Apple studies depression, autism, and cognitive impairment detection on iPhone and Apple Watch

Apple is working on features designed to detect depression, anxiety, autism, and cognitive decline that can develop into Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The cognitive impairment and depression features will use a lot of personal data collected by sensors on Apple devices such as iPhone and Apple Watch, including information about sleep, physical activity, behavior vi user data entry and more.

Apple is said to be working with researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, who study stress, anxiety and depression. The tech giant is also said to be working with drug maker Biogen Inc., which is studying cognitive decline. Another partner, Duke University, is studying the use of the iPhone’s camera to observe the physical behavior of young children and help detect autism.

Apple has yet to comment

The projects are said to be still in the early stages of research and it’s unclear if they’ll actually make it to a commercial product.

However, Apple’s COO (CEO) Jeff Williams, the company’s head of health, has “enthusiastically” told employees that the company has the potential to help tackle rates of anxiety and depression. Depression is on the rise, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

Any attempt by Apple to detect mental health issues is bound to cause privacy issues for some users – and the company has faced outcry in the past. This year from privacy advocates about a plan to scan users’ images for sensitive content about children, prompting Apple to postpone and modify the feature.

To address privacy concerns, Apple’s algorithms will work locally on users’ devices rather than sending data to the company, according to documents seen by the Wall Street Journal.

Reference: New York Post