Apple announces ResearchKit for medical researchers, tapping into iPhone & HealthKit

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited March 2015
Medical researchers will be able to leverage the power of 700 million iPhone users around the world, creating apps to help study and cure diseases thanks to Apple's new ResearchKit developer tools.




Announced by Apple executive Jeff Williams at Monday's "Spring Forward" presentation, the new ResearchKit tools will pull data from applications and HealthKit. Users can opt in and share the data with researchers if they choose, and Apple will never have access to the data.

ResearchKit will be open source and available to the public next month. Starting immediately, five applications built with ResearchKit by Apple and its partners will be available on the App Store.

Apple has worked with medical researchers and facilities around the world to create ResearchKit. In one example, designed for Parkinsons research, the company collaborated with the University of Rochester, Xuanwu Hospital, and Capital Medical University.




That app can assess a number of patient symptoms, such as analyzing the patient's gait by simply placing the handset in their pocket and walking 20 steps.

An app for diabetes research was also created in partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital. Apple has also created an asthma application with Mount Sinai Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College, a cardiovascular disease research app with Stanford University and the University of Oxford, and a breast cancer app with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, UCLA School of Public Health, and Penn Medicine.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Confused, Samsung wonders whether or not to copy ResearchKit for Tizen.
  • Reply 2 of 46
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    1) Huh. I hadn't realized how far HealthKit has come.

    2) I'm glad to see it's open source.
  • Reply 3 of 46
    leavingthebiggleavingthebigg Posts: 1,291member
    Way to go, Apple! Way to go!!

    Is the high-end smartphone market saturated? Not in Apple's eyes!!
  • Reply 4 of 46
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    1) Huh. I hadn't realized how far HealthKit has come.

    2) I'm glad to see it's open source.

    Like FaceTime?
  • Reply 5 of 46
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Like FaceTime?
    No, not like FaceTime, because Jobs comment never came to pass, and the word is he just said it without any knowledge or discussion with anyone before the live event. I don't think that the same thing would happen under Cook. He's far too calculating without the same sort of risk taking as Jobs, IMO.

    In fact, I'll bet you $350 (cost of ?Watch) that HealthKit will become open source. :D
  • Reply 6 of 46
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    No, not like FaceTime, because Jobs comment never came to pass, and the word is he just said it without any knowledge or discussion with anyone before the live event. I don't think that the same thing would happen under Cook. He's far too calculating without the same sort of risk taking as Jobs, IMO.

    In fact, I'll bet you $350 (cost of ?Watch) that HealthKit will become open source. :D

    Pardon my skepticism, but I'll believe it only when I see it.
  • Reply 7 of 46
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Pardon my skepticism, but I'll believe it only when I see it.

    I'm counting on that. Take my bet! :D
  • Reply 8 of 46
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    To me, research kit was the big announcement, today ... it will improve the lives of everyone! WTG, Apple -- making it open source.

    The new MB was impressive ... as were some of the Apple Watch demos -- making and receiving voice phone calls, for one.

    I got the impression that something planned was cut at the last minute ...no big close, and an odd length for the total event.

    Kevin Lynch, using the Apple Watch to remotely open his garage door was eerily familiar ... in 1978 there was an Apple ][ accessory from Mountain Hardware that did that [with a prototype] via a microphone and a little voice training ...

    I was sitting at my Mac with my iPhone charging ... When Kevin said: "Hey Siri" it woke up my iPhone as well as Kevin's Watch ... I thought he screwed up the demo :D
  • Reply 9 of 46
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    To me, research kit was the big announcement, today ... it will improve the lives of everyone! WTG, Apple -- making it open source.



    The new MB was impressive ... as were some of the Apple Watch demos -- making and receiving voice phone calls, for one.



    I got the impression that something planned was cut at the last minute ...no big close, and an odd length for the total event.



    Kevin Lynch, using the Apple Watch to remotely open his garage door was eerily familiar ... in 1978 there was an Apple ][ accessory from Mountain Hardware that did that [with a prototype] via a microphone and a little voice training ...



    I was sitting at my Mac with my iPhone charging ... When Kevin said: "Hey Siri" it woke up my iPhone as well as Kevin's Watch ... I thought he screwed up the demo image



    I agree - the hardware is nice but only the ?watch is potentially significant. Personally I am very interested in the mb. But research kit is the big announcement and together with health kit points to a new future. 

     

    I, too, had the feeling something got cut and thought the ending very abrupt.

