As part of WWDC 2021, Apple has shown what new advanced health and wellness information users will have access to, as well as new tools to help loved ones take care of themselves.
Building on the health features already available on the iPhone and Apple Watch, iOS 15 allows users to securely share their data with people they trust, such as family members and medical professionals, and learn about their health trends.
In addition, thanks to the new tools in iOS 15, they will be able to identify, measure and understand changes in a person's health data.
Shared health data
With iOS 15, users can choose a person they trust to access their health and wellness data securely. Thus, they can have more informed conversations and allow for alerts and important changes to be tracked over time for help, even from a distance.
The Health app includes a new tab that allows users to share their data privately with a person or caregiver they trust.
Users have full control over the data they share and with whom, whether it is an elderly person sharing their business and heart health data with their children, a woman sharing fertile window data, or a person with Parkinson who wants to share his mobility data with his physiotherapist.
The person receiving this shared information will be able to see the most important information and highlighted trends.
Being able to talk to a doctor about daily activities during an appointment is important in managing your health, but it's not always easy to remember all the details.
With the user's permission, the Health app collects all that valuable information to know everything that happens to a person between visits.
Now, the users in the United States they can choose to share certain types of health data - heart rate, detected falls, hours of sleep or minutes of physical activity - with their doctor to make the consultations more useful and useful.
In participating health centers, medical staff will be able to review data from the Apple Health app that users choose to share directly with the digital health record system.
trends
The Health app adds trend analysis of 20 different types of data - from resting heart rate to sleep to aerobic fitness - so users can easily see the evolution of a specific parameter.
Changes in health, which are sometimes subtle and difficult to detect, provide a lot of information for maintaining good personal health.
For users who want to track their data over time, Trends is a smart and proactive new way to highlight important changes, presenting information in an easy-to-understand way.
Users can also closely monitor their goals, such as running for a greater distance or meditating for a longer time. For those who want to measure specific information, such as insulin levels, trend analysis is applied to data from third-party devices connected to the Health app.
With optional notifications, Trends can report long-term changes in health status, so you can celebrate a goal or talk to your doctor or caregiver if there's any cause for concern.
Stability when walking
More than 37 million people require medical attention every year due to a fall that often leads to more serious injuries or loss of autonomy. 1
The iPhone's Walking Steadiness feature is a pioneering technology that records important mobility data as users walk with their iPhone to provide fall risk information.
Currently, medical service providers assess the risk of falls through a questionnaire and face-to-face assessment. Walking Steadiness offers the additional ability to log daily movements and view ratings in the Health app (normal, low or very low balance) so that users can take steps to reduce the risk of falling.
Walking Steadiness uses custom algorithms to assess balance, stability and coordination through the iPhone's built-in motion sensors.
To establish this unique parameter in the market, we used real data from the "Apple Heart and Movement Study", with more than 100.000 participants of all ages, the largest dataset ever used to study the risk of falling.
In addition to warning them of a potential fall risk, Walking Steadiness helps users reach their stability goals. Users can choose to be notified when their score is low or very low and view selected visual exercises based on clinically validated methods for building strength and balance.
Privacy
Privacy is critical to the design and development of Apple's healthcare features. The user checks health data at all times and chooses which types of data to share and with whom.
Data is encrypted both during transfer and at rest on the user's device locked with a password, Face ID or Touch ID. Additionally, Apple does not have access to this information when a user decides to share it with a loved one or doctor.
More updates on health and wellness
- With medical records on the iPhone, users can enjoy an experience improved while reviewing laboratory test results. They will be able to see the highlighted information, mark the results they think are most important to them, see if there is a nearby lab, and for those living in the United States, access informative content on the most common lab tests.
- Con watchOS 8, Apple Watch now it can measure breathing rate - the number of breaths per minute - while you sleep. Users can review all of this information in the Health app and receive notifications when a relevant trend is identified.
- The new Mindfulness app in watchOS 8 includes an update to deep breathing sessions, as well as another easy way to stop and focus. Breathing sessions, in addition to introducing new animations, offer users more opportunities to slow down and focus. Users also have access to introductory reflection sessions, a new way of being more aware that helps direct attention to positive thoughts.
- In iOS 15, users around the world will have an additional option to archive immunization records and laboratory test results directly in the Health app. Now, even if a vaccine provider or medical center is not compatible with the Medical Records feature, it can allow patients to download the COVID-19 vaccination certificate or infection test results from a web browser or QR code, in so that they can easily access it at any time.
Availability
The developer preview of iOS 15 is now available for Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com, and a public beta for iOS users will be released next month at beta.apple.com
The new software features will be available this fall as a free download for iPhone 6s and later users.
Walking Steadiness will be available this fall as a free download for users of iPhone 8 and later.
Benefits are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions, languages or devices.
Learn more at apple.com/es/ios/health.
The new Mindfulness app and sleep rate measurement feature will be available this fall on watchOS 8 as a free download for users of Apple Watch Series 3 or later paired with an iPhone 6s or later running iOS 15.
1. World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/falls.
