Apple quietly acquired Tueo Health, a digital health startup developing a solution to assist parents in monitoring asthma-related symptoms in sleeping children, reports CNBC. The exact date of the acquisition is not known; however, Tueo’s CEO and COO, Brownwyn Harris and Anura Patil, changed their employers from Tueo to Apple on LinkedIn in late 2018.
Sleep Sensors for Data-Driven Asthma Management
About 10% of children between 5-17 years of age, or more than 7 million kids in the US alone, suffer from asthma. In half of these cases, the child’s asthma is not well controlled. Founded in 2015, the name Tueo (“too-ee-oh”) comes from a Latin word meaning to observe, care for, and maintain. The digital health solution features a non-contact, under-the-mattress sensor that passively measures key physiologic parameters while a child is asleep.
From the sensor, an asthma control score is then calculated from the physiologic data and an alert is sent to the smartphone app giving an indication of the child’s status on their provider-issued asthma action plan. In the event of worsening control, a trained asthma educator will engage in low-touch, high-yield personal communication to guide and coach families through evidence-based steps.
No financial details of the acquisition were disclosed, and an Apple spokesperson declined to comment to CNBC on the acquisition. Apple is expected to unveil new features to its Health app for iPhones at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference next month on June 3.
