Why Apple Needed to Reboot Its Health App

Alongside the new iPhone Duo foldable, Apple AAPL 1.75%increase; up pointing triangle recently announced Apple Watches with more accurate sensors and a major, AI-infused overhaul of its Health app.

After Apple’s event, I went back to Cupertino, Calif., to sit down with the company’s vice president of health, Dr. Sumbul Desai. We discussed the app’s redesign coming later this year and the company’s shift toward more active health-and-fitness coaching.

You will be able to perform a few moves in front of an iPhone’s camera for a quick cardiovascular, strength or balance assessment. A new tab called Health Age shows how a user is tracking relative to their actual age based on trackable habits. Chronic bad sleep and low activity, for example, might add a few years. And a coming Apple Watch Series 12 feature called Readiness can tell you to “Pace yourself” or “Go for it” depending on your training history and recovery metrics.

Can all of this lead to a healthier life? I’ll be testing to see if the watch can finally tell me what to do with the numbers it has been collecting all along.