IoT Trends in Wearable Devices For Personal and Business Needs in 2024

Wearable IoT devices remain one of the most popular trends of IoT, which in turn is also in quite a ride across a wide range of industries. Global user spending on IoT wearable technology last year was $81.5 billion, up 18% from 2020. Spending is expected to exceed $90 billion in 2022.

AA business that maintains pace with trending IoT wearable technologies may gain a market advantage, collecting accurate data through wearable devices by making informed data-driven decisions, as well as improving customer acquisition and retention rates by delivering a suite of new features, services, and an unforgettable customer experience. Let’s peek into the future of wearable IoT trends the industry will follow in 2023.

In this article, we will try to tell you about the latest trends in wearable IoT devices that can definitely help your business get better.

Benefits of Wearable IoT Devices

How exactly can wearable IoT devices help you? From personal use to company prospects, they offer plenty of benefits. So, let’s go through the main perks of wearable technology in business:

• Convenience. If you need a seamless way to integrate technology into your daily life, wearable IoT devices are what you’re looking for. They are easily accessible compared to smartphones you should carry in your pockets or laptops you wouldn’t take on every occasion. They allow you to stay connected, access necessary information, and even perform certain tasks — everything on the go.
• Real-time monitoring. One standout feature of wearables is that they can monitor various parameters in real time. Whether tracking your heart rate, sleep patterns, and physical activity or collecting and analyzing environmental data, these devices bring numerous practical insights. This real-time monitoring capability, in turn, helps improve your well-being or optimize business processes.
• Improved fitness and health. As we just mentioned, wearable devices positively impact your well-being. You can set and achieve fitness goals, monitor your progress, and strive for a healthier lifestyle. You can also track your vitals to detect diseases early on, manage medication, improve sleep quality, and so on.
• Enhanced safety and security. Wearable devices improve protection measures in both personal and business contexts. Individuals can find peace of mind through GPS tracking, emergency alerts, and biometric authentication features. On the other hand, companies use wearables to safeguard their employees, especially in hazardous work environments.
• Improved communication. Smartwatches, fitness bands, smart earbuds, and even AR glasses are examples of how wearables open new communication possibilities. Use them to stay connected with your business partners, friends, or family hands-free without being overly distracted by texting and phone calls.

 IoT wearable technology trends

Top 8 Wearable IoT Trends in 2023

Let’s now look at the future of wearable devices. Explore the top eight IoT wearable technology trends that will change how we live and work in 2023 and beyond.

IoT Wearables in Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way people think about their health and has also led to a technological shift in how healthcare works. The increased interest in the Internet of Medical Things as a result of this has not yet shown signs of decline.

The Internet of Things allows doctors and clinics to provide services beyond the traditional clinical environment. With the use of wearable IoT devices in healthcare, patients receive more integrated care and wide access to quality home treatment. Machine-to-machine connectivity allows for mass data collection and information exchange from wearable devices, which in turn provides unlimited opportunities for remote health monitoring.

What are the specific ways wearables help to improve the customer experience and organize a systematic approach to personal health care? Let’s give some examples.

1. Patients with diabetes or arterial hypertension should self-monitor blood pressure or blood glucose levels several times a day. Wearable devices can measure these indicators automatically without any extra patient effort, avoiding negative scenarios for the development of chronic disease.
2. Using data on the current state of the patient, as well as having a history of data on his well-being over a certain period, the device can be used to monitor the effectiveness of drugs, as well as to select the dosage, and track their intake at the right time.
3. The exchange of patient data through connected devices can inform the doctor about any dangerous changes in health and well-being, while a timely response makes it possible to avoid negative consequences.
4. The same is about athletes and team physicians, who can benefit from wearable devices as physiological activity sensors built into them monitor heart rate, sleep cycles, body temperature, and breathing. This allows athletes and sports teams to track movements, workloads, and biometric markers to maximize performance and minimize injury.
5. The improvement trend in sensors seen over the past few years will also play in favor of healthcare and sports medicine devices. Increasing the possibility of accurate readings will improve the quality of data collected and allow users to get more out of using devices.

Wearable GPS Technology

Let’s consider scenarios where you go on a road trip, walk your pet, or simply find yourself desperately searching for your lost phone. In all these cases, you’ll likely need GPS technology. While GPS is not a new concept, it takes on new dimensions when integrated into wearable IoT devices.

