Apple Health

Much like Apple, Amazon is now said to have a secret heathcare team working on electronic medical records and telemedicine. A new report from CNBC details the team, dubbed 1492 in reference to the year Columbus first landed in the Americas.

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An Apple software engineer recently revealed that Apple is now rolling out its use of differential privacy to cover both web browsing and health data, as it now uses the technique to process millions of pieces of daily information from device users.

Differential privacy has so far flown largely under the radar, so we thought it would be a good time to look at what it does and how it works – and to ask how comfortable you feel about its wider use by Apple …

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It was reported last week that Apple is working to turn the iPhone into a “one-stop shop” for medical record data and now a new report from CNBC offers up a bit more detail on those efforts. The report explains that Apple’s health team has been working with Health Gorilla, a small startup in the health industry.

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It’s no secret that Apple has a growing interest in the health industry as it continues to expand health tracking capabilities with the iPhone and Apple Watch. Now, a report from CNBC claims that Apple is looking to turn the iPhone into a “one-stop shop” for all medical record information.

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New for Health in iOS 11 & watchOS 4: Apple is introducing a handful of new features for diabetes management as the Apple Watch gains the ability to connect directly to Bluetooth Low Power devices like those used for glucose monitoring.

Alongside the new diabetes management features, app developers are getting more access to Workout data and other Apple Watch features, swimming tracking is getting improvements, and Health is introducing new Activity categories for tracking different types of exercises including Tai Chi, Mixed Cardio, and Hand Cycling.

Head below for a roundup of new features coming to the Health app and watchOS 4 this fall:

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Mail-order eyeglasses company Warby Parker has created an iPhone app that can replace a visit to the optometrist for some customers.

Has your eyeglasses prescription expired? Want to take a vision test at home? Well, welcome! Introducing Warby Parker Prescription Check. This is our brand-spanking-new mobile refraction service that, if you are eligible, allows an eye doctor to assess your vision and provide an updated eyeglasses prescription. (Is there anything your phone can’t do?!)

You’d of course expect there to be some small-print when you’re dealing with something as important as your eye-sight, and there is …

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A common Apple Watch question people ask me is when will Apple add built-in sleep tracking capabilities. My answer is always ‘soon I hope’, and watchOS 4 seems like the next opportunity to introduce it. But there are already third-party apps that let you try it now. The problem for me is finding the right time to recharge my Apple Watch when I wear it overnight.

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I’ve been a major fan of Apple’s Health app since its original launch and have continuously looked for reasons to use it. I believe that the first step to a healthy life is being proactive versus reactive, which is why my interest was piqued when Qardio reached out asking if I wanted to review their QardioArm and QardioBase products. A smart portable blood pressure monitor, and a smart scale was something that definitely fit into my “DIY preventative care” ideology. Qardio’s products are designed to fit into a modern health focused lifestyle, but let’s see what that means for the product’s themselves.

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It’s no secret that Apple has ambitious plans for iPhone and Apple Watch in the health industry, but it’s not the only company looking for ways to integrate smartphones in the medical field. Recently, a research team from Washington State University, under the leadership of assistant professor Lei Li, developed a portable laboratory that’s powered by a smartphone and capable of detecting cancer nearly instantly…

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Fast Company reports that Apple has acquired Gliimpse, a health startup whose stated aim is to allow any American to pull together a comprehensive picture of their health, which they would be free to share with medical professionals as desired.

Our vision is personalized and shareable medical records for all 317,000,000 Americans.

The acquisition reportedly happened ‘earlier this year.’ While it hasn’t yet been noted on the Gliimpse website, Apple has issued its usual ‘non-denial’ statement that it ‘buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.’

Founder Anil Sethi started out as an Apple engineer back in the late 80s, before becoming a serial entrepreneur after forming and taking public his company Sequoia Software. He said that he formed Gliimpse out of a frustration at the incompatibility of existing Electronic Health Record systems …

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Patently Apple reports that Apple has applied for a patent related to a wearable electrocardiographic (ECG) device that could take the form of a watch, ring, brooch or similar.

A wearable device can be affixed to a limb of the human body such as a wrist or ankle, as an example. The wearable device can be worn on the left or right wrist, or even on the right or left ankle.

The reason the patent application emphasizes use on either left or right side of the body is that the patent focuses on an issue that can arise when taking readings from only one side of the body …

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A rather vague Chinese report claims that Apple is working on a new ‘killer device’ in the health field, due to be released next year. The somewhat hyperbolic piece in the Economic Daily News also claims that new health-sensing tech will be built into the 2017 iPhone …

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The latest connected gadget to go on sale in Apple Stores is the Withings Body Cardio, a scale that measures not just weight and body fat, but can also detect cardiovascular problems. Using sensors that measure Pulse Wave Velocity – how quickly blood pumps through your arteries – it can point to problems like hypertension and high cholesterol.

Body Cardio gives everyone the opportunity to follow heart health at home via the introduction of a new measurement: pulse wave velocity. Recognized by the medical community as the best stand-alone indicator to provide a reliable assessment of overall cardiovascular health, pulse wave velocity assessments from Body Cardio have the potential to revolutionize how we care for our cardiovascular health.

The scale can’t identify the reason for poor PWV readings, but the connected iPhone app will let you know if it is in the range where you should arrange a medical check-up …

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You might have thought that the health & fitness labs Apple created to help develop the Apple Watch might have been closed once the product had launched, but a piece in Time reports that they are still operating 12 hours a day, six days a week.

I was recently able to visit one of Apple’s labs dedicated to sports and health. For 12 hours a day, six days a week, Apple brings in Apple employees of every shape, condition and ethnicity to do various exercises and monitor them with the most sophisticated medical systems available. Apple has seven full-time nurses in the facility I visited, using medical monitoring equipment that can determine all types of heath related data points.

ABC gave us a look inside one of the labs in the run-up to the launch of the Watch last year, when we learned that they include climate chambers which allow the company to simulate a wide range of different environments, but this latest report does include a new claim …

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According to a report from Fortune and her LinkedIn profile, Apple has recently hired former Nest executive and co-founder of Google X Yoky Matsuoka. At Nest, Matsuoka was the head of technology. According to the report, Matsuoka is joining Apple to help with its health initiatives, including ResearchKit, HealthKit, and CareKit. Matsuoka will report to chief operating officer Jeff Williams who oversees all of the company’s health projects.

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Prior to the official announcement of the Apple Watch, there were multiple rumors that the device would be packed with health-related sensors. When it finally launched, however, it got just a heart-rate monitor – albeit a sophisticated one. A teardown revealed that there’s also a pulse oximeter in there, to measure oxygen saturation in your blood, but Apple hasn’t yet activated that functionality.

The apparent turnabout on sensors was explained by Tim Cook, who last year told the Telegraph that Apple wanted to avoid the need for FDA approval as a regulated health product as that would slow innovation. Any additional sensors, he strongly hinted, would be external.

If you don’t want to wait that long, however, health-tech company Azoi has launched the Kito+, a credit-card sized unit that pairs with an iPhone app to measure heart-rate, ECG, blood oxygen, respiration rate and skin temperature. Costing £99 ($145), you can either use it as a standalone unit, or slot it into the supplied iPhone case for the iPhone 6/6s/Plus …

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