HealthKit
Latest
CES 2015: ADAM wearable monitors asthma via app
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asthma affects over 25 million adults and children in the US alone, and is responsible for 14.2 million physician visits each year as well as 1.8 million emergency care visits. With that huge - and growing - population of asthma sufferers and the associated costs of treating the disease, monitoring and managing asthma is quickly becoming a necessity. Health Care Originals highlighted its ADAM (Asthma Detection And Monitoring) wearable and app at CES 2015, a system designed to detect symptoms of asthma, provide alerts, and more. ADAM uses a small wearable patch to detect coughs, monitor respiration and heart rate, and listen for wheezing. The device and app are expected to ship in the second quarter of 2015. By that time it's expected that the sensor will also be able to monitor inhaler use, provide alerts of impending asthma attacks, let patients forward those alerts to their primary care physician or specialist, track and trend symptoms, and even provide treatment plans. Need a reminder to use your inhaler or take other prescribed medication? The ADAM app will provide you with reminders. All data that is generated by the sensor and captured by the app is kept in HIPAA-compliant storage, and the company is looking into integration with HealthKit as well. ADAM is yet another example of how app-connected devices are beginning to revolutionize health care, hopefully reducing both patient visits and the cost of treatment.
This iOS app predicts your death with HealthKit data
Apple's latest push is to make you as healthy as possible -- or at least give you the tools to do so -- but a new app will read your newly available HealthKit data and use it for a more sinister purpose: predicting your death. The app is called Deadline, and it uses health statistics, along with your own personal readings to make an educated guess on when you'll meet your demise. Once your numbers are crunched, the app produces a rather grim timer which ticks down by the second. It's a bit creepy, to be honest, but the good news is you can push the date back by being healthier. Lose a few extra pounds, get more sleep, and ditch the ice cream for some fresh fruit and you'll notice that days, months, or years are being added to your life. It's a strange bit of motivation, but if it works for you, go for it!
Withings makes some devices compatible with Apple's Health app
A couple of weeks ago, Apple gave clearance to HealthKit applications with an update to iOS 8 -- one that, as you're likely aware of, ended up causing major problems for iPhone 6 users. But, since this issue has been resolved, more outfits have (finally) had the chance to make their software and hardware friendly with the platform's Health app. As of today, we can add Withings to the list, having just announced that some of its products, including the Health Mate app, can start integrating with Apple's HealthKit. This includes Whitings' Smart Body Analyzer, Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor, the Aura sleep tracker and the fitness-tailored Pulse O2, which is great news if you own one of these as well as an iOS 8 device. We'll likely see more developers do the same soon, so don't worry if your preferred brand isn't on board yet.
Dear Fitbit: technology is designed to make our lives easier
Over the past few years I have owned five or more Fitbit One trackers. Last year I got an Aria scale, which wirelessly transmits my body fat percentage and weight to Fitbit's servers. Of course, if you have bought into the Fitbit ecosystem you may also be aware that the company charges you if you want to analyze your health data. So it should be little surprise that the company, having tied this data analysis to its economic model, has chosen to not support HealthKit "at this time." I wouldn't hold my quantified breath that the company will choose to integrate its data into HealthKit. That's a shame, really, and I will no longer be using Fitbit products as a result. Apple's Health app offers a dashboard of my health, albeit not a perfect one, as this cogent article from ReadWriteWeb illustrates. But what HealthKit does do well is save me time. It would be nice for all our devices to communicate and show a full report of our quantified selves, wouldn't it? I'm just really exploring this world, but I find it rather annoying to have to type in my weight every day when there's no technical reason why Fitbit couldn't just allow that data to sail into Apple's Health app. Instead, I'm using Carrot Fit to track my weight by manually typing it in. No, this isn't like walking 8 miles for fresh water, but it shows a lack of understanding users on Fitbit's part. Granted, Fitbit is likely making some money from its paid service. Server space, while cheap, isn't free, so I can't necessarily begrudge them in making a hard business decision. Also, Fitbit's Premium service comes with "trainers" who help you improve over time. I'm not sure how far away we are from Siri being your health coach, but I'm betting we're a long way off. However, my understanding of HealthKit integration is that this would not be a tough thing to implement. It is, from all accounts, a rather simple thing to add into your app. So Fitbit has chosen the short-term notion of profits over the longer-term vision of a vibrant community of customers fiercely loyal to its brand. This is why I love Apple, and why you have Apple "fanboys." While you can argue they always want you to buy the next, newest thing (what business doesn't?), ultimately the point of Apple products is to make your life better, and simpler, by using technology. Apple gets it*. Fitbit doesn't. *Apple definitely gets the concept, but unfortunately, as of now, it doesn't get it in implementation. I just today went to the Health app and days of logging data have all vanished. Friends on Twitter are reporting the same. So I can maybe understand Fitbit's position, considering Health and HealthKit have been somewhat of a data disaster since iOS 8 debuted. Apple needs to get its house in order ASAP.
