Boston Children’s Hospital has launched a new iPhone app and study, Feverprints, based on Apple’s ResearchKit framework and intended to crowdsource a range of health data for research into fevers.
Members of the general public can use the iPhone app to regularly record their temperatures and information about various health-related topics, including their symptoms and medications. To safeguard privacy, all of the collected data is anonymized.
The hospital intends to use this data to identify “feverprints” that could assist in the diagnosis of infections and other diseases. Another objective of the study is measuring the effectiveness of medications aimed at reducing fever.
The open-source ResearchKit platform has underpinned various medical apps for iOS and Apple Watch since its launch in March 2015. Last week, Apple announced CareKit – a similar development platform aimed at helping patients to recover to full health after time spent in hospitals and clinics.
CareKit won’t become available until next month, but the Feverprints app is now free to download from the iOS App Store. Boston Children’s Hospital says that an iPhone 5, iPhone 6 or sixth generation iPod Touch is necessary for using the app to participate in the Feverprints study.