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Smartphone thermometer earns FDA approval

A smartphone-connected thermometer has received 510(k) clearance by the FDA.

Manufactured by Kinsa Health, the Smart Thermometer can be used orally, under the armpit or rectally. And according to the company’s announcement, it is the first “approval by the FDA for a mobile-connected version of the world’s most common medical device.”

Connected through the headphone jack, the device uses the smartphone’s processing power to calculate a temperature reading. The smartphone application includes visuals that Kinsa claims are “calming, distracting and engaging [to] children throughout the process.”

As the user base expands, Kinsa plans to channel the data collected to provide localized illness outbreak alerts, with the ultimate goal of providing a “real-time understanding of what illnesses are spreading and where,” Inder Singh, founder and CEO of Kinsa, said in a press release. “And by piggy-backing off the most widespread medical behavior in the world — a parent taking a child’s temperature at the first sign of illness — we can simultaneously create a highly accurate, first-of-its-kind system to track the spread of illness.”

The company will conduct a private beta test of the device, priced initially at $14.99, and mobile app this month, Kinsa said in a statement.