Fitbit doesn't plan to share stats with Apple's new Health app, for now (update)
After a mention on stage back at WWDC when Apple Health was first announced for iOS 8, Fitbit was absent when the feature went live. Now, the activity-tracking outfit says it doesn't "currently have plans" to opt in. "It is an interesting new platform and we will watch as it matures, looking for opportunities to improve the Fitbit experience," a moderator responding to Fitbit forum inquires explained. "At the moment, we're working on other exciting projects that we think will be valuable to users." Of course, Fitbit does have its own software. Even if it has a trackerless app in the works to leverage the iPhone's internals, it would make sense to share stats with the iOS repository. Fitbit was the top seller for activity trackers in Q1 2014 according to ABI Research, accounting for nearly 50 percent of shipments. It doesn't appear to be struggling to grow the user base, so the need to have its wares in more places isn't pressing. However, as you can see in the forum thread, those who have already invested in a tracker aren't too happy with the company's current stance.
Sound Off! What fitness apps keep you healthy?
Now that Apple has resolved issues with Healthkit, a ton of new apps are starting to support it. Fitness tracking and health monitoring are becoming huge features that device makers want to take advantage of, and even Google is getting into the game with its own initiative called Google Fit. Are you using a combination of swanky hardware and smooth looking apps to stay in shape? Head over to the Engadget forums and share your favorite health tracking apps.
Mayo Clinic rebrands app, adds HealthKit functionality to give patients more control
Mayo Clinic -- yes, the same Mayo Clinic that helped Apple create the user-friendly Health app -- has updated its own app with HealthKit functionality. The app, which was rebranded as simply "Mayo Clinic" from its previous name "Patient," has been refreshed and now offers patients and even greater amount of control over their personal health information. As before, Mayo Clinic patients can use the app to create appointments, view reports, and track changes in their health, but iOS 8's HealthKit now allows users to pass health information back and forth with Apple's Health app. As with any app that features HealthKit integration, users will be able to decide what specific information is shared between Mayo Clinic and Health. This is a big step towards an inevitable future where patients are in control of their entire health history and are able to access it at any time. The challenge, of course, is in keeping it all safe. [via VentureBeat]
Jawbone's trackerless Up app syncs with Apple Health, other fitness services (updated)
As it promised mere weeks ago, Jawbone has launched a new version of Up for iOS that syncs data from numerous health services and doesn't require its own tracker. Confusingly, the Jawbone app which does require an Up or Up24 tracker is also called 'Up' and is still available. However, the new version is more of a fitness catchall app that works with Apple's Health and over a hundred other apps (and their trackers), like RunKeeper and IFTTT. In fact, the new Up wants to manage all aspects of your health by tracking your sleep, nutrition and workouts. Once it learns your habits, the "Insight Engine" will then give you personalized health tips and other info. There are also social functions, including team tracking and the ability to boast about fitness milestones. Apple had pulled HealthKit apps a few days ago due to bugs, but after some scrambling they're now back -- you can grab Jawbone's UP for iOS here. Update: Jawbone has told us that the new Up app doesn't work with Nest after all, despite the app saying otherwise. We've updated the post to reflect that.
