Hey guys it’s Greg with Apple Explained and today I want to talk in depth about a
statement Tim Cook made back in January where he shared what he thought would be Apple’s
greatest contribution to mankind.
And right off the bat you may be thinking, “oh Apples greatest contribution must be
the iPhone, or iOS, or even the iPad.”
But it’s actually none of those things, instead, Cook said “If you zoom out into
the future, and you look back, and you ask the question: 'What was Apple's greatest contribution
to mankind?', it will be about health.
We're democratizing it.
We're taking what has been with the institutions and empowering the individual to manage their
health."
Now this may come as a surprise since Apple is a technology company not a healthcare company,
but there are some significant advancements the company has made in the area of health
that I think are worth investigating.
And judging from Tim Cook’s statement, Apple is only getting started.
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Now Apple’s push into the healthcare industry is a fairly recent initiative, but they’ve
actually had some involvement in health and exercise back when Steve Jobs was CEO.
Because before the Apple Watch could track your physical activity, the iPod featured
an accessory called Nike Plus.
A running tracker that was placed in the sole of your compatible Nike shoe to track your
workout duration, strides, calories burned, distance, and pace.
And as new iPod models were released, Nike responded with new products and apps designed
to track even more of your workouts with less effort.
And this clearly became a popular way to exercise since Nike Plus had 28 million global users
by 2014.
So while the iPod did have great activity tracking capabilities, it was never marketed
as a healthcare device.
But all of that changed with iPad.
Apple positioned their tablet as the perfect device for medical professionals thanks to
its large display, powerful processor, convenient size, and all day battery life.
And I think this is when Apple realized how much of an effect their products could have
on the healthcare industry since it was still an underdeveloped market in terms of utilizing
new technology to increase productivity and efficiency.
So when it came to future products like the Apple Watch, Apple emphasized health and data
tracking in ways they never have before.
But before we talk about how important the Apple Watch was, we need to recognize the
software Apple released in 2014 that served as a foundation of the companies Health initiatives.
And those were the Health App and ResearchKit.
The Health App served as a way for users to consolidate data from different sources, like
their iPhone, Apple Watch, and third party apps so you could get an idea your overall
health profile in one place.
But it wasn’t just about collecting data, it was about presenting all of that information
to the user in a way that was easy to understand and even fun to track.
For example, the Health app featured four categories that represented the four pillars
of a healthy lifestyle: physical activity, mindfulness, nutrition, and sleep.
And within these categories you’d find a running list of data points from not only
the device itself, but also from third party applications like the meals you entered into
Lifesum or your sleeping habits tracked by Autosleep.
So I think this comprehensive app was a sign from Apple that they were serious about their
efforts in health and that they were just getting started.
Because in 2015, just one year after introducing their Health app, Apple revealed a piece of
software that had the potential to truly disrupt the healthcare industry.
And it was called ResearchKit.
But before I explain why this software tool was so revolutionary, we have to understand
the state of medical research before ResearchKit existed.
You see, doctors and scientists frequently conduct medical studies in order to better
understand how patients respond to various treatments.
If one demographic is more responsive to a particular treatment over another, medical
professionals need to know in order to better serve patients in the future.
But anyone in the medical research field can tell you how frustrating it is to find volunteers
for these studies.
You’d typically have to send out thousands of emails and letters asking for participants,
only to receive a handful of responses.
Not to mention researchers are almost always limited to finding volunteers in the local
community that the study is being conducted.
And the problems of finding research volunteers and being tied down to one location is perhaps
the biggest bottleneck of medical studies.
But ResearchKit offered a solution.
It allowed hospitals, universities, and researchers to build user-friendly apps that patients
could simply download and opt in to any studies related to their health conditions.
No need to send out thousands of letters or meet with volunteers in person to stay up
to date on their health data.
And you can imagine how much time and money this saved hospitals, doctors, and participants.
Another revolutionary aspect of ResearchKit is that volunteers were not longer limited
by location.
A study conducted in New York City could use participants living in California.
And this meant real-time data collection from a much larger, more diverse set of people.
But there is one downside to ResearchKit that I need to mention, and that is it’s limited
to people who own iPhones and Apple Watches.
There isn’t an officially supported version for Android and so far Apple hasn’t provided
a workaround to this conspicuous issue.
But the overall impact ResearchKit has had is overwhelmingly positive and I think it’s
paving the way for similar services in the future.
Now Apple introduced something else in 2015 that was largely influenced by health, and
that was the Apple Watch.
But you may not know about the product that helped convince Tim Cook that developing a
smart watch was a good idea.
