Apple Vision Pro unlocks new opportunities for health app developers

maxin TECH NEWS March 11, 2024

March 11, 2024

UPDATE

Apple Vision Pro unlocks new opportunities for health app developers

Breakthrough health and wellness apps are designed to take advantage of the infinite canvas in visionOS, unveiling spatial experiences that benefit users in clinical settings and at home

For decades, medical institutions and developers have taken advantage of Apple’s innovative products and frameworks to help achieve better patient outcomes, increase cost savings, broaden research opportunities, and improve efficiency. From using iPad to lower the cost and shorten the length of NICU stays so newborns can be at home with their families, to iPhone helping nurses respond faster to alerts and alarms and improve medication administration, the healthcare community has driven purposeful change with powerful Apple products at their fingertips.

Now, with the introduction of Apple Vision Pro, developers have unparalleled opportunities to deliver experiences that can positively impact people’s lives, whether they’re at home or at a clinic. Vision Pro seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world, unlocking powerful spatial experiences in an infinite canvas. And with the unique capabilities of visionOS, healthcare developers are creating new apps that were not previously possible, transforming areas such as clinical education, surgical planning, training, medical imaging, behavioral health, and more.

“We’re thrilled to see the incredible apps that developers across the healthcare community are bringing to Apple Vision Pro,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “The imagination and drive of our developers, combined with the technical capabilities of visionOS, are igniting new possibilities for physicians, frontline workers, and even students, and we can’t wait to see what’s to come.”

Here are just a few of the apps currently available on Apple Vision Pro in the healthcare and wellness space.

Surgical Planning and Education

More than 1 million Americans receive a knee or hip replacement surgery every year, and that number will continue to rise as the population ages.¹ When surgeons use Stryker’s Mako SmartRobotics for total hip, total knee, and partial knee replacements, it can help lead to better patient outcomes like less pain and shorter recovery times, compared to traditional joint replacement surgeries. With the new myMako app, Stryker is extending a surgeon’s experience in and beyond the operating room with Apple Vision Pro and iPhone. For better preparation, myMako allows surgeons to visualize and review patients’ Mako surgical plans at any time in a brilliant, immersive visual experience.

“The myMako app for Apple Vision Pro allows surgeons the ability to access intricate surgical plan details and insights at their fingertips in a 3D-native, intuitive, and dynamic way. This level of insight — anytime, anywhere — was previously not possible,” said Robert Cohen, Stryker’s president of Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies. “With Apple Vision Pro, Stryker’s market-leading enabling technologies such as Mako SmartRobotics have the exciting potential to transform the way surgeons think about preoperative planning and the intraoperative experience, all consistent with Stryker’s mission to make healthcare better.”

To alleviate some of the timely challenges healthcare workers face in onboarding and training, Boston Children’s Hospital developed a comprehensive learning experience in a safe, universally accessible virtual environment. Created for Apple Vision Pro, CyranoHealth places a spotlight on skills related to new medical equipment, like medical infusion pumps, helping improve confidence and reduce anxiety for frontline workers, beginning with nurses. This immersive, multisensory approach allows students to familiarize themselves with the latest advancements in healthcare technology, helping to prepare them to navigate real-world challenges.

“CyranoHealth utilizes spatial computing to revolutionize the training of healthcare professionals, offering immersive, lifelike simulations to enhance learning and combat burnout. The app represents a significant leap forward in healthcare training, blending technology and medicine to create a future-ready workforce,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., Boston Children’s chief innovation officer.

Additional apps in surgical planning and education include:

Fundamental Surgery, which delivers surgical training through spatial computing for Apple Vision Pro.

CollaboratOR 3D by KARL STORZ, which enhances surgical learning opportunities while allowing teams to scale their training efforts.

Elsevier’s Complete HeartX, designed exclusively for Apple Vision Pro, which provides a captivating experience as it delves into the intricacies of the human body to create a realistic and engaging learning environment.