The first HealthKit compatible app is FitPort, available now
After the seemingly last-second decision to delay HealthKit app support -- which was originally intended to launch alongside iOS 8 -- Apple's iOS 8.0.2 update has officially opened the App Store doors for third parties looking to tap into the new personal health vault. The first such app is FitPort, a "fitness dashboard" app created by Tokyo-based Flask LLP. The app does little more than organize your stored heath data like activity, calorie intake, and body fat percentage, and present it in a more aesthetically-pleasing manner than Apple's own Health app already does. FitPort -- priced at US$1.99 -- is surely just the first in a landslide of new health apps that will be burying App Store shoppers in the coming hours and days, so try to keep your head above water. [via 9to5mac]
HealthKit apps clear to return following iOS 8 update, but major issues arise (update)
When iOS 8 arrived last week, Apple was quick to pull HealthKit-friendly apps from its App Store due to a major bug. An update for the new mobile software has arrived though, and it fixes the issue to make the fitness and wellness selections available once more. The folks in Cupertino promised a solution by the end of the month, and kept that word, delivering a new version in under a week. iOS 8.0.1 also mends third-party keyboard issues, Reachability (one-handed mode) woes, problems with apps accessing the Photo Library and a smattering of other bugs. We've nabbed the update on devices here at Engadget HQ, so if you've yet to be alerted to the download, it should be on its way shortly. However, we're seeing reports that folks (especially iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users) are having new issues with cell service and Touch ID upon installing the latest version. We've reached out to Apple for more info on these problems and we'll be sure to report back as soon as we know more, but for now, you may want to sit tight.
iOS 8.0.1 update now available (Updated -- Don't update!)
Update: There's a bug in iOS 8.0.1. After updating, many users are reporting loss of all cellular service and Touch ID. I can verify this personally. We'll be posting instructions on how to revert to iOS 8.0 soon. In the meantime, do not update! Less than a week after shipping iOS 8.0, the first update to the new mobile OS -- containing improvements and bug fixes -- is now available. According to the release notes seen above, the release fixes a known bug that kept HealthKit apps from being available on the App Store at the initial release. For users of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the update improves the reliability of the Reachability feature. That feature moves top of screen features to the bottom of the phone when the Home button is double-tapped. The update is available as an OTA (over-the-air) download that can be access from Settings > General > Software Update. As usual, information on the security content of the update will be available at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
iOS 8 bug forces Apple to pull all HealthKit apps from the App Store
iOS 8 may be trickling down into people's devices, but those long-promised health and fitness features won't be along for the ride. Apple has discovered a critical flaw in HealthKit that's so big, it's prompted the company to pull any app that connected to the service from the App Store. According to The Next Web, apps like MyFitnessPal are now racing to prepare a HealthKit-free version of its latest update which added miCoach support. In a statement, Apple says that it's "working quickly" to fix the issue, and that HealthKit apps like CARROT Fit, which is currently unavailable, will return to the store by the end of the month.
Apple releases statement on iOS 8 HealthKit issues
Apple has released a statement regarding today's issues with their new HealthKit framework, which was released today alongside iOS 8. The company began pulling apps today from the App Store that sync with the HealthKit framework, leading users to wonder what exactly is going on. Now we have an idea. The statement was emailed to Tim Bradshaw of the Financial Times. "We discovered a bug that prevents us from making HealthKit apps available on iOS 8 today. We're working quickly to have the bug fixed in a software update and have HealthKit apps available by the end of the month." We will update you with more information as it becomes available.
Health trials using Apple's HealthKit about to start at two US hospitals
Apple's HealthKit is one of the most exciting aspects of iOS 8, but when it launches, the app's focus will be mainly on fitness rather than longterm health. HealthKit still has a long way to go before its full potential is realized, but work is already underway. Reuters is reporting that Stanford University Hospital and Duke University are starting trials that use the service to help treat patients. Stanford is developing a way to let doctors use the app to track blood sugar changes in diabetic children, while Duke's program aims to develop a way to track blood pressure, weight, and other metrics for heart disease and cancer patients. Apple has been clear since announcing HealthKit that its goal is for the service to serve as a medical aid for doctors, but this is the first time that details of medical trials involving the app have been released. Reuters was able to speak Stanford's CIO to get a better understanding of what the trials will be like: Stanford Children's Chief Medical Information Officer Christopher Longhurst told Reuters that Stanford and Duke were among the furthest along. Longhurst said that in the first Stanford trial, young patients with Type 1 diabetes will be sent home with an iPod touch to monitor blood sugar levels between doctor's visits. HealthKit makes a critical link between measuring devices, including those used at home by patients, and medical information services relied on by doctors, such as Epic Systems Corp, a partner already announced by Apple. You can read Reuters' complete report here, including an examination of the privacy issues that may arise from use of the app. We'll keep you updated when more information from the trials becomes available.
