Apple to launch AI-driven health coaching service, report says

Cupertino-based company will use artificial intelligence to process user data collected from smartwatches to offer customised coaching plans

Apple launched a dedicated app in 2014 to help users organise their health information. Bloomberg

Apple is expanding its push into health and wellness as the company aims to introduce an artificial intelligence-driven coaching service as well as new technology for tracking emotions, a report has shown.

Code-named Quartz, the new coaching service is intended to motivate users to stay healthy, improve their eating patterns and sleep better, Bloomberg reported.

The company will use different AI technologies to process user data collected from Apple smartwatches to offer customised coaching plans based on different lifestyles.

Apple aims to launch the service next year but plans could be “cancelled or postponed”.

The project is being driven by different Apple groups, including its services division, health, Siri and AI teams, Bloomberg reported.

Apple did not respond immediately to a request from The National for comment.

Apple launched a dedicated app in September 2014 to help users organise and gain access to their health information in a central and secure place.

Over the past few years, Apple has tried to make health-tracking features an integral part of its devices, especially smartwatches.

Launched in September, Apple Watch series 8 retained the mainstay health metric measurements, including the third-generation optical heart sensor, a blood oxygen sensor and an electric heart sensor.

It also came with integrated fertility features allowing users to track ovulation. The device has a new sensor that can track a woman’s body temperature at night — one of the most reliable ways to predict ovulation — by taking and storing a digital reading every five seconds.

In September 2020, the company also collaborated with the government of Singapore on the health initiative LumiHealth.

It included weekly activity goals that could be met through walking, swimming, yoga and other activities. The LumiHealth app also reminded users to go for health screenings and participate in wellness challenges that aim to improve sleep habits and encourage better food choices.

“One difference is that the Singapore-based programme could pay out monetary awards to users who stayed healthy, while Apple’s new in-house service will carry a monthly fee — like many of its other digital offerings,” Bloomberg reported.

The tools for tracking emotion will be added to the health app this year, it added.

The Cupertino-based company is also expected to roll out an iPad version of its famous iPhone health app for the first time. It is expected to be launched at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.