UK residents can now contribute to medical research using their iPhones, following the launch of a new app.
Stanford University has made its MyHeart Counts app available in the UK as part Apple’s ResearchKit initiative announced earlier this year.
The app makes use of the multitude of sensors and the M8 motion processor within the iPhone and/or Apple Watch in order to log the user’s physical activity.
MyHeart Counts will gauge the user’s fitness based on their physical activity and will give them a risk score, which will help determine whether the user is at risk for heart disease.
It’ll also offer a heart age, while providing notifications relating to activity and sleep patterns.
The App Store listing (via Alphr) for the free app reads: “The MyHeart Counts app is a personalized tool that can help you measure daily activity, fitness, and cardiovascular risk. It can also help you better understand your own heart health and contribute to our understanding of how to keep hearts healthy around the world. Join our research effort and make your heart count today!”
See also: Apple ResearchKit: Can the iPhone really cure diseases?
A number of research apps have already launched in the United States, encouraging users to help themselves, while helping others through crowd-sourced data.
The first Stanford study attracted 11,000 sign ups in just 24 hours after Apple launched ResearchKit at Spring Forward event in June.
The MyHeart Counts app is available now, but participants will need to be 18 and over.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
