Apple’s AirPods will get several new updated with the general release of iOS 15.
First of all, you’ll be able to register AirPods Pro and AirPods Max to your Apple ID in order to connect your pods with Apple’s ‘Find My’ network – perfect considering how easily misplaced these tiny things are.
A more revolutionary update comes via a study published by Apple’s Machine Learning Research team, and likely to be more publicly announced soon, that shows that Airpods can be used to analyse a user’s respiratory rate by using the built-in microphones.
“Breathlessness, or dyspnea, is a common symptom in many acute and chronic clinical conditions,” the paper explains.
“Acute breathlessness often occurs during an asthmatic episode or heart attack, while chronic breathlessness is frequently a symptom of low cardiovascular fitness and obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and congestive heart failure (CHF). Breathlessness on exertion is also a strong independent predictor of mortality and is a commonly-used clinical metric for assessing and monitoring disease progression.”
Apple is planning to move into the health game, and studies like these show how effectively it could do so.
