Today, Apple introduced the open source software framework CareKit, which can be used to develop healthcare apps. Apple plans to release the software in April, and the company said the software is aimed at making things easier for users to track their health and monitor symptoms, medications, and treatment responses and then quickly share that data with medical professionals and loved ones.

The company hopes that CareKit will see the same success as the similar platform ResearchKit, a framework for developing medical research apps. So far, developers and researchers have already started using the ResearchKit platform to develop apps that help diagnose and monitor autism symptoms in young children, help Alzheimer’s patients personalize their care plans, and collect data from epileptics to one day be able to sense an oncoming seizure. Last week, Harvard researchers announced a ResearchKit app to help professional football players track their mental and physical health.

To coincide with today's event, 23andMe announced a new ResearchKit module that will allow its customers to easily share genetic data directly with researchers—streamlining the consent process and securely transferring data directly from 23andMe to a research institution.

“We’re thrilled with the profound impact ResearchKit has already had on the pace and scale of conducting medical research and have realized that many of the same principles could help with individual care,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, in an accompanying press release. “We believe that giving individuals the tools to understand what is happening with their health is incredibly powerful, and apps designed using CareKit make this a reality by empowering people to take a more active role in their care.”

The first modules of CareKit designed by Apple include:

Care Card: This module is focused on treatment monitoring, such as courses of medication or progress through physical therapy goals, using data collected by Apple Watch or an iPhone. Symptom and Measurement Tracker: This module will allow users to survey and record their well-being and illness symptoms. Insight dashboard: This module will help users map and analyze data collected on Care Card. Connect: This last module will focus on allowing patients to conveniently share and communicate health data and status changes with health professionals, care teams, and family.

Apple said researchers and developers are already eager to start using CareKit. The company listed several planned projects for apps that would help Parkinson’s patients with day-to-day treatment and general patients with post-surgery progress, diabetes management, and maternal health monitoring.

Apple's Cupertino event has just concluded, and you can revisit all the action in our liveblog. We'll update this post if new information becomes available.