University of Washington researchers partner with Apple to study how Apple Watch may be used to predict respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 or flu
Researchers at the University of Washington have partnered with Apple to study how Apple Watch may be used to predict illnesses such as coronavirus, or flu.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple has already used university partnerships to test the Watch’s health applications, including a Stanford heart-rhythm research study, while earlier research paired the device with neural-network analysis for atrial-fibrillation detection. The University of Washington collaboration extends that research arc from cardiac signals to respiratory illness.
The timing also follows a study suggesting smartwatches could flag COVID-19 before symptoms using heart-rate variability. Apple and the University of Washington are now examining whether Apple Watch data can support a similar predictive use case for COVID-19 and flu.
First-order effects
- The University of Washington and Apple will study Apple Watch data for signals associated with respiratory illness, broadening the device’s active research agenda beyond heart-related studies.
- Apple Watch users and researchers gain another potential study pathway for health-sensor data, but the collaboration reports research rather than a deployed illness-prediction feature.
Second-order effects
- Fitbit and other smartwatch makers face stronger pressure to substantiate health claims with research partnerships, as the earlier smartwatch COVID-19 study included Fitbit alongside Apple Watch.
- Health researchers can treat consumer wearables as a source of longitudinal physiological data across both cardiac and respiratory research, rather than as hardware limited to fitness tracking.
Third-order effects
- If respiratory-illness studies produce usable results, consumer wearables may increasingly compete on validated early-warning and research capabilities, with universities serving as key evidence partners.
- The pattern points toward health features being developed through successive, condition-specific studies rather than being established by sensor capability alone.
The trend: Consumer smartwatch makers are widening health research from heart monitoring toward multi-condition analysis of continuously collected sensor data.