Apple Intent To Know If iPhone Can Detect Depression

A report from The Wall Street Journal says that Apple wants to know whether its devices could help detect depression early.

The tech giant is allegedly working with scientists to study if data its devices collect, such as sleep patterns and typing behavior, maps onto certain mental-health conditions or cognitive decline. The Journal cited internal Apple documents and interviews with unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The hope is that if data gathered from Apple devices, such as the iPhone, correlates with a health condition, Apple could develop an app or feature that could warn people that they are at risk so they can seek care.

The research is part of Apple's partnerships with US biotech Biogen and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which were announced earlier this year, The Journal reported. Apple's research with Biogen is focused on cognitive decline and its research with UCLA is focused on stress, anxiety, and depression.

The UCLA researchers will use the iPhone's video camera, keyboard, and audio sensors, as well as the Apple Watch, to collect data. This could include how users speak, how often and how fast they walk, their heart and breathing rates, their sleep patterns, and more. Researchers may also measure typing speed and the frequency of typos, per the report.

At the same time, users will fill out questionnaires about how they feel, and researchers will collect hair samples to measure levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, The Journal reported. The researchers hope that the information will provide insights into the user's emotions, concentration, energy level, and state of mind.

Biogen and Apple will track cognitive function over time using the iPhone and Apple Watch data in a similar way to the UCLA researchers, and will compare data against traditional cognitive assessment tests and brain scans. The Biogen study is set to last two years and follow about 20,000 people.

"Seabreeze" is Apple's code name for the UCLA project and "Pi" is the code name for the Biogen project.