Apple's Expanding Efforts in Health and Wellness

I have written previously about Apple’s numerous forays into the health and fitness markets. One pillar in their efforts is the Apple Health app, which has been designed to provide a central repository for health data. The app makes health data more accessible to users, and easier for users to share with their doctors. A second pillar is the Apple Watch, which is bristling with health and fitness sensors, including an EKG, heart rate monitor, fall detection, activity and sleep tracking, and much more. There are even plans for noninvasive blood pressure and blood glucose monitors. 

Around these two pillars, Apple will be populating their platform with other apps and services. A recent article from tech reporter Mark Gurman outlined new health products Apple is scheduled to release over the next year or so that are listed below.

1. Apple's Quartz Health Coaching Service

A major new health initiative from Apple is Quartz, an AI-powered health coaching service. Quartz is designed to help users stay motivated to exercise, improve eating habits, and sleep better. The service utilizes AI and data from Apple Watch to provide personalized suggestions and coaching programs. Quartz is expected to be a monthly fee-based service, and it is scheduled to be released in 2023.

2. Expansion of the Health App to iPad

Apple is also expanding the Health app to the iPad (Figure 1). The iPad version of the Health app will allow users to view electrocardiogram results and other health data in a larger format. This will make it easier for users to track their health data and share it with their doctors. The iPad version of the Health app is expected to be released in 2023.

3. Emotion Tracking and Vision Management Tools

Apple is also adding new tools for tracking emotion and managing vision conditions to the Health app. The emotion tracker will let users log their mood, answer questions about their day, and compare the results over time. The vision tools will help users track their vision and manage conditions, such as nearsightedness. The emotion tracker and vision tools are expected to be released in 2023.

4. Apple's New Journaling App

Apple is also expected to announce a  new journaling app. However, whether or not the app is a health-related product has been the subject of some debate. The app will allow users to track and compile their daily activities. According to a Wall Street Journal piece, the app is designed to help users improve their mental and physical health. The app will collect more user data than existing journaling apps, including access to text messages and phone calls. This data will be used to help users track their daily lives, analyze their behavior, and determine a typical day. 

According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, the "app isn’t meant to be a health feature [....]

Instead, the app is meant as an extension of the company’s Find My service and other location features. It stems from a desire to add more social networking elements to those functions. Users could use the app to, say, write a journal entry about their walk to work." However, a journal is useful for keeping track of health-related information even if that is not the journal's primary function.

Taken together, these various tools and services represent another important investment in the health arena. Apple has long been a leader in the integration of health and wellness features into its technology products, and is now poised to make even more progress.

Figure 1. The iPhone health app is being ported to the iPad according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman (source Apple, link).