- Apple Fitness+ service is apparently ‘under review’ by Apple
- The company could merge the subscription with the Apple Health app
- Apple’s standalone AI health coach also reportedly scrapped
If you’re a fan of the Apple Fitness+ workout subscription service, we may have some bad news: the entire product is “under review,” according to a source, with its future largely undecided at the moment. Several options could be considered, with potentially major changes to come – but nothing is certain yet.
The report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, whose latest Power On newsletter claims that “it’s unclear what will ultimately happen” with Apple Fitness+. This makes it seem like a wide range of options could be available to the app, and Gurman offers no solid information on what is most likely.
However, the journalist wrote: “If I had to guess, Apple will eventually merge its Health app with Fitness+ in some way – perhaps offering it as a combined subscription.” » This is apparently driven by “tougher” competition in this space, notably from OpenAI’s new ChatGPT healthcare service.
This could mean big changes to how you use Fitness+. Currently, it’s in the Fitness app and separate from Apple Health (although fitness and workout data can be viewed in the Health app). If Gurman’s assertion is correct, Apple could abandon managing separate apps and bring them under one roof.
Simplified or inflated?
This may not be the only major change coming to Apple’s health and fitness efforts. Along with the potential merger of Fitness+ and Health, Apple has reportedly decided to abandon its long-term plan to introduce an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered health coach that would look at your fitness metrics and offer personalized advice and suggestions.
Instead, Gurman believes Apple will take the planned features of the AI health coach and combine them “into the Health app over time.” Gurman added that “capabilities, including the ability to analyze a user’s gait with an iPhone camera, should begin to appear later this year.”
Both changes – the merger of Fitness+ and Health, and the decision to abandon a separate AI health advisor and add its functionality to the Health app – could be seen as a way to simplify Apple’s fitness apps. Instead of offering multiple services that run across multiple different apps, Apple appears to be lumping them all together under the Health app umbrella. This could make them much easier to use and understand.
At the same time, it risks making Apple Health large and cumbersome. The app already handles everything from workouts and cycle tracking to mental wellness and sleep data, and adding more could inflate it well beyond its existing proportions.
And there’s another unanswered question: How much will it all cost? If Apple wants to integrate Fitness+ and an AI wellness coach into the Health app, it could result in an expensive subscription. And with everything in one place, you might end up shelling out for features you don’t need rather than just paying for the service you want.
Yet even though the well-connected Gurman isn’t sure where Apple is headed, the company still has plenty of room to change course or refine its decisions. Ultimately, we’ll find out what Apple’s plans are later this year, if Gurman’s timeline is to be believed.
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