Current Obesity Reports names engagement as the unsolved problem in digital obesity care

A review published September 10, 2026, in Current Obesity Reports concludes that digital health tools — including mobile apps, wearables, telehealth, and artificial intelligence — have improved access to obesity care and made it easier for patients to track their progress, but that low engagement remains a persistent problem across digitally delivered interventions ^[1].

The review, titled "Digital Health in Obesity Care: Current Evidence, Challenges, and Future Directions," traces the technology's history from telephone counseling in the 1990s, to internet-based programs in the 2000s, to smartphones and wearables in the 2010s, to telehealth and AI tools in the 2020s ^[1]. It notes that obesity prevalence in US adults climbed from 23% in 1988 to 42.5% in 2017 before leveling off for roughly a decade, the backdrop against which these tools emerged ^[1].

Diet tracking apps have become especially widespread. The first one, Lose It, launched in the Apple Store in 2008, and by 2024 diet tracking apps logged more than 3.6 billion downloads worldwide, with the global weight-loss app market valued at $4.6 billion and projected to double by 2034 ^[1]. Many of these apps now charge for features like meal planning, coaching, barcode scanning, and AI tools ^[1]. The review notes that early trials found standalone diet tracking apps did not produce clinically significant weight loss, yet diet tracking itself is one of the strongest predictors of weight loss within broader lifestyle programs — a distinction the authors say matters because adherence to tracking is generally low ^[1].

The review also points to 2021 as a turning point, when the FDA approved semaglutide as a GLP-1 receptor agonist medication for obesity, after which demand for anti-obesity medications rose sharply and digital platforms built to support medication users proliferated ^[1]. The authors describe commercial digital lifestyle interventions as having become widely available between 2015 and 2022, alongside relaxed telehealth reimbursement rules that reduced barriers to obesity care ^[1]. The review flags AI as an emerging tool for personalized coaching and drawing insights from data collected by wearables and apps ^[1].

What the review does not do, based on the text available, is cite published randomized controlled trials evaluating the specific features built into commercial apps marketed alongside GLP-1 medications, such as symptom trackers, dosing reminders, or AI coaching tied to semaglutide or tirzepatide use. The review's broader conclusion — that engagement, not access, is the main unresolved problem — applies to digital obesity tools generally, and the authors call for more research on how to improve engagement and design interventions that adapt to a patient's changing needs ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

Many people taking Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, or other GLP-1 medications use companion apps to track symptoms, log doses, or get coaching. This review suggests the broader category of digital obesity tools does increase access and reduce the burden of manual tracking, which could make some of these features genuinely useful in day-to-day use ^[1]. At the same time, the review's central finding — that people tend to stop engaging with digital tools over time — is a caution for anyone relying on an app to sustain long-term habits. The review does not evaluate any specific GLP-1 companion app by name, so patients weighing whether such tools help them are working with general findings about digital health rather than data on a particular product ^[1].

What happens next

The review's authors call for future research to focus on three areas: finding ways to improve engagement with digital tools, designing systems that adapt as a patient's needs change over time, and studying how these tools can be built into everyday healthcare settings ^[1]. No specific timeline or funding for that research is given in the available text ^[1].