The researchers tested a smartwatch fitted with a custom app that used the smartwatch’s built-in motion sensors to detect typical smoking movements. The results, published in JMIR Formative Research, showed the technology has the potential to help more than two-thirds of trial participants quit the habit.

Smoking is the primary cause of preventable illness and premature death, harming nearly every organ of the body and reducing both quality of life and life expectancy. However, quitting is notoriously difficult, and many people try all sorts of ways to stop smoking, with limited success.

In this new feasibility study, researchers developed software that uses smartwatch motion sensors to identify the typical hand movements of cigarette smoking to help detect a smoking lapse. If the app detects the person is smoking, the smartwatch delivers a relapse prevention message, just at the moment it is needed, to help with their quit attempt.

Researchers tested t