Apple, continuing its long march into healthcare, has begunstarted selling a fashionable, chrome-plated blood sugar monitor alongside its iPhones and Apple Watches in some of its U.S. retail stores.
The glucose monitoring system, including a lancet, tester and strips, is developed by One Drop. It wirelessly syncs diabetes data with Apple’s devices and health apps, and had previously been available on the tech giant’s online storefront.
Purchasers also receive one year of coaching via One Drop’s program, which includes digital tools for tracking medication, food intake and physical activity, and also offers test-strip subscription options. Apple had previously stocked Sanofi’s plug-in glucose meter for the iPhone, cleared in 2012.
"The healthcare industry is deeply invested in resisting progress, but consumerized, data-driven, digital health is becoming a reality," One Drop founder and CEO Jeff Dachis said in a statement.
RELATED: Report: Study shows promise of Apple’s Health Records service
While not exactly a thrown sledgehammer, the system does feature a predictive algorithm that launched earlier this month, which forecasts glucose levels out to eight hours for Apple iOS users with type 2 diabetes, including those on oral medications or a basal insulin regimen.
RELATED: MannKind, One Drop to study Afrezza-app combo in Type 2 diabetes
One Drop says its machine learning-based predictions are powered by over 2.2 billion data points, collected from more than 1.2 million users. Alongside each forecast, users also receive advice on relevant behaviors for maintaining time-in-range.