Did Pokémon GO actually get people moving?

Gotta catch’em all! Pokémon GO and physical activity among young adults: difference in differences study

Pokémon GO got young adults walking nearly a thousand extra steps a day — for about six weeks.

Howe, K. B., Suharlim, C., Ueda, P., Howe, D., Kawachi, I., & Rimm, E. B. · BMJ, 2016

Researchers at Harvard compared the iPhone step counts of young American adults who installed Pokémon GO in summer 2016 with those who didn’t, before and after the game came out.

In the first week, players walked about 955 extra steps a day. Then the effect slowly faded, and by week six they were back to their old habits. Turns out you can’t catch ’em all, but you can catch a brief burst of exercise.

the verdict

Pikachu is a fine personal trainer, if a bit flaky.