Singapore partners Apple on new LumiHealth app to promote healthy lifestyle changes

SINGAPORE: Singapore has partnered with Apple on a new app, LumiHealth, which uses technology and behavioural insights to encourage Singaporeans to make positive lifestyle changes and stay healthy.

In a press release on Wednesday (Sep 16), Apple said that LumiHealth is a free personalised programme that uses the Apple Watch to provide participants with reminders, activity coaching and incentives.

Within the app, users travel through worlds with a “friendly intergalactic explorer” that guides them through tasks personalised based on their age, gender and weight. These tasks include weekly activity goals that can be met through walking, swimming, yoga and other activities.

LumiHealth also reminds users to go for health screenings and immunisations, and participate in wellness challenges that aim to improve sleep habits and mindfulness, as well as encourage better food choices.

By completing these goals and challenges, users help the intergalactic explorer return home and can earn rewards worth up to S$380 over the two-year duration of the programme.

“LumiHealth was created with customer privacy and data security built into its design,” said Apple.

The programme is voluntary - users will need to opt in and provide consent to share information with LumiHealth when they join and they may opt out at any time.

The collection of any personal identifiable information will be limited to information that will enable the app to provide the user with a personalised and relevant experience. All user data will be encrypted to protect privacy and will be stored in a “highly secure system” that is fully compliant with Singapore’s data privacy and security laws, said Apple.

The data will be stored in Singapore and should users choose to share their information, identifying details like name and address will be removed before the data is shared with Apple.

The degree of personalisation on LumiHealth, which was created in collaboration with physicians and public health experts, will increase in precision and accuracy as more data is gathered - with the participant’s consent - and the understanding of human behaviour is deepened, said the Health Promotion Board (HPB) and Smart Nation and the Digital Government Group (SNDGG) in a separate press release.

The data captured will enable health promoting interventions to be better customised, contributing to a reduction in preventable deaths and disabilities, as well as to an improvement in the quality of lives of Singaporeans, the agencies said.

The insights and learnings from the programme can also be applied to shape future public health interventions and efforts.

“Even as all of us around the world are dealing with the challenges of COVID-19, we must keep investing in our future. And there is no better investment than in our own personal health,” said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. “This partnership between Singapore and Apple will enable Singaporeans to lead healthier lives, but equally important, it will contribute valuable insights to improving the health of people all over the world.”

Said Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams: “Singapore has one of the world’s leading healthcare systems and we are thrilled to be partnering with them to incorporate Apple Watch and LumiHealth into their holistic approach to wellbeing.”

The LumiHealth programme will be officially launched in late October. The mobile application is currently available for pre-order on the App Store.

Singapore residents with a SingPass account aged 17 years or older are eligible to participate in LumiHealth. Users will require an Apple Watch and the LumiHealth app on their iPhone.

The programme will initially be available only in English, but visual guides have been included to help users navigate the app.