Apple has opened ResearchKit to developers

ResearchKit was definitely one of the more interesting announcement at Apple’s big Apple Watch event last month. This new software framework has the potential to revolutionize medical research using  a plethora of medical apps, and Apple just opened to floodgates by opening the framework to developers in order to “study health and wellness and better understand disease.”

During its big Apple Watch announcement last month, Apple also unveiled a major new iPhone-related initiative that could make a real difference for medical research and treatments in the near future. And on Tuesday, Apple revealed that this new app framework is now available to anyone interested in developing special research apps for the iPhone. Called ResearchKit, the new software framework lets medical researchers come up with clever medical apps that can be used to study certain diseases by looking at data that can be easily gathered with the help of the various sensors that are found inside the iPhone. Initially, only a handful of ResearchKit apps were available to interested users and they’ve already been generating huge interest among iPhone owners looking to take part in various studies. Apple says that some 60,000 iPhone users have so far enrolled in medical studies that were first demoed during the Apple Watch launch event.