Zamzee, the commercial spin-off of Redwood City, California-based HopeLab, is launching a new version of its kids' activity tracker and gamified fitness platform geared at large groups, particularly clinical settings such as pediatric weight loss clinics.

HopeLab established much of the efficacy data on Zamzee in group settings. For instance, a study published last year showed that overweight adolescents had a 27 percent higher rate of exercise after six months working with the system.

With the new system, Zamzee will offer its software in a package optimized for quick deployment in groups and a more data-rich backend to benefit coaches, teachers or clinicians.

"Up until now they've relied entirely on self-reported data, which has been shown to be simply hugely inaccurate," CEO Lance Henderson told MobiHealthNews. "Zamzee offers a tool that really validates what they're doing. And with Zamzee for Groups you can really have a clinic up and running in just a short number of days."

Group leaders will be able to purchase Zamzee activity trackers at a discount and distribute them to kids and parents, whose front-end experience will be much the same as Zamzee's commercial offering. However, group leaders will be able to see individual and aggregate data about uploads per day and time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity. They can also filter the aggregate results by age, gender, or predefined groups.

"We've studied the kind of metrics they're looking for, so they can drill down into individual user behavior," said Henderson. "Those sort of mechanics which, when someone's running, for instance, a weekly clinical program, they can see who's been moving, how much they've been moving, and they can create challenges for the kids."

Henderson said that in pilots, Zamzee has found that in addition to allowing group leaders to track progress more easily, Zamzee also improved attendance and retention. He said pediatric weight loss clinics in previous studies reported a 50 percent increase in retention with the addition of Zamzee's software.

"Unlike adults who choose weight loss products because they're self-motivated, we're addressing a population [that hasn't chosen to be there.]" Henderson said. "They get involved in these weight management programs ambivalently at best. Zamzee has really helped them view the experience in a more positive light."

Zamzee for groups is in beta and will launch officially October 15th. Henderson said the price structure is still being determined.