Insight Heart, which lets users understand the human heart like never before. With ARKit, users can easily scan their physical surroundings and visualize 3D hearts using CT data, as well as explore various heart conditions.

“At Apple, we believe technology can play an important role in the evolution of healthcare,” said Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple’s vice president of Health. “With the ability to transform a user’s space, display 3D objects at life size, and see all relevant data in one view, the opportunities for health developers to use Apple Vision Pro to help improve procedural planning, education, and outcomes are limitless.”

Productivity and Collaboration

Siemens Healthineers’ Cinematic Reality app on Apple Vision Pro allows surgeons, medical students, and patients to view immersive, interactive holograms of the human body captured through medical scans in their real-world environment. Using Metal and the power of the M2 processor, the app integrates advanced path-tracing technology, simulating light interactions with virtual objects to deliver breathtakingly realistic lighting and reflections.

“Cinematic Reality gives people the opportunity to immerse themselves in a world of photorealistic renderings of the human anatomy,” said Christian Zapf, Siemens Healthineers’ head of Digital & Automation. “Apple Vision Pro perfectly presents that three-dimensional experience, combined with great flexibility and standalone use. We see great potential for the technology for clinical as well as educational purposes.”

Medical records are core to any clinician’s work with a patient, whether it’s understanding their health history or finding new opportunities to support improved health outcomes. Epic Systems, an electronic health records company, is introducing its Epic Spatial Computing Concept for Apple Vision Pro to allow physicians and clinicians to easily complete charting, review labs, communicate using secure chat, and complete in-basket workflows through intuitive gestures, like simply tapping their fingers to select, flicking their wrist to scroll, or using a virtual keyboard or dictation to type.

“Creating the first electronic health record experience for spatial computing was an exciting project for our developers,” said Seth Howard, Epic’s senior vice president of Research & Development. “With Apple Vision Pro, clinicians will be able to interact with their patients’ health information in new, immersive ways. We welcome ideas from the physician community about how this technology can expand the future of healthcare delivery.”

Additional apps in productivity and collaboration include:

Visage Ease VP, which supports immersive spatial experiences for diagnostic imaging and multimedia. UC San Diego Health became the first health system to pilot the technology with the goal of improving patient care, looking at opportunities like potentially helping inefficient tumor board reviews and creating collaborative spaces in healthcare.

Falcon Vue, which unleashes the power of spatial medical imaging viewing across all modalities.

Medivis, which brings SurgicalAR Vision to Apple Vision Pro, enhancing medical imaging to support surgical precision and patient care.

Behavioral Health and Wellness

Cedars-Sinai’s Xaia app takes full advantage of the unique capabilities of Apple Vision Pro to support patients’ mental health needs. Through its trained digital avatar, Xaia offers patients AI-enabled, conversational mental health support in relaxing spatial environments where they can also do deep breathing exercises and meditation. The immersive therapy sessions take place in environments that are most comfortable to users — whether they choose to remain in their own space, or transform their environment into a relaxing location like a beach. Privacy remains core to the app; it requires no personal information or health information.

“Apple Vision Pro’s stunning display offers a gateway into a world of immersive, interactive behavioral health support — a quantum leap beyond previous technologies,” said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, professor of medicine, director of Health Services Research, and director of the master’s degree program in Health Delivery Science at Cedars-Sinai. “With Xaia, we leverage every pixel of that remarkable resolution and the full spectrum of vivid colors to craft a form of immersive therapy that’s engaging and deeply personal. With this remarkable device, our team was able to completely reimagine how spatial computing can support behavioral health and overall wellbeing in ways never before possible.”

Additional apps in behavioral health and wellness include:

The Mindfulness app on Apple Vision Pro, designed to transform users’ surroundings into a calming, immersive environment.

TRIPP, which delivers signature experiences for Vision Pro with illuminating visuals and Spatial Audio for guided breathing exercises and sleep experience.

Healium, which brings beautifully designed experiences to Vision Pro users, helping them relax and build resilience by creating stress-reducing memories of nature-based escapes.