The Most Important WWDC Announcement That You Missed

Let’s say you’re the biggest and most successful company in the world. You need to keep growing at an incredible rate—and you’d also like to have a positive impact on mankind. What kind of opportunities do you go after?

Well, for one you probably build a face computer. But you might also try to solve the mental health crisis in America. And I think that’s what Apple’s attempting.

In 2022, 19% of adults—about 50 million Americans—experienced a mental illness like anxiety or depression. Anxiety and depression alone cost the economy an estimated $1 trillion every year. That is a huge problem and a huge economic opportunity.

On a human level, mental health issues are also a real bitch to deal with. I’m a relatively well-off individual with a fake job and an open mind. It still took me many years—literally years of work—to get an accurate diagnosis and to get into the right treatment. And I was really trying my hardest! I was reading books, using apps, trying therapists, testing meds, and spending more money than I care to count. If therapy wasn’t a totally private HIPAA-regulated institution I’m pretty sure my clinicians would be building statues to commemorate my largesse. (If any of my former doctors want to do this hmu.)

So, I’m an experienced realist who is very invested in this topic. And as one, let me say: 

I think Apple is going after mental health in a big way. What they announced this week at the WWDC—a mood tracker, a mental health trend report, and psychological assessments you can take from your phone—is both a masterful business move and has a real shot at eventually solving the mental health crisis in America. 

These changes might look incremental on the surface but they ladder up into something disruptive. They allow for Apple to create a massive dataset of mental health data that can be combined with machine learning to better assess, diagnose, and treat psychological issues and increase human flourishing. It could be a paradigm shift in how scientific research is done that affects every part of the mental health system.

I recognize this is a bold claim—but let me show you why I’m convinced Apple could help solve many mental health problems in America. We’ll talk about what they announced, what it means for today, and how it impacts the future.