Apple unveiled plenty of new health features on Monday, bringing the tech giant even closer to users' daily healthcare routines as well as their professional care experiences.
New ways to share sensitive health data with doctors and loved ones were among the new features and capabilities announced during the WWDC keynote session. It also features new ways to keep track of your health, such as a first-of-its-kind Walking Steadiness measure that helps you avoid dangerous falls.
Apple has addressed health as a priority. Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, spoke on CNBC in early 2019: "If you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, 'What was Apple's greatest contribution to mankind?' It will be about health."
Apple has formed partnerships with significant organizations in the health sector since then, with products such as Apple Health Records, which provides users with a hand-held electronic health records (EHR) system. In addition, Apple has made its technologies available as part of a global response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The iPhone already records how people walk. With Walking Steadiness, users can now measure their danger of falling. The metric measures how fast and evenly you walk, the length of your steps, and time — right down to how long your feet are on the ground — using built-in motion sensors. Apple has created the largest dataset ever used to create fall risk using real-world data from the Apple Heart research.
Users may examine if their steadiness is "Ok" with the Apple Health app. They can also track how their consistency varies over time. They can also use the Health App's movement exercises to improve their stability.
The Health App is also presenting lab results in the app greater context. Users can also view lab results to learn about their cholesterol levels, for example. They'll now see details to assist them in comprehending the information. For example, the app would inform you that LDL is harmful cholesterol and whether your cholesterol levels are within normal limits.
Meanwhile, Apple has formed a partnership with Cerner and Meditech, two companies that specialise in electronic health records, to allow users to exchange their Apple Health data directly with healthcare professionals. Apple emphasised that the information is shared anonymously and that not even Apple will have access to it.
Apple is also allowing users to share their health records with anyone. A user may, for example, choose to share their health records with their adult kid. A user could view their parent's health data and receive notifications such as high heart rate alerts or changes in mobility in this case. Users have granular control over which sorts of data to exchange and with whom, and data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
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