Apple has announced new health features in iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10. These new features are divided into two areas and offer innovative tools and experiences across all platforms. The new mental health features allow users to easily log their momentary emotions and daily moods, get valuable insights, and access assessments and resources. iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch now offer new vision health features that encourage healthy behaviors and help reduce the risk of myopia. Additionally, the Health app is now available on iPad, giving users new ways to see their health data. All of these new features, along with the existing health features, are developed through scientific research and prioritize user privacy.
Sumbul Desai, M.D., Apple’s vice president of Health, said:
“Our goal is to empower people to take charge of their own health journey. With these innovative new features, we’re expanding the comprehensive range of health and wellness tools that we offer our users across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Mental health and vision health are important, but often overlooked, and we’re excited to introduce features that offer valuable new insights to provide users with an even better understanding of their health. These insights help support users in their daily decisions and offer more informed conversations with their doctors.”
Importance of Mental Health
Research has shown that reflecting on one’s own mental state can help build emotional awareness and resilience. According to Dr. Michelle Craske, a distinguished professor of psychology and psychiatry at UCLA, identifying our feelings can help us manage difficult emotions, appreciate positive moments, and improve overall wellbeing. Studies have shown that identifying feelings reduces emotions such as sadness and anger, and positively impacts our body by slowing our heart rate. In a survey of participants in the UCLA Digital Mental Health Study, initial results showed that over 80% of participants found reflecting on their mood in the study app increased emotional awareness, and about half said it increased wellbeing.
The Health app in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, as well as the Mindfulness app in watchOS 10, allow users to reflect on their state of mind in an engaging and intuitive way. Users can scroll through multidimensional shapes and choose how they feel on a scale from Very Pleasant to Very Unpleasant. Next, they can identify associations that are affecting their feelings the most, such as Travel or Family, and describe their feelings, such as Grateful or Worried.
In the Health app, users can access valuable insights to identify what might be contributing to their state of mind. This includes associations or lifestyle factors such as sleep or exercise. By using these insights, users can better manage their overall health.
Sometimes, users may require additional support. According to a recent survey, over 30 percent of U.S. adults have experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression.1 The depression and anxiety assessments that are typically used in clinics are now easily accessible in the Health app and can be taken anytime. These assessments can help users determine their risk level, connect to resources available in their region, and create a PDF to share with their doctor.
Vision Health
Myopia, or nearsightedness, is the most common cause of vision problems worldwide. Currently, this condition affects more than 30% of the population and is expected to increase to 50%, or 5 billion people, by 2050.
Eye care professionals recommend some key habits for children to help minimize the risk of myopia. Two of these behaviors are spending more time outdoors during the day and increasing the distance at which they view something, such as a device or a book.
With the Health app, users can monitor the amount of time spent in daylight, which has been linked to a lower risk of myopia in children. In addition, time spent in daylight can have other positive effects on both physical and mental health.
According to the International Myopia Institute, children should spend at least 80-120 minutes per day outdoors. With watchOS 10, Apple Watch now has the ability to detect the time spent in daylight using the ambient light sensor. Users can view this information in the Health app on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. Even children who don’t have their own iPhone can use Family Setup to pair their Apple Watch to their parent’s iPhone, allowing parents to keep track of the amount of time their kids are spending outdoors. Time spent in daylight can benefit physical and mental health, making this feature available to all watchOS 10 users.
Viewing something like a device or a book at too close of a distance is also a well-documented myopia risk factor. The new Screen Distance feature uses the same TrueDepth camera that powers Face ID on iPhone and iPad to encourage users to move their device farther away after holding it closer than 12 inches for an extended period of time. Screen Distance can remind younger users to engage in healthy viewing habits that can lower their risk of myopia, and it gives adult users the opportunity to reduce digital eyestrain.
Health App Now Available on iPad
The Health app is a secure and private place for users to store their health and fitness information. With the release of iPadOS 17, the Health app is now available on iPad, providing users with a clear overview of their health data from iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch, as well as compatible third-party apps and devices.
Users can use the Health app on iPad to track and manage their medications, monitor their menstrual cycle with Cycle Tracking, log their emotions and daily moods, view their health records from multiple institutions, and more. They can also choose to share their health data with loved ones or caregivers using Health Sharing. The Health app on iPad is optimized to take advantage of the large display, with a new look for Favorites and detailed interactive charts. Users can also receive insights into their health data with Trends and Highlights and multitask with other apps using iPadOS features like Split View.
Additional Updates
- With iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10, the Medications feature gives users the option to receive follow-up reminders if they haven’t logged taking a scheduled medication. Users can also make reminders as critical alerts, which allows them to come through even if a device is muted or has Focus enabled.
- The new Journal app on iOS 17 gives users a way to reflect and practice gratitude through writing about and remembering life’s moments. It leverages the new Journaling Suggestions API to offer a personalized set of moments to write about, using on-device machine learning. Suggested moments are intelligently curated from a user’s recent activity, including photos, people, places, workouts, and more, making it easy to get started.5
- Apple Fitness+ introduces Custom Plans, a new way to receive a custom workout or meditation schedule based on day, duration, workout type, and more; Stacks, which allows users to select multiple workouts and meditations to do seamlessly back to back; and Audio Focus, which gives users the ability to prioritize the volume of the music or the trainers’ voices.
The developer beta of iOS 17 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta will be available next month at beta.apple.com. New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone XS and later. For more information, visit apple.com/ios/ios-17-preview. Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages.
The developer beta of iPadOS 17 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta will be available to iPadOS users next month at beta.apple.com. New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPad (6th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation and later), 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation and later). For more information, visit apple.com/ipados/ipados-17-preview. Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages.
The developer beta of watchOS 10 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today. A public beta will be available to watchOS users next month at beta.apple.com. watchOS 10 will be available this fall as a free software update for Apple Watch Series 4 or later paired with iPhone XS or later, running iOS 17. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages, or on all devices. Features are subject to change. For more information, visit apple.com/watchos/watchos-preview.
