Apple today is releasing a detailed new report highlighting the ways its ecosystem of products and services are impacting human health, from helping users keep track of their own personal health to supporting medical research and care.
"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. "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."
The 59-page document is split into two main sections, with the first one focused on empowering users with convenient access to their own health data while delivering health and fitness features to help maintain or improve their health. Apple outlines its commitment to privacy with secure storage of health data, the Apple Watch's role in health monitoring and as a health and fitness companion, and the HealthKit framework that opens up the ecosystem to third-party apps.
With the release of iOS 16 and watchOS 9 later this year, there will be even more health-related features available to users, including medication tracking, AFib History, and sleep stage tracking.
The second section of the report examines how Apple's health initiative integrates with the medical community, including features like ResearchKit and the Apple Research app. Other aspects include how Apple supports physician-patient relationships with technology and data and how it helps health organizations and insurance companies promote healthy lifestyles with Apple Watch.
The report concludes with an Extensions and Spotlights section that highlights a number of examples of developers and organizations that are leveraging Apple's health-related features and services to drive innovation.
