In collaboration with Stanford Medicine, Apple last week released a watchOS app that will allow Apple Watch to track irregular heart rhythms.
This is how the app works: If an irregular heart rhythm is identified, participants will receive a notification on their Apple Watch and iPhone, as well as a free consultation with a study doctor and an electrocardiogram (ECG) patch for additional monitoring.
The Apple Heart Study app is available in the US for anyone over 21 with an Apple Watch series 1 or later.
Apple has been quietly building its health team, and the recent study is just a clear-cut confirmation that Apple is thinking big on healthcare.
Last year Apple bought Gliimpse Inc, a three-year-old medical startup that helps patients manage their healthcare records and data.
Apple says that its ResearchKit platform, a software tool researchers use to conduct such studies, has been used by over 500 researchers and more than three million participants.
The U.S healthcare market is estimated to be worth around $3.2 trillion, and the new Apple Watch study with Stanford is the clearest sign yet from Apple that it is using a software-based strategy to crack into it.
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