Wearable GPS devices aren’t just a convenient solution. They also take up minimum space, cost reasonable money, and reduce screen time. Some examples of GPS-enabled wearables include smartwatches, fitness bands, pet trackers, GPS tags for personal belongings, and even jewelry pieces with GPS capabilities.

The global GPS watch market will grow by over 16% annually to surpass $71 billion in 2028. So, gone are the days of checking locations through smartphones or paper maps. Smartwatches guide users with turn-by-turn directions, ensuring they reach their destinations safely.

Interestingly, the pet wearable market will rise as well. It will expand from $2.7 billion in 2023 to $6.88 billion in 2030 due to increasing pet owners’ awareness about the well-being of their furry companions.

As we look ahead, wearable GPS is poised to become even more advanced. Using geofencing, a technology for creating virtual boundaries, will be a new reality in which businesses can manage property/area access and improve security effortlessly. Navigating self-driving cars through the smartwatch will also be possible shortly.

Introduction of Beacon Tech

Speaking of location-based technology, beacon tech is another prominent here-to-stay trend alongside GPS. Its market size will grow by 37.70% from 2021 to 2030, reaching a total of $103.94 billion by 2030.

Beacons are small, low-cost, low-energy devices that transmit signals to nearby gadgets through Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE. Their primary edge is the ability to establish proximity-based interactions. Simply put, beacons send signals to smartphones or wearables within their area, offering contextually relevant information or services. For example, people can receive exclusive discounts on their smartwatches when passing by their favorite stores in the mall.

While beacons are now commonly used in smartwatches and industries like shopping and retail, their integration with IoT ecosystems opens new prospects. Combining beacon technology with IoT devices like smart home systems or industrial equipment will allow individuals and businesses to achieve greater automation, improve device management, and streamline data exchange.

Security Issues: Still in the Spotlight

As wearable devices are taking off, the security and privacy risks for companies and end users become increasingly worrying. Hacker protection and ensuring the privacy of users’ data will be the in focus for software and device manufacturers throughout 2023.

What makes IoT technology not secure enough? Poor access control management systems, limited encryption, vulnerable software and weak vendor security create vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit.

At the dawn of wearable devices’ era, the creators’ priority was to establish a unique user experience, which, due to the wow effect, attracted fans of fashionable technological innovations. Having gone a long way from a slightly useless high-tech toy to a sought-after IoT device with a lot of useful features, wearable devices should now become our indispensable companions in all areas of life, which you can trust any data without fear about its safety.

In the near future, security will finally stop being a super-feature as IoT vendors provide more built-in security. This should be taken into account at all stages of project creation, from design to testing and validation.

By the way, evolving biometric technologies will help improve data security through more advanced methods of reliable identification and authentication. However, this is only one of the layers of integrated security that will definitely become a priority when promoting new wearable IoT devices to the market.

Edge Computing: Expanding Real-Time Data Transfer Capabilities

Improving data security issues are linked to edge computing. Meanwhile, the possibilities of edge computing go far beyond security and lead us into a new era of developing IoT devices, in particular, smart wearables and augmented reality gadgets.

Edge computing is the next wave of cloud computing evolution, pushed by the advent of 5G networks over the globe. Just as the mass deployment of cloud computing once enabled the decentralization of IT and gave end users powerful enterprise-grade data processing resources, today’s edge computing brings the revolutionary ability to use complex data analytics without the IT infrastructure required in previous generations.

Advances in edge computing are paving the way for faster and more efficient applications, enabling devices with greater accuracy, security, and power efficiency. Network edge computing allows the device to no longer send data to a central server for processing, ensuring a consistent experience in any conditions. This means power savings and longer battery life.

Processing data at the edge instead of transferring it to a central server reduces the chances of hackers intercepting it. There is no need to store the information in memory, as the information is exchanged with the edge device and then returned to the user.

This enables designers to create wearable IoT devices capable of transmitting video, audio, or large data streams in real-time, providing consumers with an impressive experience in a small and functional package. All this is due to decentralized computing, which makes it possible to process data directly on the device and in real-time while reducing the need for memory, bandwidth and improving energy efficiency.

