Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reports on a few features Apple is planning for its Health initiative with this year’s iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 operating system updates. According to the journalist, the Cupertino firm is working on an AI-powered health coaching service and a new technology for tracking emotions.
The coaching service, codenamed Quartz, is designed to “keep users motivated to exercise, improve eating habits, and help them sleep better.” Using AI and data from the Apple Watch, Apple could create “coaching programs tailored to specific users.”
Gurman says this service is planned for next year, although it could be canceled or postponed. Unlike an initiative Apple offered alongside the Singapore government in 2020, this one would be another paid service – which could ultimately be integrated with Apple Fitness Plus.
What’s coming this year, reports Bloomberg, is the Health app on iPadOS 17. It will be used as a “repository for fitness data collected by the Apple Watch and outside health records. It also serves as a portal for users to share information with their doctors.”
In addition, an emotion tracker will let users log their moods, answer questions about their day, and compare the results over time. According to the journalist, this isn’t the same feature as Apple’s rumored journaling app. This one will use algorithms to “determine a user’s mood via their speech, what words they’ve typed, and other data on their devices.”
According to Bloomberg, the journaling app, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, will be an extension of the company’s Find My service and other location features. Apple is planning to add “more social networking elements to those functions,” This journaling app could help users write a journal entry about their walk to work, for example.
We’ll learn more about health initiatives in a few weeks from now when the company presents its WWDC 2023 keynote, its first presentation of the year.
