In its Newsroom, Apple writes:
Today, Apple is launching the Apple Health Study, which aims to further understand how technology — including iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods — can play a role in advancing and improving physical health, mental health, and overall wellbeing. Available in the Research app, the study will also explore relationships between various areas of health, such as mental health’s impact on heart rate, or how sleep can influence exercise. The study is being conducted in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a leading research hospital and a major teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
Overall, Apple’s health studies are a triple win:
- Researchers gain access to far more data than they could otherwise obtain, thanks to Apple’s massive installed base and the pervasiveness of its devices in our daily lives.
- Apple leverages the insights from these studies to add health-related features—such as the Vitals app on the Apple Watch and the Walking Steadiness feature on the iPhone—that make Apple products more appealing to health-conscious consumers.
- We users benefit from future Apple tools, the overall increase in health-related knowledge, and the general satisfaction of contributing to society.
This new Apple Health Study is far broader than others Apple has conducted on women’s health, hearing, and heart health. It spans numerous health and disease areas (some seemingly duplicates of earlier studies), including activity, aging, cardiovascular health, circulatory health, cognition, hearing, menstrual health, mental health, metabolic health, mobility, neurologic health, respiratory health, sleep, and more.
The researchers aim to enroll at least 500,000 participants and conduct the study for at least 5 years. The study will collect a vast amount of data—that’s the whole point—but in this era of surreptitious surveillance from nearly every random app, it’s reassuring to be informed upfront precisely what data will be collected and why. While some data is mandatory, you can opt out of most requests that feel too sensitive.
In light of the recent attacks on federal funding for medical and scientific research, it’s noteworthy that this study is funded solely by Apple. While it’s encouraging to see some of Apple’s massive profits supporting medical research, studies like this aren’t a viable substitute for government-sponsored research that’s less encumbered by corporate, financial, or ideological agendas.
