Tune your sun right: persuasive app towards healthy & safe sun exposure

Wearable technologies, including smartwatches, clips and other sensors are enabling a new wave of self-monitoring, where users can track various aspects of their lives and the environment. New opportunities for self-managing health are becoming a reality - including sun exposure, where too much can cause sunburn/cancer but too little can lead to vitamin D deficiency. Current campaigns successfully promote the awareness of ultra violet (UV) exposure at a public level, but lacks meaningful lifestyle change. We use a commercial wearable UV/light sensor, visualizations, notification messages and educational content to inform a persuasive mobile application (app) to encourage self-management of sun exposure. We report on a preliminary study with three participants investigating usability, user experience and perceived value of the technology solution. Participants indicated that the app was easy to use, and showed promise in helping them understand personal sun exposure habits and in considering lifestyle changes.