  • Reply 10 of 46
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    This was a really great announcement, a surprise, and the highlight of the presentation. Great job Apple!
  • Reply 11 of 46
    raz0rraz0r Posts: 28member
    While Samsung is fiddling with the flash to read heartbeats and advertising it as something brand new, Apple just broke some amazing new ground. Way to go Apple!

    paxman wrote: »
    I, too, had the feeling something got cut and thought the ending very abrupt.


    PR Guy: "Hey Cook, how about that ending where you say 'Oh and one more thing', and then drive off in your prototype Apple Car at the end of the event?"
    Cook: "Naaaaah, maybe next year"
  • Reply 12 of 46
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Like FaceTime?

    Like OS X Darwin.
  • Reply 13 of 46
    benjamin frostbenjamin frost Posts: 7,203member
    I thought this was a very odd thing to open with, and struck me as a PR move for Apple more than anything else.

    I think this bit of the keynote was Plan B due to the failed sensors.
  • Reply 14 of 46
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    crowley wrote: »
    This was a really great announcement, a surprise, and the highlight of the presentation. Great job Apple!

    It's amazing how little was leaked. I guess he wasn't kidding about doubling down on security.
  • Reply 15 of 46
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    I'm counting on that. Take my bet! :D

    I wouldn't take advantage of you. ;)
  • Reply 16 of 46
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    I wouldn't take advantage of you. ;)

    If I win, you buy BF a lifetime subscription to homosexual magazines. If you win, I buy Apple ][ a lifetime subscription to the most liberal magazine out there. This way we both win even if we lose. :)
  • Reply 17 of 46
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    It's amazing how little was leaked. I guess he wasn't kidding about doubling down on security.

    I love the hush from the crowd when Tim Cook said, "next I want to talk about the Mac."
    Did not see that coming ;)
    I got that "new Apple product tingle."
  • Reply 18 of 46
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    suddenly newton wrote: »
    I love the hush from the crowd when Tim Cook said, "next I want to talk about the Mac."
    Did not see that coming

    I'm hearing a lot of that, which surprises me since we've had plenty of rumours about a 12" notebook with a single Type-C connector. Combine that with Broadwell having been out for awhile and the MBAs overdue for an update, along with the 13" MBA being too close to the revised 13" MBP, and that seemed like a very likely thing to be announced today.

    I even stated the other day that I don't think that a 12" Mac would steal anything from ?Watch since it's a long established product category. I would have been surprised by a completely redone Apple TV or other stationary home device.

    I would have liked to have seen...
    1. BT headphones that will work with ?Watch, from Apple and/or from Beats (but that might be better with the Autumn event that still has a quasi-focus on music)
    2. More and new ?Watch features (specifically ones I've mentioned for years on this site, and ones that I think would bring an extra level of security and convenience to the Apple ecosystem)
    3. [There was a third thing but I have a nasty cold so my cognitive abilities are completely trashed at the moment. If I think of it I'll reply to this point.]
  • Reply 19 of 46
    benjamin frostbenjamin frost Posts: 7,203member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    suddenly newton wrote: »
    I love the hush from the crowd when Tim Cook said, "next I want to talk about the Mac."
    Did not see that coming

    I'm hearing a lot of that, which surprises me since we've had plenty of rumours about a 12" notebook with a single Type-C connector. Combine that with Broadwell having been out for awhile and the MBAs overdue for an update, along with the 13" MBA being too close to the revised 13" MBP, and that seemed like a very likely thing to be announced today.

    I even stated the other day that I don't think that a 12" Mac would steal anything from ?Watch since it's a long established product category. I would have been surprised by a completely redone Apple TV or other stationary home device.

    I would have liked to have seen...
    1. BT headphones that will work with ?Watch, from Apple and/or from Beats (but that might be better with the Autumn event that still has a quasi-focus on music)
    2. More and new ?Watch features (specifically ones I've mentioned for years on this site, and ones that I think would bring an extra level of security and convenience to the Apple ecosystem)
    3. [There was a third thing but I have a nasty cold so my cognitive abilities are completely trashed at the moment. If I think of it I'll reply to this point.]

    Hope your cold gets better.

    I, too, am ill. Must be the end of winter.
  • Reply 20 of 46
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    If I win, you buy BF a lifetime subscription to homosexual magazines. If you win, I buy Apple ][ a lifetime subscription to the most liberal magazine out there. This way we both win even if we lose. :)

    Apple ][ gets plenty of liberalism just by living in NYC, and I see plenty of homosexuals just by living in NYC. :lol:
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