Hands on with the first medical apps using ResearchKit
As part of ResearchKit, Apple's new foray into medical research, five brand new apps have been launched in conjunction with leading medical institutions that utilize the new capabilities of ResearchKit.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple announced ResearchKit as an open framework for medical research the same day the first apps shipped, and these five launches — built with leading medical institutions — are its proof of concept. The pitch, elaborated in follow-up coverage of how ResearchKit strips away obstacles to study participation, is that an iPhone becomes a recruitment and data-collection tool at scale.
First-order effects
- Medical institutions running the five launch studies gain direct access to iPhone owners as participants without clinic visits or paper consent, while Apple positions itself inside the medical-research workflow it previously had no role in.
Second-order effects
- If recruitment scales as the framework promises, other hospitals face pressure to build on ResearchKit rather than proprietary study tools, and Apple extends the playbook into patient care — a path it followed with CareKit apps opening on GitHub the next year and with ResearchKit's first expansion outside the US to UK and Hong Kong users.
Third-order effects
- Sustained engagement is the open question: later reporting found early HealthKit-era studies suffering low participation rates over time, which pushed Apple toward a consolidated, curated model in the 2019 Apple Research app — suggesting phone-based research consolidates around platform owners who can keep users enrolled.
The trend: Medical research is migrating onto consumer smartphone platforms, shifting control of study recruitment, consent, and longitudinal health data from institutions to device makers.