iOS 17 to Include Mood Tracker and Health App for iPad, AI-Based Health Coaching Service Coming in 2024

The iOS 17 update that Apple plans to show off in June will include several new health-related features, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. There will be a feature for tracking mood, plus Apple plans to bring the Health app to the iPad for the first time.

iOS 17 Mock Health Feature Pink
Apple has long had a Health app, but it has been exclusively available on the iPhone, something that could change with the launch of ‌iOS 17‌. The Health app on ‌iPad‌ would give users more screen real estate for viewing health metrics, electrocardiogram results, prescriptions, lab tests from doctors, and more. Apple's aim is to improve the popularity of the Health app in healthcare settings, where tablets are widely used.

In addition to bringing the Health app to the ‌iPad‌, Apple plans to introduce a new emotion tracker, which will let users keep track of their mood, answer questions about their day, and view the results over time. In the future, algorithms could be used to determine a user's mood through their speech patterns, what they've typed, and other data, but Apple will start with mood tracking.

The mood tracking function that Apple has in mind for the Health app in ‌iOS 17‌ will be separate from the journaling app that was rumored last week. According to Gurman, the journaling app will not be a health feature, but will instead serve as an extension of the Find My service and other location features, as Apple wants to expand the social networking capabilities of ‌Find My‌.

The Health app is also set to gain new features for managing vision conditions like nearsightedness. As previously rumored, the AR/VR headset Apple has in the works will include health-centric features, such as a meditation app that will walk users through calming meditations.

Next year, Apple will expand its health offerings with a new health coaching service. Codenamed Quartz, the AI-based service will help encourage users to exercise, improve their eating habits, and take steps to improve their sleep. The service will use data from the Apple Watch to make personalized suggestions and create tailored coaching programs, with Apple planning to charge a monthly fee. While the service is planned for 2024, Gurman cautions that it could be "canceled or postponed."

Other major future health plans include blood pressure monitoring for the Apple Watch and noninvasive glucose monitoring, both functions that Apple has been working on for many years.

Related Roundup: iOS 17

Top Rated Comments

fwmireault Avatar
6 weeks ago
Why not also port the health app to macOS? This discrepancy of software features between ios and mac devices has always been weird to me. With M1 Macs and catalyst, it has never been easier to close that gap
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Justin Cymbal Avatar
6 weeks ago
I’m so happy that Apple is finally adding the health app to the iPad

I’ve been wanting to be able to view my workouts and health data on my iPad for a long time and now I will be able to do that with the new iPadOS

I hope that the workouts app is eventually added to iPadOS as well
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ipedro Avatar
6 weeks ago

I can't trust Apple's AI to reliably set a 3 minute countdown timer on a HomePod. Apple wants me to trust AI to reach my health goals?

Come on Apple, if you are serious about AI, you need to be able to walk before you can run.
You're confusing AI with Siri. Apple has a series of AI features that perform so well, you don't think of them as AI. Lifting an object from an image just as good or better than Adobe Sensei (done on-device, no cloud computing), word recognition in photos and across the user's entire ecosystem of content. Computational photography. That's all artificial intelligence and machine learning. A fitness coach would work very much like that – nothing to do with Siri listening to commands and interpreting them.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProfessionalFan Avatar
6 weeks ago
Health App on iPad? FINALLY!

Now do Mac.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
appleguy123 Avatar
6 weeks ago
The health app is one of my most used apps. Very excited for updates. Definitely recommend others use it too. What you track is what you improve.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zubikov Avatar
6 weeks ago
I can't trust Apple's AI to reliably set a 3 minute countdown timer on a HomePod. Apple wants me to trust AI to reach my health goals?

Come on Apple, if you are serious about AI, you need to be able to walk before you can run.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)