Table 4. Overview of themes and illustrative quotes.

Theme	Brief description	Illustrative quotes
Increasing self-awareness of PA and SB	WATs increased participant self-awareness of their SB and PA.	“It made me get out…take the dog for a walk…walk around the yard (to) get my steps up” (P6, aged 50–59) “Knowledge is power, so it’s the reality of it that you might think you’re doing a certain amount of activity but having it written down helps” (P1, aged 50–59) “The main benefit was it tells you how many steps you’ve done so it’s like quantifying how much exercise that we’re getting on a daily basis” (P2, aged 50–59) “I get home and I’ve only done 3000 steps for the whole day which obviously isn’t enough so it makes you more conscious to keep moving and try move a bit more” (P10, aged 50–59)
Prompts and Feedback	The most motivational dimensions of the WATs was the provision of prompts and feedback.	“The beep makes you look at the watch and then it tells you it’s time to move…I thought ok I’ll go get a drink of water or something” (P5, aged 60–69) “If I’m watching telly and the ads come on I get up off the chair around the lounge, down the passage through the kitchen to increase my steps, if I didn’t have that on I wouldn’t keep doing it” (P11, aged 70–79) “It prompted me to go for a bit extra walking” (P16, aged 60–69) “Fitbit sends you a weekly report…fireworks on the screen when you reached your target” (P15, aged 50–59)
Accuracy and Registry of Activities	The accuracy of statistics (primarily step count) was questioned by several participants, mainly with reference to the Fitbit which had a tendency to over count steps during sedentary or light activity. Others expressed disappointment because the WATs did not record other activities such as stair climbing, swimming, gardening or cycling.	“The Fitbit needs to be made more accurate, it’s giving people a false sense of achievement” (P14, aged 50–59) “I did an hour of yoga but it didn’t register that” (P8, aged 60–69) “The first one was really nice except, that I climbed up all these stairs deliberately because I wanted it recorded. And I did four flights of, five flights of stairs and it recorded one (Garmin Vivosmart) (P3, aged 60–69) “Digging up a hole, large tree stump shurbs…didn’t record as an activity…you might get a little disillusioned, what have I got to do to get an activity recorded” (P4, aged 60–69)
WAT Preferences: Appearance & Functionality	Appearance and functionality were commonly cited in relation to acceptability and usability. Most participants preferred WATS with a slim band.	“The Fitbit is quite difficult to put on” (Miriam, aged 67); “I much preferred the Fitbit because it was smaller and easier to work with” (P12, aged 60–69). “This one (Fitbit) was smaller, less bulky and easier to see” (P10, aged 50–59) “This is a cute little one (Garmin Vivofit), it fits my wrist perfectly…you don’t even have to charge it” (P11, aged 70–79)
WAT Preferences and Features: Preferred Features	The most popular feature was step counting. Several wanted the WAT to have a heart rate monitor. WATs that were easy to sync were also viewed favourably.	“All I ever focused on was the step count” (P5, aged 60–69); “I used them for steps mainly” (P15, aged 50–59) “But I like the heart rate monitor on that one [Garmin] which I thought was good” (P2, aged 50–59); “The syncing was a pain on that one (Garmin Vivosmart) but the tapping (Fitbit) was also a pain” (P6, aged 50–59) “With the Garmin, I didn’t get on that well with it, couldn’t work out a lot of things to do with it, with the Fitbit I was able to download the app and follow it a bit more…it records the calories and steps” (P16, aged 60–67)