The Death Clock App Made Me Rethink My Life.
I will download any application for which I receive advertising – this fact has been established over and over again . Since the algorithm knows me well, this usually means I’m shown ads for fashion and beauty related apps and services . However, I also have a hidden introspective side, although again obviously not hidden from the algorithm: over the weekend I was asked to download something called Death Clock AI. This app claimed to be able to guess when I would die based on my data combined with some scientific research. How could I refuse this?
Now, I don’t believe I will actually die on Friday, June 30, 2079, as the app predicted, and I don’t think the app is the best answer to charting my healthiest path in life. While the app did give me recommendations to improve my overall health, it is no substitute for talking to my doctor about the issues. However, the app has made me think a little deeper about how I live my life, which I think makes it potentially valuable. And it’s also somehow neat.
What is the artificial intelligence of the Death Clock?
When you first open the app (available on iOS or Google Play ), you’re greeted by a screen that says “Live Longer and Better” and then asked to press a button that says “See the date of my death.” Before you get it, you’ll need to answer more than 30 questions about your habits and health. It will then tally those numbers and provide the news.
The app claims to be “backed by science and powered by artificial intelligence” and pulls information from 1,217 studies involving 53 million people. Although the app asks you about your age and some additional questions, your statistics may not match the participants’ statistics. And the app doesn’t take into account your family and health history, or other important factors, such as the risks you face at work or social factors that may affect your health.
However, with every question it asks, such as “How often do you include fruits and vegetables in your diet?”, you are given the opportunity to examine the research on which it is based. Clicking on the study button for this specific question opens a pop-up window that says: “A study of 16 studies involving more than 833,000 participants shows that each additional daily serving of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of death from all causes by 5%, with benefits peaking at five servings per day.”
Some questions may be more difficult to answer. While you can pretty reliably report how often you do cardio per week or how many hours you spend sitting each day, other things—like how often you “experience significant stress in your daily life”—are more subjective. On the other end of the spectrum, there are specific questions you may not know the answer to, such as typical blood pressure readings or LDL cholesterol levels. I, of course, don’t know my fasting glucose level, so I had to answer “I don’t know” several times; this will affect your overall results.
Once the Death Clock AI calculates your “date of death” based on your answers, it will also provide a “better” (i.e. more distant) date for you to aim for. You will also be told that you will be able to use the service for free for three days, after which you will be charged an annual fee of $40. If you choose to pay for a year of service, you will be able to download medical documents and information, such as a recent blood test. You can also sync your phone’s health data with the app, and it will track how much sleep you get at night, as well as how many steps you take during the day. Your “date of death” may change based on these inputs, and with a subscription you will maintain access to the longevity plan that Death Clock will create for you.
I can’t vouch for how worth it it is because I haven’t used the Death Clock AI for a long period. But even the short-term trial gave me food for thought.
How Death Clock AI Made Me Rethink My Health
Again, while the developers were smart to base their app on reputable research, I don’t think you should take Death Clock AI’s predictions too seriously. Instead, I thought of it as an excuse to reconsider my health—the same way I treat the data from my fitness trackers and smart scales . It should be taken for granted that this data is never truly accurate , but even trying to think about how often I eat fresh vegetables or how often I get up on an average day was a minor red flag. The drama of getting my “date of death” is more of a fun bonus.
The Death Clock AI provided me with a “longevity plan” that included recommended blood and lab tests, nutritional supplements, screenings, and questions to talk to my doctor about. If you want to take a deeper dive into your health but don’t know where to start, this information may be helpful. For each item on the list, the app suggests the steps you need to take to complete it and even notes whether it is typically covered by insurance.
The last screen you see is a reminder that the Death Clock AI “does not provide medical advice” and you should speak to a real doctor about any concerns about your health. This is definitely true.
Privacy Considerations
You might be worried about entering all your personal health information into a random app. Death Clock AI’s website notes that the developers “strive to protect your personal data from unauthorized access” but may also “create aggregated, anonymized or anonymized data from the Personal Data they collect” which will be used to analyze or improve the service. Of course, this is true for most apps, but most apps don’t ask you to disclose your personal health data.
It’s not a big deal to me because I always assume there is a risk in sharing any data and I stopped worrying about that a long time ago. If you are more intelligent, you should only bring into the world what you are comfortable with. For example, using the paid tier, you can enter a recent blood test, but this is not required. Opt for the free version, which doesn’t require you to create an account, and feel free to skip any questions you feel are too sensitive.
Because, again, this app provides a useful starting point for thinking more deeply about your health, but you don’t need it at all. If entering your cholesterol levels or smoking habits into a useless app makes you feel weird, it’s best to just skip it and check your habits another way. But if you can overcome any privacy concerns and are looking for a way to think more deeply about your health or need a system for doing so, this is a solid, if a little silly, starting point.