Apple has made four iOS apps available on its App store with the Carekit platform one month after it was launched. CareKit is Apple's open source platform that integrates health applications.
According to Mashable, Apple has rolled out CareKit for One Drop, Start, Glow Nurture and Glow Baby. One Drop is for diabetes management and Start is for managing depression medication. Glow Nurture deals with reproductive health while Glow Baby is for maternal health.
Apple's CareKit Launches in Four Brand New Apps https://t.co/rtF6oufZEX @joecwhite pic.twitter.com/HMSBwEIOkQ
— AppAdvice.com (@AppAdvice) April 28, 2016
CareKit Components
Mashable said that the CareKit platform has four Apple-deisgned modules built in it. One is for personal care plans and action items, next is a symptom tracker, then an insight dashboard and an information-sharing portal.
Tech Crunch said that CareKit works similarly as Apple's ResearchKit, a tool that enables developers to gather huge amounts of research data over iOS devices. In the CareKit platform, health apps are integrated in order to help patients manage their treatment. It can also aid doctors in monitoring progress.
According to Tech Crunch, Apple's ResearchKit has led to noteworthy progress in epilepsy and asthma research. It believes that CareKit is now in the same position to make a difference in health care, as there are more than one billion iPhones around the globe.
CareKit Is The Future?
"I think it's the future," Arthur Caplan, a biomedical ethicist at New York University said via The Verge. Caplan said that Apple's biggest challenge regarding CareKit will be quality control and convincing doctors to use the health apps.
"Physicians tend to be skeptical about anything that pegs itself as a way to reduce the time that patients have to meet with doctors face-to-face, and "doctors are not the most tech savvy folks," Caplan added. In this light, Caplan has advised Apple to "go slow" with CareKit.
Will you be checking out these four CareKit apps soon? Write your comments below.
