Apple seems to be pulling back on a health feature they've been working on for years. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that iOS 27 won't include Apple Health+ as originally planned.
Key Points
- Apple Health+ virtual AI health coach feature won't launch in iOS 27 as planned
- Feature was intended to provide personalized health recommendations using Apple Watch data and lab reports
- Some components will be repurposed and potentially released as smaller features this year
- Apple Health+ was originally rumored for iOS 26, indicating years of development before being scaled back
- Apple's Eddy Cue also considering unspecified changes to Apple Fitness+ service
What Apple Health+ Was Supposed to Be
The feature aimed to act as a virtual health coach inside the Apple Health app. It would've analyzed your personal health data and given AI-powered recommendations tailored to you specifically.
Users were supposed to get detailed health reports, educational videos explaining medical conditions, and wellness tips based on their actual data. Apple planned to combine survey results, health assessments, Apple Watch metrics, and even external lab reports into one comprehensive service.
Nobody knows if Apple intended to charge for this. The company never confirmed whether Health+ would've required a subscription or been included free with iOS.
From Full Feature to Scattered Components
Apple isn't completely killing the idea. They're just breaking it apart. Some pieces of Apple Health+, particularly suggestions based on existing Health app data, might show up "as early as this year" according to Gurman's sources.
That's corporate speak for "we're salvaging what we can." Instead of one cohesive health coaching platform, users will probably get smaller features sprinkled across iOS updates.
The timeline here is telling. Apple Health+ was originally rumored for iOS 26, meaning it's been in development for quite a while. Now it's getting chopped up before ever seeing daylight.
Why the Sudden Change?
Gurman's report doesn't explain what went wrong. Maybe the AI recommendations weren't accurate enough. Perhaps Apple couldn't get the feature to work reliably across different users and health conditions. Or they might've hit regulatory concerns about giving medical advice.
Whatever the reason, pulling back a feature after this much development time suggests significant problems.
Fitness+ Changes Also Coming
There's another issue here. Eddy Cue, who runs Apple's services division, is apparently "considering changes" to Apple Fitness+ too. No specifics provided, but when Bloomberg mentions something like that, it usually means more than minor tweaks.
Fitness+ has struggled to compete with Peloton and other fitness platforms. Maybe Apple's rethinking their entire health and fitness services strategy.
What This Means for Users
If you were hoping for an AI health coach built into your iPhone, you're getting fragments instead of the full package. Apple's scaling back ambitions in health tech, at least for now.
Whether those scattered features will actually be useful or just feel half-baked remains to be seen.
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