Apple is working on a new health and fitness coaching service that’s partially powered by AI, according to a new report.
The story is from the in-the-know Apple reporter Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who says the new app would use data from the Apple Watch to inform tailored coaching plans.
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Currently, the plan is to charge for the service, as Apple does with Fitness+, Apple Music and others. On the surface, it sounds more fitting as part of the Fitness+ service, but according to the report it’ll be a separate entity.
According to the sources the app is codenamed Quartz and there are a number of teams working on it at Apple and it might launch next year. However, as always in these situations, there’s no guarantee it’ll launch at all.
The report says: “The new coaching service — codenamed Quartz — is designed to keep users motivated to exercise, improve eating habits and help them sleep better, according to people with knowledge of the project. The idea is to use AI and data from an Apple Watch to make suggestions and create coaching programs tailored to specific users.”
Elsewhere, Apple plans on revamping the existing Health app to incorporate mood logging. Gurman’s sources say the app will enable users to input their current mood and answer questions. That could enable the user to track their progress over time.
The report says, as has been previously mooted, Apple may want to help log users mood by assessing their speech and text inputs. Way back in 2016 Apple purchased a start-up called Emotient, which specialised in picking up emotions in people’s faces.
The new Health app may also assist with managing conditions like nearsightedness according to the report. Meanwhile, the iPad will finally get its own Health app in iOS 17, according to the report.
