What could make the iPhone the most irreplaceable smart phone on the market? Well, most smart devices have currently been cashing in on the health and fitness craze with apps and software specifically designed to help you track calories, measure your heart rate or even measure the oxygen in your blood.

But now, Apple has taken the health and fitness craze to a new level that would also involve prevention of health issues. According to a report on MIT Technology Review, Apple has partnered with researchers in the U.S. to develop apps that can help users get their DNA tested.

These apps will be based on a software platform Apple introduced in March to help hospitals and scientists run medical related studies on their iPhones.

The platform, ResearchKit, collects data from the device's sensors and surveys, which will help scientists run their medical studies. This could inevitably lead to advances in medical technology as well as treatment options, given the right access to DNA for the studies.

"Apple launched ResearchKit and got a fantastic response. The obvious next thing is to collect DNA," said Gholson Lyon, a geneticist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Lyon is not involved in the studies.

One of the apps on ResearchKit, mPower, got a large response from participants because it helps track the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Apple will not be collecting the DNA data, but rather academic partners, who will share their data in a computing cloud, at least in the first two initial planned studies.

Although Apple has not officially commented on this technology yet, a source close to the project has said the intent is for users to be able to share their DNA data with medical experts or scientific organizations collecting data for studies. The source also said that, although the project could be scrapped at anytime, there is sufficient pressure on them to make the apps available at the worldwide developers conference in June.

According to BGR, user participation in this emerging technology could make the iPhone the most indispensable device on the market.