Will strive to be your reliable health guardian, says Apple

Apple is also open to collaborate with medical institutions in India for health research studies in near future

Since the launch of the Health app in 2014 and the Watch (1st Gen) in the following year (2015), Apple has made a significant meaningful impact on the lives of its customers.

Be it the informative Activity Trends on Health app or the potential life-saving heart health features ECG, AFib (Atrial Fibrillation), heart arrhythmia notification, fall detection, and more,

Apple Watches have saved thousands of people and no rivals have come close to its effectiveness.

Now, Apple has released a report outlining its mission to improve the health of the people. It has a two-pronged strategy, one by adding more meaningful features to the Health app and

Apple Watches and, secondly, the company will increase collaboration with more top-tier medical institutions for health studies.

In 2021, Apple introduced new tools with the iOS 15 update that can be used to identify, measure, and understand changes in personal wellness.

It added trend analysis for 20 types of data to the Health app — ranging from resting heart rate to sleep to cardio fitness. With this, users can easily see how well their body fitness is or not. And, if needed, make changes to the routine to improve health.

Health Trends on Health app. Credit: Apple

Also, Apple brought a secured health record sharing feature that helps senior citizens share their health data with loved ones or care takers.

Now, Apple has revealed that it will bring more features to iOS 16 and watches 9, with a focus on at least 17 areas of health and fitness, from heart health and sleep to mobility and women’s health, and more.

Must read | watchOS 9: Key features you should know about Apple's new wearable software

In total, the Apple Health app on both the iPhone and Watches will be able to more than 150 health data types sourced from native as well as third-party apps such as Nike Run Club, Calm, WeightWatchers, Qardio heart health, Withings Health Mate, and more with support for HealthKit.

In the upcoming iOS 16 and watchOS 9, the Health app will new medication reminders, and also, in select regions, the app will also show alerts if there are potential critical interactions with medications, to avoid side effects and critical allergic reactions.

Furthermore, adding to the Health Trends, the app will show AFib history of variation patterns to know how frequently the heart is in arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats) over the week/month.

AFib history on Health app. Credit: Apple

“We believe passionately that technology can play a role in improving health outcomes and encouraging people to live a healthier day, and we are excited about the many ways users are benefiting from our health and fitness features, and by the ways, third-party developers, institutions, and organizations are using Apple technology to advance health and science,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.

As said before, Apple is also working with medical researchers to come up with innovative solutions to improve people's health and early detection of underlying health conditions.

Apple has developed a Research App for health study with prominent institutions such as Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the American Heart Association, the University of Michigan, and more for Movements Study, heart health and study women's health.

It has also developed Health Records app that offers a secured link between patients and physicians. The app is available to patients at over 800 institutions across over 12,000 locations, making it easy for patients to see their available medical data from multiple providers in the Health app whenever they choose.

Health and insurance companies run close to 55 wellness incentive programmes in 17 countries with one million plus customers.

“Our vision for the future is to continue to create science-based technology that equips people with even more information and acts as an intelligent guardian for their health, so they’re no longer passengers on their own health journey. Instead, we want people to be firmly in the driver’s seat with meaningful, actionable insights,” Williams added.

Apple is also open to collaborating with medical institutions in India for health research studies in near future.

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