Here's how doctors will test Apple's new patient tracking features
Apple briefly hinted last week that hospitals would soon try out HealthKit's patient tracking technology, and we now know how those experiments are going to work. According to Reuters, both Duke University and Stanford University are weeks away from launching trial programs that will let doctors monitor vital stats with patients' permission. In the Stanford test, young Type 1 diabetes sufferers will carry both an iPod touch and a smart glucose meter to keep tabs on their blood sugar levels. There are fewer details surrounding Duke's pilot, but it will track the blood pressure and weight of those with cancer or heart disease.
If you don't like the Apple Watch, don't buy one
Since yesterday's Apple announcement of the Apple Watch (or Watch or just Watch) I have seen a cavalcade of arguments against the device. This is to be expected. I'll grant you, Apple isn't fighting against a bunch of crappy smartphones. This isn't some huge problem to solve, it's more like a smoothing out of rough edges in one's life. In a way, the benefits of Apple Watch are nuanced. This is good. I had really high hopes that the inside the big white structure next to the Flint Center was a miniature home or living room, or any "context" for new devices and services. I think it would be important to see more about how the Watch fits into your daily life and makes it better. Of course I can see these things -- I've been using a Pebble for months now and love it. I'm also a gadget nerd. But more importantly, not having to take my phone out to check the time or glance at a notification has been lovely. I'm also the guy who has lost enough Fitbits to give up on them entirely. For me, the Watch definitely fills a need. Perhaps not as glaring a need as a device that can replace dozens of things I own already, but I see plenty of uses that justify the cost. (I do wish it were completely waterproof, however.) Some of the criticisms I've seen thus far: It's too big. Well, it's actually not that big when compared to a number of other watches, and the smaller size wasn't shown much. I might even get the smaller size for myself because I have impossibly small wrists. It doesn't solve a problem. Technically speaking, people were able to play music before the iPod. People made calls before the iPhone. And people... well I've got nothing for the iPad. Fact is, the Watch solves a number of pinch points when it comes to interacting with your iPhone, most of which occur in day-to-day use, and are probably things your brain has squished deep into your subconscious so you don't even think about them any more. After using my Pebble for a while I miss when I can't just glance at my wrist to see the time or a notification, especially when I'm wearing jeans. I don't wear watches. Fair enough, and like Peter Cohen used to do with his watch, I often remove my Pebble so as not to scratch my Mac or have it bother me while I type (which is often). Our own Dave Caolo is also a non-watch kinda guy. If you're just not into watches, I get that. Personally I'm a bit of a watch nerd myself -- nowhere near as into it as John Biggs over at TechCrunch -- but the potential for other uses beyond "hey, can you tell me the time down to within 50 milliseconds?" here is pretty enormous. I have a fitness tracker. Yeah, I did too. In fact, I had about half a dozen. All Fitbits. All either died or were lost. For that kind of money I can probably afford a mid-range Apple Watch (if we only knew the pricing beyond the base models). Also, there are very few devices on the market that look to record as much and as accurately as Apple's product claims to do. Add onto that HealthKit, which will centralize your data. This is also pretty huge because even as nerdy as I am, with the aid of 1Password for logging in, I absolutely loathe having to go to three sites to see my data. Then what? Am I to scribble it down like some caveman? No, I'd much rather be sensor-laden and have my data conveniently collected for me in one easy-to-read interface. Or on my wrist, available with a tap and a twist. It does too much and will have terrible battery life. Well, it seems it will have a day's worth of charge. Granted, that isn't "magical" but neither is chemistry. That's science and no one has yet to break the laws of physics (try as Apple might). I charge my iPhone 5 almost every night and somehow I've survived this long. But I will concede that something like a sleep monitor will be impossible if your Watch is not on your wrist. As for the "it does too much" argument, I'd say anyone who says that will be happier with a "dumb" watch or a Pebble -- because you can't have power-hungry applications and great battery at the same time. And limiting yourself to the same stuff watches have always done basically says it doesn't matter how amazing this thing is, you're not buying it. Personally I'm not buying the arguments Felix Salmon posits, because