Mental health app 'Together by Renee' using artificial intelligence to assist doctors

ORLANDO, Fla. - Staying on top of your health can take a lot of work. Now, there’s a new app on the market that uses the help of artificial intelligence to check your vitals, along with seeing if you have anxiety or depression. 

Dr. Renee Dua along with Nic Desai created the app Together by Renee. She wanted to make it easier for patients to track their health and medications. Along with making it easier for doctors to watch a patient’s progress.

Unlike the traditional ways to measure a patient’s vitals, this app uses smartphone camera-based selfies that patients take to measure movements and changes in someone’s blood vessels. It uses artificial intelligence to determine someone’s blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels. 

"We do not replace your doctor, what we do is help you interact better with your doctor," Dr. Dua said. 

The app can also suggest that you might have symptoms of anxiety or depression upon voice detection. 

"It’s always been important to me to incorporate mental vitals so that I see a whole picture of what a person might be going through," Dua said. 

The app uses the help of AI to detect signs of anxiety or depression. The user speaks on the phone for 30 seconds, and the AI analyzes a user’s melody, vocal track movement, and vocal fold dynamics to see if there could be patterns. Dua says this helps make early detection and intervention more accessible. 

Dr. Matthew Sparks, a family doctor out of Sanford says that a quick glance and quick usage of it is helpful for not only patients but also for doctors to keep track of their patients' progress. 

"I’m always telling my patients hey, take your blood pressure at home and tell me how it’s looking. Well, it’s cumbersome. ‘I’ll get to it, I don’t have time for that.’" Sparks said. 

Jim Bradley uses the app at least a couple of times a day, he thinks of it like a mental thermometer. 

"It’s a symptom detector of depression and anxiety. I find myself trying at times where I think I might be stressed and tired," Bradley said. 

Dr. Sparks told FOX 35 he’s seen these types of health apps as the future of health care but cautions users to not get too obsessive over their results. 

Both Dr. Dua and Dr. Sparks recommend always getting guidance from your primary care doctor.