Apple wants to be the halfway house between you and your doctor – and probably one day become your doctor entirely. The problem is that a lot of the data it’s throwing at us right now, via HealthKit and the Apple Watch, is heavy on numbers and light on meaningful information.
But according to a new report the company is working on features for the Watch that would turn it into a more effective health device.
Bloomberg claims that Apple is working on new fitness and sleep tracking apps for the wearable, which will use the heart rate sensor to provide more in-depth information to the wearer. Currently there’s no sleep app at all, but there are some third party options available.
According to the report, the fitness app will gauge levels by “measuring the time taken for the heart rate to fall from its peak to resting level”, meaning it would better interpret the data it captures with the existing HR monitor.
Read next: Apple Watch Series 2 review
But it’s beyond the apps themselves where things get really interesting. Bloomberg says Apple’s goal is to make HealthKit a tool “that improves diagnosis”. Essentially it wants to take all of the captured data and put it into context, meaning it could be delivered to doctors in a more meaningful way.
Your doctor would be able to track your health and progress more easily, not having to sift through a bunch of raw data.
It’s the next logical play for the Apple Watch, which is already focusing largely on health and fitness in Series 2. Before the launch of the first Watch, rumours were abound that the device would be packed to the brim with biometric sensors, but the final product didn’t quite live up to those expectations.
That said, it sounds like these new improvements could be made with existing hardware, meaning it might not be too long before we see Apple rolling them out.
SOURCE:http://www.wareable.com/apple/apple-watch-health-improvements-sleep-app-3285
