Life insuranceprograms are giving users points for tracking their daily jogs orfor their meditation practice, which they can thenuse for rewards toward purchases on Amazon and othersites. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Apple Watches and Fitbits are increasingly part of everyday life. People track daily steps,log health information, even use the devices tocompete against friends and family. Now life insurers want in on that.

John Hancock, a unit of Manulife Financial Corp., recentlyexpanded an optional program to d for healthy habits.Participants can earn points for tracking their daily jogs or fortheir meditation practice, and then use those points for rewardstoward purchases on Amazon and other sites. Sometimes they can evensave money on premiums.

Related: How to reach today's potential life insurancebuyers

What's in it for insurers? For one thing, if policyholders livelonger, insurers don't have to pay out as soon, according to ChadHersh, a vice president for insurance at consulting firm Capgemini.Even if wearing a wrist computer doesn't by itself make anyone livelonger, there may be a more subtle advantage for insurers. Thecustomers who want to sign up for such a program might be a littlemore health-conscious—and less risky to cover.

Tal Gilbert, chief executive officer of Vitality USA, theoutside company that worked with John Hancock to create itsprogram, agrees that healthy customers tend to be more likely toconsider signing up but says there's no penalty for people withhealth issues. Brooks Tingle, president and CEO of John HancockInsurance, says the program gives the company a way to connect toits policyholders. Instead of just sending the customer theoccasional bill, “we're interacting with customers through Vitality40 times a month.”

The industry needs new ways to attract customers. The percentageof people owning life insurance has fallen steadily for years,though the decline is leveling off. And with more people buyingcoverage online, insurers can't rely as much on agents to buildlong-term client relationships.

Life insurers have long gathered extensive data about customers.Many policies require applicants to undergo a medical exam, givingthe insurer a snapshot of their health when they sign up. But theidea of getting fresh, real-time data spurs the question: When doesthe insurer know too much? There's a growing need for guidelines onhow companies use fitness information, says Pam Dixon, executivedirector of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit. While she doesn'tthink using such information is necessarily negative, she says thefact that the relatively cautious insurance industry is doing so is“a red flare in the sky for all of us that this is here, and it'shaving a meaningful impact on our lives.”

Vitality's Gilbert says insurers are used to handling sensitiveinformation, “so the bar is very high in terms of how we look afterthat information internally.” Tingle says the challenge is having aprogram that customers can stick with: “How do you combat theso-called New Year's resolution effect?”

More ways wearables are influencinghealth:

• Wearables are making the workplacesafer
• Wearable tech could estimate how you're aging — butsorry, it won't help you save for retirement
• 6 promising wearables tips for wellnessprograms