Apps powered by Apple’s new ResearchKit are already helping medical professionals
Announced during Monday’s special Apple Watch event, ResearchKit-powered apps are already a hit.
According to Bloomberg, more than 11,000 iPhone users have already signed up for a Stanford University cardiovascular study using the MyHeart Counts app:
“To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.”
Stanford’s study is specifically testing different ways to encourage people to become more active and improve their heart health.
Four other ResearchKit apps are also available in the App Store that tackle a number of other medical issues like asthma, breast cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.
All of the apps use the built-in iPhone tools like the accelerometer, gyroscope, and GPS sensor to help collect data for the study.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said during HealthKit announcement that user data is private, and that users can decide what data to share with whom. No data is seen by Apple.
Additional research apps are expected soon. Most notably, ResearchKit and the associated apps are all open source.
While the Bloomberg report talked with some researchers who said that data collected could have a number of flaws, I’m really pleased to see Apple develop something so worthwhile and helpful to medical professionals. I’ll be interested to see how researchers can use the software tools over time.
You can find out more about ResearchKit on Apple’s site.
For other news today, see: Apple says an internal DNS error is causing the App Store and iTunes outage, A new startup lets you rent the Apple Watch before you buy it, and Why you might want to wait until the fall to buy an Apple Watch.
