Before the Apple Watch was officially unveiled, the various rumors had hyped up the device to be some kind of medical gadget miracle in which it would be able to go beyond what current fitness trackers and smartwatches can do. In reality it certainly did not come with all of the rumored features, but it seems that Apple is still pushing themselves to get there.
According to a report from Fast Company (via AppleInsider), they were told by their sources that Apple is exploring ways in which the Apple Watch and the iPhone could be potentially be used to passively monitor Parkinson’s symptoms. The idea is that by passively monitoring the symptoms, data can be collected so that when patients visit their doctors, the doctors would have the latest information on hand.
As it stands, patients suffering from the disease tend to visit their doctors every 6 months or so, which means that in between their symptoms could have gotten worse, and that until their next checkup, they could be on a wrong and ineffective dose of medicine. The initiative is said to be overseen by Stephen Friend, but Apple has since declined to comment when asked about it.
As Fast Company points out, Apple isn’t the only company looking into how our mobile devices can be used to diagnose and monitor Parkinson’s, such as Samsung who has been working on their own research device.
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