Carekit and Researchkit Bring Dramatic Developments to Health Research and Care

Profund changes afoot for health research and care.

- Benjamin Kerry and Gavin Lenghan

SCIENTISTS BEING HELPED TO IMPROVE PEOPLE’S LIVES

Amid such higher-profile and more feverishly spoken-of developments at Apple’s March 21 keynote as the announcement of the 4-inch iPhone SE and a 9.7-inch version of the iPad Pro, it would have been easy for some observers to miss news that could have much more profound implications for many people’s daily lives - including those who will never pick up an iDevice. We are, of course, referring to the newly unveiled CareKit and improvements to the year-old ResearchKit.

Now, in an Apple world becoming increasingly populated with pretty much everything-Kit, it can be easy to lose track of what each of them mean - not least as you may not come into direct contact with them as the average iGadget user, given their orientation towards developers. Nonetheless, they could still have major, if indirect benefits for your health and wellbeing in years to come, so here’s a basic rundown.

When ResearchKit was first announced in March 2015, it was described as “an open source software framework designed for medical and health research” - in a nutshell, allowing your iPhone to be used by scientists to gather the data they need to make breakthrough discoveries. Now, an emboldened version has been announced, alongside the new software framework CareKit - that, as its name suggests, places its emphasis specifically on patient care.

HOW RESEARCHKIT HAS TRANSFORMED THE HEALTH RESEARCH LANDSCAPE