If you update your iPhone to iOS 10 this fall, you may just save someone’s life – or someone may save yours.
The new iOS update will give you access to a very special feature – the ability to register as an organ donor. And you can do it all directly from the phone’s built-in Health app.
Currently, the app already allows you to list existing medical conditions, prescriptions and allergies, and your emergency contact information – vital information for first responders.
And once iOS 10 comes out, you’ll be able to sign up as an organ donor, too.
While donating your organs is a grim thought, it is really a great feature if you really think about it. Not only could you save someone’s life, but someone could save yours.
Apple and Donate Life America said in a press release on Tuesday that each donor can ‘save as many as eight lives and heal many more’.
Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, says he hopes the easy sign-up button in the Health app will help ease a longstanding donor shortage, the Guardian reports.
Cook said that the problem hit home when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs endured an ‘excruciating’ wait for a liver transplant in 2009. He died of pancreatic cancer aged 56 in October 2011.
As of right now, people can only register on the American organ donor list, but the feature will no doubt spread to other parts of the world soon.
And Apple isn’t the only technology front-runner that has pledged to help drive organ donor registration. Facebook, Twitter and Google have also all pledged their support to develop new tools and public advocacy campaigns.
While it’s not fun to think about, if it saves lives, it’s a great feature.
