Apple is reported to be working on an app called Healthbook, with more detail on the rumoured service from the company surfacing via a report from 9to5Mac.
The health and fitness app is supposedly going to have a wide range of functions, covering hydration, heart rate, blood pressure and, apparently, even bloodwork measurements among a slew of other items. The report claims to have received information and images related to the project from sources “…working directly on the initiative’s development” and what has been presented seem pretty convincing.
According to 9to5Mac, Apple is working on tracking hydration, something that other reports have claimed won’t be happening. They’ve also mentioned that bloodwork will be a part of the app, with only speculation as to what this particular tab in the Healthbook will entail. It could keep track of various metrics but there’s no indication that the app will want actual blood in order to keep track of how your kidneys and liver are doing. They might, however, facilitate uploading blood test results to the app so that progress can be tracked that way.
Also related to blood, the Healthbook app is supposed to be able to track oxygen saturation and blood pressure, perhaps with the assistance of new fitness tracking headphones, and blood sugar levels.
Whatever Apple is up to, if the sources are on the ball then their medical aims for the Healthbook app are really ambitious. Nothing official has been announced but we’re in two mind about whether Apple rolling out an iOS device able to process blood samples would be a bad thing. Part of us wants to shy away and the other part is wondering how something like that would actually work.
Image: 9to5Mac