it sounds like he's gonna be a lot happier with a Timex from the 1980's. Or maybe he's one of those sad sacks Douglas Adams was referring to. It needs the iPhone to do anything. This might be valid, but it's similar to the iPad "who needs it?" argument. It's pretty simple -- like the iPhone, if you don't want one, don't buy it. It's also worth noting we don't know exactly how much you will be able to do with the Watch when your iPhone isn't nearby. But seriously, how often is that? Apple is just copying Samsung. Shut up. No, really, shut your mouth because you apparently woke from a coma in 2012 and have no idea what is going on in our modern society today. We all know damn well Samsung launched a half-baked product so the average idiot would make this claim. And they are. And it's dumb. So stop. It isn't waterproof. OK, this had me really concerned as well, but a lot of high-end watches are also not waterproof. Leather bands also don't fare well when swimming in pools. Look, if you want a watch you can use for swimming I recommend an actual sports watch or, better still, this really cool gizmo from Garmin that detects your swimming and logs it. Granted, you'll have to go to one of those fragmented data silos to see your progress, but I'm guessing if you've been training for a triathlon or something similar, you're pretty used to the sorry state of health tracking already. The no-waterproof thing is even giving me pause, especially since I love being able to see if that message I inevitably get exactly three minutes into a shower necessitates getting out of the shower to respond. It isn't fashionable or "it's ugly." Well I have to say any time you go out on a limb with a design you run that risk. The iPad was a slate. The iPhone was basically a monolith. While refinements have happened, they are relatively unchanged in that primary form (a tabula rasa). The Watch, like all watches, makes a fashion statement by default. The fact that it isn't someone's cup of tea? I get that. Could it be sleeker? Of course, but at the risk of functionality and battery. Is my Apple II still "gorgeous"? I doubt anyone would call it that today, but at the time is looked magnificent. Styles change and tech progresses. For a first effort, I think the design is utterly spectacular. Technically speaking no one needs an iPad. I remember watching the iPad reveal and it struck me that this "middle child" between Mac and iPhone didn't scream for purpose. Yes, it has a purpose, but no, it is not immediately apparent to everyone. But that doesn't mean some people want it, or might even find use for it. Federico Viticci and Harry McCracken use iPads for work extensively. It's much the same with the Apple Watch. People, having barely seen the full feature list and of course having not so much as touched the device, are very quick to judge it. It's Apple, and there's a whole industry based on saying everything the company does spells doom for investors. But then there's good old human nature, or to be more specific: desire. Maybe the best thing I read was from Kevin Roose, noting that, over time, you'll see people using the Apple Watch and you will eventually want one. You may not even need one, but boy howdy you're gonna want it. I remember many of the same arguments around the iPhone. Software keyboard? No way! No MMS? Ok, that was lame. EDGE? Yeah that too. I also remember seeing people say stuff like "I have an iPod and a GPS, I don't need this" or a million variations thereof. This has all happened before, it will all happen again. You don't have to go far to be a cynic in 2014. We still haven't even seen everything the Watch can do! For me, the bottom line is that I definitely see how the Apple Watch could make my life better. I'm currently trying to lose weight and have given up on the fitness trackers I've been using because of failure or just inadequacy. I'm hopeful, like Jeremy Olson, that the Watch will help me change my habits. I like being able to glance at my wrist for the time while out and about versus taking my watch out of my pocket. I also like being able to play music, skip songs, or see other notifications. I can do all of that with the Pebble, of course, but Apple adds a bunch of other functions to the table. Oh, that and I'm sitting here looking at my Mac SE/30, iPad 1, iPhone 1, Photo iPod and Apple II and realizing... I'm an early adopter. Here's to all of us in 2015. Update: After posting this I found an amazing review of the Apple Watch by someone who happens to be a bonafide "watch guy." He agrees with some of the tweets I saw in response to this article, namely that if you're a "watch guy" as well, you probably won't wear the Apple Watch all the time. You might buy it, and Switzerland should take note, but it's not the end of the watch industry as we know it. Finally, here's Douglas Adams talking about digital watches and faucets and, really, about user experience and the innate human need to keep making things better.
