study suggests you’re not alone in wondering whether to share your data with your doctor. Most people are open to it, and many doctors are beginning to see the value. So, the next time you visit your GP, it might be worth saying, “Hey, I’ve been tracking my sleep and activity. Want to take a look?” Even if they don’t dive deep into your graphs, it could start a conversation about lifestyle habits that are central to long-term health And if you’re worried about privacy? That’s valid. Ask how your data will be used, stored, and protected. As with any aspect of healthcare, you deserve transparency and trust.

If you want to learn more, read the original article titled "User Experiences and Attitudes Toward Sharing Wearable Activity Tracker Data with Healthcare Providers: A Cross-Sectional Study" on Healthcare at http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13111215.