Apple was aiming to revolutionize medical research with its new ResearchKit framework, and it looks like the Cupertino may be on its way.
Turns out that people are super willing to participate in medical research studies when you make it easy and convenient. According to Bloomberg, thousands of iPhone users have already embraced ResearchKit, which was designed to help doctors and scientists gather data more frequently and accurately using iPhone apps.
Unveiled on Monday as part of Apple's special event in California, ResearchKit essentially lets health and fitness apps communicate with each other, with your permission. After you give the go-ahead, ResearchKit can access data from the iOS Health app such as your weight, blood pressure, glucose levels, and asthma inhaler use, which are measured by third-party devices and apps.
Apple said that the software would make it easier for researchers to recruit participants for large-scale studies, and access a more representative sample of the population — and it looks like the company was right. Researchers at Stanford University told Bloomberg that 11,000 people had signed up for their cardiovascular study, which uses ResearchKit, just 24 hours after the tool debuted.
"To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country," Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health, told the news outlet. "That's the power of the phone."
Other ResearchKit-powered apps are also seeing strong sign-up numbers. By Tuesday morning, more than 2,500 people had signed up for the Icahn School of Medicine's asthma study and another 5,589 enrolled in a Parkinson's study from the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
But not everyone is so enthusiastic about the new research tool. Some questioned whether ResearchKit apps will adequately protect user privacy, while others say that the system could result in misleading data if a user accidentally hits the wrong button or lets someone else use their phone.
For more on ResearchKit, check out the video below.