Apple Watch monitors your activity and workouts with two separate apps
Does the Apple Watch spell doom for dedicated fitness devices from Fitbit, Withings and Jawbone? Certainly, it looks as if you won't need one if you own Apple's first wearable, since the device ships with a pair of apps specifically designed to track fitness. The first is Activity, which measures the quantity of your sitting, standing and movement on a daily basis. There are three "rings" on the display, and you make each one disappear by performing the requisite amount of movement for each one. For instance, the exercise ring will disappear if you've moved at a pace above a brisk walk for more than 30 minutes in a single day. The move ring, meanwhile, will disappear when you've burned off a predetermined quantity of calories, and the standing ring disappears if you get up and stand for a single minute each hour, for 12 hours. Apple claims that Activity will learn your daily patterns, and when it senses that you're chilling out on the couch, it will give you a Jawbone-esque reminder to get up off the couch -- just like your very own personal trainer.
Jawbone Up coming to Android Wear, Apple HealthKit and Windows Phone (update: Pebble too)
Until now, Jawbone's Up bands have had the best software of any fitness tracker on the market. The problem, of course, has been that if you wanted that slick app experience, you had to buy yourself some Jawbone hardware to match -- a risky proposition when the device has some documented sudden-death issues. Not anymore, though. A company spokesperson confirmed that Jawbone will be opening up its API, allowing the software to work on Android Wear smartwatches and anything running Apple's HealthKit (translation: if and when the iWatch comes, it'll be Jawbone compatible). That means going forward, you can run Jawbone's app on your smartwatch, and enjoy the software without having to wear an Up band if you didn't want to. Additionally, Up is at last coming to Windows Phone, so if you own a WP8 handset and have been eyeing the Up24, you can finally take the plunge.
Apple will reject any wellness apps that store private health data in iCloud
Given recent events surrounding the security of cloud-storage accounts, Apple is keen to reassess any updates to iOS. The company has revealed that any Healthkit apps storing a user's private wellness data in iCloud will be flat-out rejected from the App Store. That same info, gathered by apps using the Healthkit API, is under even further restrictions when it comes to advertising and data-mining, as well. As 9to5Mac spotted, if an application uses the data for reasons other than "improving health, medical, and fitness management, or for the purpose of medical research," the app won't survive. This is just another bit of evidence from Cupertino as to why it rejects applications from the App Store. The thumb-downs go for other possibly less-nefarious aspects as well, including what happens with collected keyboard-activity data. If you're interested in poring over the updated list of terms yourself, Apple's got you covered. We recommend pouring a frosty beverage, though -- reading the full roster could take until September 9th. [Image credit: Associated Press]
Apple tells developers not to sell consumer health data
Apple's HealthKit API has the ability to hold extremely important personal health data like heart rate, exercise habits, and blood pressure, but the company is now clarifying its guidelines on what third party developers are allowed to do with that data, Guardian reports. With added language to the developer license agreement, Apple's guidelines now state that a developer "must not sell an end-user's health information collected through the HealthKit APIs to advertising platforms, data brokers, or information resellers." Developers are also banned from even accessing the information in HealthKit unless it is absolutely crucial to the functioning of the app itself. However, the policy also states that a consumer's health data can be shared with a third party if it is for "medical research purposes," and only if the user has consented to sharing the data. That's some pretty ambiguous wording, and given that this is a policy that Apple's can't directly police -- the company can't monitor what another entity does with the data it is accessing, of course -- it will be interesting to see if all developers play by the rules from the very start.
