The iPhone 6. Whether you have one yet or not, you likely haven’t been able to escape the buzz about it. And sure, it has some nifty features that mark big strides for mobile communication, photography, and information consumption. But here’s why we’re interested: it also has the potential to do major things for people’s health by putting a Health Coaches in their pocket.
The new iPhone comes with a native Health app, which collects all of the user’s health and fitness data and presents it in an easy-to-read dashboard. Plus, Apple has unveiled a new platform called HealthKit, which developers can use to create wellness-focused apps that utilize all of the data from Health. Sounds promising! Enterprising, health-minded developers are already raring to take advantage of these new technologies, and we’re sure to be seeing a lot of wellness apps coming down the pipeline in the near future. One of the first to be released is called RevUp, which combines fitness data with personalized coaching. Based on RevUp users’ activity and other data, a predictive engine generates automated coaching messages that deliver motivating feedback.
Geared toward corporations looking for employee wellness programs and healthcare systems looking to give patients added support, RevUp is designed with an aim of preventing chronic illness. Targeting a different group and tackling other health issues is Prevent, an app meant to combat the fact that type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects low-income Americans and racial and ethnic minorities.
The 16-week program pairs at-risk individuals with a Health Coach who monitors their progress, while providing weekly interactive lessons on a variety of health topics as well as a digital scale and pedometer to help them track progress. With neither app released quite yet, it remains to be seen how effective these programs are at actually changing people’s behavior. I don’t know about you, but we’re eager to see what happens!
Do you think this “iPhone-enabled healthcare” can make a real difference in people’s health? Tell us why or why not in the comments below!