Evaluating Glanceable Multi-Device Family Health Tracking with Smartwatches and Home Displays

Jul 16, 2026

Ubiquitous computing for personal health tracking often focuses on single devices, yet family informatics is inherently collaborative and spans multiple contexts. This study evaluates smartwatch-only, home-display-only, and combined designs for tracking moods and goals across nine weeks. In 12 families, mood and goal reporting were more frequent with home displays, tracking peaked in afternoons, dropped on weekends, and occurred more at home. Interviews show smartwatches enable opportunistic, glance-based awareness away from home, while displays support routine-based self-tracking and family collaboration, including non-wearable participants.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time1 h 26 min

Introduction

Background on multi-device and family health tracking

Caregiving and collaborative informatics challenges

arXiv :2607 .0 16 18v 1 [ cs .HC] 2 Jul 2026 Evaluating Glanceable Multi-Device Family Health Tracking with Smartwatches and Home Displays LUCAS M. SILVA∗ , University of Iowa, USA EVROPI STEFANIDI, TU Wien, AT AEHONG MIN, University of California, Irvine, USA FRANCELI L. CIBRIAN, Chapman University, USA JESUS A. BELTRAN, California State University, Los Angeles, USA CASSIE ZEILER, University of California, Irvine, USA SABRINA E. B. SCHUCK, University of California, Irvine, USA KIMBERLEY D. LAKES, University of California, Riverside, USA GILLIAN R. HAYES, University of California, Irvine, USA DANIEL A. EPSTEIN, University of California, Irvine, USA While ubiquitous computing research has explored diverse devices for personal health tracking, we know less about multi-device designs for family informatics, where health management is inherently collaborative. To understand how families adopt and perceive ubiquitous access to shared health data across contexts, we evaluated smartwatch-only, home display-only, and combined designs for tracking moods and goals, domains central to family health behavior regulation. 44 people across 12 families alternated between these designs over nine weeks. Log analysis revealed that mood tracking and goal reporting were significantly more frequent with the home display present compared to smartwatch-only use, despite an overall decline in mood tracking over time. Tracking peaked in afternoons, dropped on weekends, and occurred 2.6× more at home, with children tracking more consistently than adults across all designs. From interview analysis, we learned how family data glanceability on smartwatches supported opportunistic tracking and awareness while apart, whereas displays reminded families to self-track and collaborate during home routines including members that avoided wearables (e.g., non-participants) . Multi-device redundancy accommodated diversity in routines, mobility patterns, and device preferences among members in the same family. We discuss opportunities for multi-device family informatics that accommodates different preferences through inclusive, glanceable, and adaptable ubiquitous data sharing. CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Ubiquitous and mobile computing; Ubiquitous and mobile devices; Empirical studies in collaborative and social computing. Additional Key Words and Phrases: Family Informatics, Smartwatch, Home Display, Mood Tracking, Goal Tracking, Health Behavior Regulation This manuscript has been conditionally accepted for publication in Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT 2026). This is the authors’preprint version. ∗ Corresponding author. Authors’ Contact Information: Lucas M. Silva, [lucas-silva@uiowa.edu](lucas-silva@uiowa.edu), University of Iowa, USA; Evropi Stefanidi, [evropi.stefanidi@tuwien.ac.at](evropi.stefanidi@tuwien.ac.at), TU Wien, Vienna, AT; Aehong Min, [aehongm@uci.edu](aehongm@uci.edu), University of California, Irvine, USA; Franceli L. Cibrian, [cibrian@chapman.edu](cibrian@chapman.edu), Chapman University, USA; Jesus A. Beltran, [abeltr99@calstatela.edu](abeltr99@calstatela.edu), California State University, Los Angeles, USA; Cassie Zeiler, [czeiler@thecraigschool.org](czeiler@thecraigschool.org), University of California, Irvine, USA; Sabrina E. B. Schuck, [sabrina@uci.edu](sabrina@uci.edu), University of California, Irvine, USA; Kimberley D. Lakes, [klakes@medsch.ucr.edu](klakes@medsch.ucr.edu), University of California, Riverside, USA; Gillian R. Hayes, [gillianrh@ics.uci.edu](gillianrh@ics.uci.edu), University of California, Irvine, USA; Daniel A. Epstein, [epstein@ics.uci.edu](epstein@ics.uci.edu), University of California, Irvine, USA. Manuscript submitted to ACM Silva et al. 1 Introduction Ubiquitous computing research has investigated how systems with different devices facilitate manual self-tracking of behaviors and tasks that impact wellness [2

FAQs

What multi-device designs are compared in the study?

The study compares smartwatch-only, home display-only, and combined designs for tracking moods and goals across family members over nine weeks.

How does adding a home display affect tracking behavior?

Home displays significantly increase mood tracking and goal reporting compared with smartwatch-only use, even though mood tracking declines overall over time.

What do interviews reveal about how family members use smartwatches versus home displays?

Glanceable smartwatch data supports opportunistic tracking and awareness when family members are apart, while home displays prompt self-tracking and collaboration during home routines, including people who avoid wearables.

Jul 16, 2026

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