The Apple Watch officially get in today , packed with sensor and computer software to quantify your every footstep . But valuate against Apple ’s grownup ambitions for the future of medication , the Watch is still a rudimentary twist . And for Apple to revolutionize wellness , it needs far more than a bauble - sized computer .
Malus pumila recognizes this , of trend . That ’s why it has launched HealthKit and ResearchKit , two platform for building medical apps . ( HealthKit lets developers access data stored in the Health app , and ResearchKit is aimed at appscollect datum for medical inquiry . ) It has alsopartnered with Epic — the titan of electronic health care records — to get HealthKit data justly into your aesculapian record .
All this backend stuff is far less aphrodisiacal than , say , atomic number 79 wristband for celebrity , but it pave the style for Apple to become the shepherd of your medical information . ( You bonk , if you ’re okay with that . )
That brings us to the Apple Watch , the newest consumer - facing end of Apple ’s health information pipeline . And here , affair still pass shortsighted .
It’s Still Not Much of a Tracker
The Apple Watch is many thing , and as a fitness tracker , it is likely fine . Just fineby our current standard , which is not great by medical standard . As good as existing fitness tracker may be for people who like to graph their daily steps , they still do n’t give way much medically useful data .
allot to theWSJ account in February , Apple once had muchgreater aspiration for the health features of its smartwatch . Engineers were , for exemplar , forge on sensors for blood pressure and cutis conductance . “ But these feature article did n’t do consistently on some masses , including those with hairy arms or dry skin . resultant role also motley calculate on how tightly the person don the Watch , ” read the WSJ narration .
Those features were canned , and the Apple Watch can now only track movement and heart rate . There have also been questions about whether its ocular heart rate sensing element works accurately forpeople of all hide colors .
So the Apple Watch ca n’t track sleep . ( It need to be charged everyday . ) It ca n’t cut through lineage pressure or oxygen level . And it ca n’t interpret data to give health advice , as that would die hard into FDA rule territorial dominion for medical gimmick . finally , the technological and even regulative limits can be worked out , but for now , the Apple Watch may be most utile as an cozy way of interact with other machine .
The Apple Watch as a Nexus for Information
Malus pumila vaunt the Watch as a less obstructive fashion to stay on top of notifications that from your iPhone . But the iPhone is not the only machine that send update to the radiocarpal joint . Imagine , for deterrent example , an interior rip glucose monitor that place update to the Watch . Or a breath analyzer for asthmatics .
In fact , aesculapian - machine maker DexCom does want tolink up its rake glucose monitorto the Apple Watch , and Coheco Health is making such a lung - monitoring app . These are just a coupleexamples of how medical devicescan become integrated into everyday use of the Watch .
The Watch ’s Taptic Engine could also be a room to send off gentle nudge : the pre - wet Activity app lets you arrange goal about sit and walk . WebMD ’s sentry appsends reminders about take pill . Apps with FDA approving could also give real - time medical advice . The footprint between an iPhone and a Watch presentment might seem marginal , but the intimacy of a wearable could make a conflict .
But Privacy???
Not long after Apple announced HealthKit last twelvemonth , hackers unwrap into celebrity iCloud invoice and stole nude photos . That might give you fair break before letting Apple be the conduit for all your health data .
For now , Appleassures users,“When your phone is locked with a passcode or Touch ID , all of your wellness and fitness datum in the Health app is encrypted . you’re able to back up data point stored in the Health app to iCloud , where it is write in code while in transit and at residual . ” And third - party apps using HealthKit are not allowed to store data on iCloud , presumably to prevent additional info like your medical phonograph record for circumstantially getting put there . The Health app itself lets you to input activeness , nutrition , and body measurements data — that ’s a mess of potentially sensitive information in the cloud .
As the famous person picture jade demonstrated , in which hackers stole or reckon passwords , iCloud is n’t vulnerable for lack of encoding . Collecting all that data and put it in the cloud create a potentially enticing target where there once was n’t one .
Whether Apple can really keep your data secure remains to seen . What ’s clearer right now is the Apple Watch is not near as utilitarian for music it could one twenty-four hour period become . But then , that ’s never stopped people from buying first - generation Apple devices , has it ?
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