In a few weeks' time, you'll be able to buy a watch that might extend your life. Enthusiasts of wearable health technology hailed Apple's announcement of a timepiece that measures the wearer's heart rate, an app that monitors their activity, and a software kit that can gather data from millions of iPhone users. So far, the hope that wearables can transform our health has been just that: hope, or less generously, hype. But if any company or organisation has the clout to change that, it is Apple. Such technology could have huge benefits, but it also raises huge questions. Some worry that it will turn us into obsessively self-monitoring hypochondriacs. It is not hard to see how shoddy apps could offer confusing or bad advice. And there is little precedent to tell us how public health services might work with such private platforms - or how they might be supplanted by them.
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