Read Also: IoT in consumer electronics

Advanced Connectivity Technologies: Wireless Data Rates Will Increase

About 48 billion gadgets connected to the Internet create a load on the existing network. A decentralized network has an advantage over a centralized one only if there are no significant delays in communication between connected devices. Network bandwidth is the bottleneck of IoT technology. Low bandwidth means high network latency, so devices can’t communicate fast enough and the technology can’t work efficiently.

In the past, high-speed connectivity was possible through a cable or fiber-optic connection. The need for a wireless connection limits the use of wireless devices, as it can be inconsistent or have a low data rate. Fortunately, the accelerated advancement of infrastructure for 5G networks in recent years promises seamless data exchange to stimulate the wearable IoT market.

The new type of connection enables not only higher speed and lower latency, but also brings more power because minimizing the time of wireless data transmission will provide greater system energy savings.

Telecommunications infrastructure upgrade by carriers is just getting underway, but this move paves the way for much more data to be transmitted over the wireless network, meaning that people who wear smart devices will receive a lot more digital information. Accelerated delivery to the cloud for faster decision-making will certainly be critical for technologies such as smart automation or AR/VR implemented in wearables.

Wearables IoT Devices in Fintech are Getting Popular

Another wearable IoT device trend gaining popularity is the use of wearable IoT devices in FinTech. This helps entrepreneurs solve critical issues and create innovative services for customers. But it’s not just about consumers who expect service providers to follow fashion and maintain pace with the times.

Collecting the vast amount of data from IoT wearable sensors enables high-quality big data analytics and allows the implementation of artificial intelligence solutions based on machine learning algorithms. Moreover, wearable devices create additional points of interaction between the financial institution and the client, the value of which does not depend on the location of the consumer. Detailed personal information and real-time behavioral data enable targeted personalized services provided timely.

The global contactless payment market is expected to grow from $10 billion to $18 billion by 2025. E-payments are gaining immense popularity due to the speed and security of real-time transactions. Smartphones and wearable devices still largely dominate in contactless payments, so the growth in its demand will contribute to the advancement of e-Pay technology.

However, wearable innovations in the near future will not be limited to the smartphones we already know. According to research, consumers in the US and Europe are willing to use an average of 5 wearables per smartphone, and this is the niche where businesses can look for potential customers for their services. Paying with smart jewelry, withdrawing cash from ATMs, smart authentication, IoT voice technology for mobile banking – this is an incomplete list of what should soon become commonplace to ordinary users. Fintech providers and e-commerce are to be prepared for this.
Read Also: eCommerce Ecosystem: What You Should Know

Industrial IoT: Wearables Achieve New Heights

Fueled by the success of Apple and Samsung devices, wearables are becoming one of the key interfaces for IoT access not only in the consumer space but also in the enterprise IoT. Wearables Industrial IoT is rapidly accelerating, so we will see a lot of innovation in IoT development the upcoming years. These technologies will allow companies to significantly improve productivity and efficiency, and therefore the bottom line.

Providing augmented reality-enabled remote assistance, improving workplace ergonomics, and real-time processes monitoring for better practical decisions are just some examples of how wearable IoT devices may be successfully used in an industrial enterprise. IoT devices allow businesses to keep things like communication within teams, secure work environments for employees, or remote process control under even better control.

Application developers should think about how to implement the elements of IoT into ordinary workers’ equipment like goggles or hard hats, turning them into smart glasses and a smart helmet.

Whatever area your business operates in, Industry 4.0 has certainly touched it anyway, and in the coming years, digitalization will only gain momentum and attract more and more attention. As an integral part of the IoT, wearable technology is something that can really set you apart from your competitors today, and what will be a must for staying in the consumer’s eye tomorrow.

Read also: The Future of Precision Farming using IoT

Conclusion

In conclusion, wearable IoT technology is rapidly evolving and changing the way we live and work. With the increasing demand for more connected and convenient devices, wearable IoT devices are becoming more advanced and sophisticated. As wearable IoT technologies continue to evolve and expand, it is essential to stay informed and stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in this exciting field. Therefore, if you had ideas about how to apply wearable IoT technologies in your business, you can contact us to discuss the idea and further actions for its implementation.