Google is apparently preparing to launch an Apple ResearchKit-like service later this year, according to a TechCrunch report.

The offering called Study Kit (though the name could change) will be unveiled as the next step of Google X’s Baseline Study, which launched in July as a limited pilot with Duke University and Stanford University with 175 participants.

Similarly to Apple’s service, Study Kit will also enable researchers to collect data from study participants in a safe environment that will be overseen by independent boards. Accompanying developer tools will work with both iOS and Android, as well as a Chrome extension, all of which are currently only open to a limited number of registered participants in the Baseline pilot.

“We are in the early stages of designing the Baseline Study and are exploring ways to make it easy for participants to share their health information and habits with researchers on a routine basis,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch. “An app is one route we’re considering and some of our pilot participants are testing this early version.”

One of the goals of Google’s endeavor is to identify a baseline of “healthy”, involving not just easily seen diagnostics like heart rate and weight but also more granular DNA sequencing. Over time Google’s algorithms could be able to notice when individuals start to deviate from “healthy”, and suggest corrective actions.

Over time Google’s algorithms could be able to notice when individuals start to deviate from healthy, and suggest corrective actions.“It may sound counter-intuitive, but by studying health, we might someday be better able to understand disease,” Dr. Andrew Conrad of Google[x], who heads up Baseline Study, noted in a statement at the time of the launch last year.

Initially, participants in the study were asked to contribute their blood and urine samples, while apps will be the second wave for how Baseline collects data. The third wave will include wearables to the mix, not just those worn around the wrist, but potentially smart contact lenses which we know Google has been working on.

However, it’s still unclear which researchers will be invited to the party. As far as we (don’t) know, this could be just one of Google X’s projects that may or may not involve third parties. Perhaps, it’s just an effort to boost their whole life sciences division with data that could help advance business in Google X’s portfolio companies.

Google did stress out that any results produced by the Baseline Study will be their “contribution to science” and are “not intended to generate a new product at Google.” This, the saying goes, should alleviate some privacy concerns, but we tend to keep a healthy dose of reserve; after all, we can only speculate where the [Study Kit] project goes next.