Be still my beating heart
Listening to your heart can reveal a lot about you. First, whether you are still alive or not, but it can also tell doctors about your health.
Your heartbeat also changes if you have been exercising, if you are excited and if you are stressed.
Your iPhone carries a powerful device to help monitor your heartbeat – the camera.
While the rear facing camera on your iPhone can take eight megapixels in the new iPhone 5s, the sensor it carries can also detect changes in colour.
By illuminating your finger with the built-in flash, the camera can detect the rush of blood that floods the arteries of your fingertip with each heart beat.
The subtle darkening and lightening reveals your pulse.
Cardiograph is one app that does this and will even let you print out a report of your heartbeat.
Software firm BioBeats are also working with Imperial College London and private healthcare providers BUPA to develop an app that will measure your pulse.
They have already produced an App that measures a user's pulse to produce music that is in time with their heart rate.
They have just received funding from the Technology Strategy Board to develop this further, producing a waveform a bit like an electrocardiograph, or ECG.
This can provide clinicians with information about the way the heart is functioning, how much blood is being pumped and the distance between the beats.
They hope to develop the system to help patient's monitor their stress levels, but according to Kristin Shine, the chief medical officer at BioBeats, the system could also be used to remotely perform routine check-ups on patients.
Pressure, pushing down on me
Once, almost every visit to the GP included a quick blood pressure check. Shorter consultation times means general checks ups happen less often, but blood pressure can reveal a great deal about the health of your heart.
There are a number of apps available that claim to be able to measure your blood pressure. Many use external devices that connect wirelessly to your phone to monitor.
However, BloodPressurePro, uses a similar approach to Biobeats – using the iPhone's camera to measure the blow of blood through the veins in your wrist this time.
It has been criticised, however, for its accuracy and the app itself carries a disclaimer with the results warning that they may not be entirely accurate.
Another firm, called Azumio, also produces apps that perform similar roles and as the algorithms develop the accuracy of these approaches are expected to rise.
For example, a recent paper published in the Journal Transactions in Biomedical Engineering showed how a smart phone with a built in camera and microphone could be used to replace the stethoscope and cuff-based measurement to measure vital signs.
Breathe, breathe in the air
The accelerometers in the iPhone are very good at detecting movement, even the rise and fall of a person's chest as they breath.
For people who suffer from asthma it could help to provide the warning signs of an attack or can help give a measure of a persons cardiovascular fitness after exercise.
One app that will measure your breathing from the motion of your chest is Philip's Vital Signs App.
BioBeats claim their new app will be also be able to monitor breathing, but will also be able to record other potential signs of illness - how often someone coughs, for example.
Feeding this information back to doctors could help give them a way of cheaply monitoring patients as they go about their lives rather than having to rely upon self-reported information from the patient, which can often be misleading.
Tests on BioBeats prototype have shown it is able to detect the difference between someone breathing with the phone in their pocket or resting on their stomach.
STAR Analysitic services has also been developing software that can diagnose different types of cough by sound.
The software can determine whether a cough is dry or wet and whether there might be mucus on the lungs.
This information can help doctors determine whether the cough is caused by a bacterial or viral infection.
Nokia and Android phones also use a device called StethoMic – a stethoscope like device that can be plugged into the phone to look for signs of lung disease.
I get knocked down, but I get up again
Concussion can be a tricky condition to diagnose. Doctors will often recommend those who have suffered a head injury are watched carefully over the following 24 hours by friends and family.
However, the iPhone's accelerometers and interactive display provide an opportunity to assess a user's balance and potentially spot some of the signs of concussion.
Sway Medical have released an App that uses the iPhone's built in motion sensors to test a patient's balance and provide on the spot results.
The App has actually been approved by the FDA and measures the amount someone sways during a series of balance tests including, standing on both feet with their eyes closed and on one foot.
This one isn't cheap though and is aimed more at health professionals and sports clubs where players and athletes may suffer knocks to their heads.
Knock a little louder sugar, I can't hear you
Do you struggle to hear conversations when using your iPhone. It may not entirely be down to the ongoing signal problems that some of devices seem to suffer.
Instead, it may be you need a hearing test.
Fortunately, there are a number of apps that will conduct a screening test to check whether your may have some problems hearing within the normal range.
UHear allows users to conduct two tests – a hearing sensitivity test that determines what the quietest sound you can hear is and a speech in noise test that measures how well you hear in background noise.
Baby's got blue eyes
The most recent iPhones boat high resolution displays, but if your eyesight is failing, then it may be lost on you.
There are a number of apps that offer eye tests by displaying traditional eye examination charts on the screen. These include tests for colour blindness and looking for the smallest shapes, or letters that can be identified.
One App, called Eye Screen, ams to use two screening tests to help diagnose age-related macular degernation (AMD).
It uses the Mini Snellen test to asses central vision and the Amsler grid to assess the wider visual field and to look for possible distortions.
Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical School have developed technique for using the camera on the iPhone to examine the retina at the back of patient's eye.
Using the iPhone's video function and flash along with app called Filmic Pro, they were able to focus the camera on the retina using a handheld 20D lens.
They are already using it in their emergency room and in-patient consultations and have been able to identify conditions like retinoblastoma, vitreoretinopathy and retinal detachment.
I can't get no sleep
Sleep is intrinsically linked to health. Those who regularly suffer disturbed sleep may be showing the early signs of a whole range of conditions.
Getting too little sleep can also lead to health problems itself, leaving the immune system less reslient and making people more prone to poor food choices.
There are several apps that monitor sleeping patterns. Sleep Cycle is probably one of the best. Place it on your mattress and leave it running through the night.
It will monitor how you have slept, showing the periods when you entered deep sleep.
The App also features an alarm that will wake you at the right moment to ensure you are jerked from rest at the least disruptive time to your body.
I'm leaving my fingerprints on you
The iPhone 5S introduces fingerprint sensors for the first time. While this feature has only be available for a short period of time, it is likely that this technology may also be tapped in some way to help provide information about a person's physical wellbeing.
For example, according to New Scientist, research in 2005 showed that differences between the fingerprints of a person's thumb and little finger appear to be related to their risk of developing diabetes in later life.
If findings like these are found to have clinical value, it may provide a useful screening tool.
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