Because Apple’s CEO has served on Nike’s Board of Directors for years, and was a big
fan of the Nike Plus Fuelband back in 2012.
He actually said this in a 2013 interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, “I
wear this.
It’s a FuelBand.
I think Nike did a great job with this.
It’s for a specific area.
It’s integrated well with iOS.
There are lots of gadgets in this space now.”
I think Cook recognized that not only was the wrist a great place for health and fitness
devices, but it would be perfect for a smart watch that had more added features than something
like the Nike FuelBand.
And this is exactly what Apple did.
They introduced the Apple Watch in 2015 and it had capabilities that far exceeded any
other wearable at the time.
But what I want to focus on in this video are the watch’s health features.
Because there has never been an Apple product with such a focus on health before, and it’s
worth exploring just how big of an impact this tiny device has already had on users
lives.
Now the Apple Watch has been equipped with a heart rate monitor, gyroscope, and accelerometer
ever since the first generation.
And these sensors capture data that’s sent to the Activity app.
Which features three rings to represent how close you are to achieving your daily stand,
move, and exercise goals.
And I think this concept doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
Before the Apple Watch most activity monitors simply operated as data trackers.
There were rarely any visual representations of your daily goals, and certainly none that
motivated you to reach your targets as effectively as the activity rings.
I’ve even read stories about people running up and down their stairs at home in order
to close their rings.
So I think the Apple Watch team deserves credit for including a first-class activity monitor
rather than allowing it become an afterthought.
But it doesn’t stop there, Apple took things a step further by gamifying the activity rings.
They included achievements for working out every day of the week, or setting new activity
records.
And you could even create activity competitions with your friends, something that very few
dedicated fitness devices could do.
I also want to point out the workout app on the Apple Watch which can be used to track
specific exercises.
This is actually something I use while swimming laps, and it’s one of my favorite features.
The amount of data my watch is able to collect is incredible and very helpful in tracking
my progress over time.
At the end of each workout I can see how many yards I swam, how many laps of each stroke,
how fast I was swimming at any given time, how many calories I burned, and even see the
rise and fall of my heart rate.
Something I never imagined I’d be able to do on a watch.
And keep in mind, the Apple Watch is only four years old.
So I would without a doubt say owning an Apple Watch has positively influenced my health,
and I think millions of other users would agree.
But it’s about more than just physical activity.
Because as I mentioned before, the iPhone’s Health app features a category called mindfulness.
And Apple has included an app on their watch called Breathe, which guides you through a
slow breathing exercise to help reduce stress and refocus your attention.
But the health features introduced with the latest Series 4 Apple Watch have really proven
that Apple is serious about revolutionizing healthcare.
Because for the first time ever, a wearable device is capable of generating ECGs.
Allowing users to detect an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation that too
often goes unnoticed and may lead to stroke or sudden cardiac arrest.
The new Apple Watch also has a more sensitive accelerometer and gyroscope, allowing for
a feature called fall detection.
Which automatically calls emergency services if you are unresponsive for sixty seconds
after a hard fall.
Now Apple’s focus on health is not only a good thing for their users, but it’s also
good for the company.
The medical device market has been growing quickly in the last decade and it’s expected
to reach a value of almost 200 billion within the next decade.
So if Apple is able to integrate the functionality of these expensive medical devices into their
own products, that means exposure to a new market of customers and a competitive edge
over other tech companies who haven’t made any headway in healthcare.
So as we look to the future, I think we can expect Apple to integrate more health features
into more of their wearable products.
For example, there have been rumors going around for months that the second generation
AirPods will be jam-packed with biometric sensors and perhaps capture even more health
data than the Apple Watch.
So I’m really excited to see what other innovations Apple can make in health, because
after all, it could be their greatest contribution to mankind.
Now when it comes to using Apple devices to stay healthy, I use an app called Lifesum
to keep track of my meals.
And while I am being sponsored by Lifesum, I genuinely believe their nutrition app is
the best one on the App Store.
What makes it so unique is that Lifesum gives me personalized feedback based on how my progress
is going to keep me on track.
And my favorite feature is recipe recommendations.
Lifesum suggests various recipes based on my Keto eating plan, food preferences, and
health goals.
Which is way easier than finding recipes online that may not fit my diet.
Now I should mention that while Lifesum is free to download, I’m using the Premium
version which unlocks additional features.
And right now the 12 month subscription is 30% off for you guys.
So if you want to try out Lifesum for yourself, just click the link in the description.
Alright guys so that is Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind, and if you want to
vote for the next video topic, don’t forget to subscribe.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.