Apple today previewed advanced consumer health and wellness insights for users, as well as new tools for supporting loved ones.
Building on the current innovative health features of iPhone and Apple Watch, iOS 15 gives users the ability to securely share their data with important people in their life, like a family member or physician, and receive insights into the health trends of their loved ones. Additionally, new tools in iOS 15 can be used to identify, measure, and understand changes in a person’s health data.
This past year has emphasized the importance of health, and we’re enabling our users to take a more active role in their well-being. We’ve added powerful features that give users the most comprehensive set of insights to better understand their health trends over time, said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. Many people around the world are caring for someone, and we want to provide a secure and private way for users to have a trusted partner on their health journey. We’re excited to bring these innovative tools directly into users’ hands.
Health Sharing
With iOS 15, users can choose to securely give a loved one visibility into their health and wellness data, enabling them to have more meaningful conversations and provide support — even from afar — as they follow important alerts and changes over time.
Trends
The Health app adds trend analysis for 20 types of data — ranging from resting heart rate to sleep to cardio fitness — so users can easily see how a given metric is progressing. A critical part of maintaining personal wellness is tracking changes in health, which can be subtle and easy to miss. For users looking to keep an eye on their data over time, Trends is a new way to intelligently and proactively highlight important changes, and surfaces the information in a way that’s easy to understand.
Walking Steadiness
More than 37 million people each year require medical attention as a result of a fall, which can often be a tipping point for more serious conditions and a loss of independence. Walking Steadiness on iPhone is an industry first, providing insight into fall risk by capturing important mobility data as users walk with their iPhone. Currently, fall risk is assessed by a care provider through a questionnaire and an in-person evaluation. Walking Steadiness offers the added ability to capture everyday movements and surface classifications within the Health app as OK, Low, or Very Low, allowing users to proactively take action to help reduce their risk of falling.
Privacy
Privacy is fundamental in the design and development across all of Apple’s health features. Health data is under a user’s control, with granular control over which data types they choose to share and with whom. Data is encrypted when in transit and while at rest on a user’s device when locked behind a passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID. Apple does not have access to this information when a user chooses to share it with a loved one or doctor.
