New ColdSense app from makers of Zicam sniffs out risk of catching cold

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.  — Matrixx Initiatives on Tuesday launched ColdSense,an iPhone app designed to help evaluate a user's potential exposure to the common cold. The app utilizes smartphone sensors to actively listen for coughs and sneezes around a user to determine potential risk of exposure, and combines this with multiple other indicators to create a constantly updating personalized risk profile.



"We live in an age when nearly everyone has a smartphone with them 24/7," noted M'Lou Walker, Matrixx CEO. "And because we take them everywhere, our smartphones can help alert us to our likelihood of exposure to the common cold. The result is ColdSense, an app that leverages smartphone data to help do just that."



The Zicam ColdSense app, designed by Current Studios, evaluates a user's potential exposure to a cold through a proprietary algorithm that analyzes and applies a weighted value to key indicators in real time. With permission, ColdSense uses and continuously updates personal smartphone data such as location, travel plans, calendar activities, sleep trackers, health wearables, external information from weather and sickness forecasing, mapping platforms and social statistics.



"No-one has time to put up with a cold for longer than necessary," added Lori Norian, VP marketing Zicam. "ColdSense uses the latest in smartphone technology to provide an engaging and playful way to detect potential risk factors throughout cold season."