A new academic study used the sensors in higher-end smartphones to measure gait and detect when people have imbibed too much for safe driving.
Even as Apple keeps adding new
health features to the
Apple Watch, a new study from the University of Pittsburgh claims existing iPhones can detect intoxication. Smartphone sensors that already measure motion have been used to determine when people are over the legal limit to drive.
According to
BBC News, while the
US researchers have so far only used the very small sample of 22 people, the phones were able to detect intoxication 90% of the time.
"We have powerful sensors we carry around with us wherever we go," lead researcher Brian Suffoletto told the
BBC. "We need to learn how to use them to best serve public health."
The study is a preliminary one, conducted with an extremely limited sample. The 22 participants were all volunteers aged between 21 and 43, of whom 15 were men, all were white and non-Hispanic, and none of the 7 women were pregnant or breastfeeding.
In the test, each person was given a vodka and lime juice drink hourly until they reached 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, the US and UK drink-drive limit. Each volunteer had a smartphone strapped to the back and every two hours had to walk a straight line for 10 steps, turn around and walk back.