Apple Watch’s pre-existing sensors can already be used to detect falls, tremors, and other movement disorders consistent with symptoms of Parkinson’s.
But the new app, developed by San Francisco-based startup Rune Labs, gathers all this movement data together so that it can be shared with doctors to determine treatment.
Brian Pepin, CEO of Rune Labs, told Digital Trends that the data Apple Watch gathers through its Parkinson’s monitoring app will be combined with data from other sources, like brain implants, to give doctors a continuous stream of up-to-date data on the patient’s condition.
“When you think about the process of getting someone to their optimal therapy or combination of drugs or devices, or even whether or not a patient might be a good fit for a certain clinical trial, it’s a very hard decision to make when you only have a little context,” said Pepin.
Apple Watch has been used by developers to monitor Parkinson’s since 2015 when the watch’s ResearchKit framework allowed the tracking of users’ gait.
The ResearchKit was later updated to allow for the detection of two common symptoms of Parkinson’s: tremors and dyskinesia, a side-effect of Parkinson’s medications that causes fidgeting and swaying.
The Rune Labs app is the second Apple Watch software to get FDA approval, following the clearance of an app for sufferers of atrial fibrillation.