Seven Things That Surprised Me About Apple’s New Health App.

Apple is updating its Health app, which, as I’ve written before, is a huge achievement. Most wearables come with dashboards that help you analyze your data and offer advice on what to do with it, but Apple hasn’t provided anything similar for the Apple Watch or for the data it collects from other devices or apps you might use. The Health app has always contained a wealth of useful information and well-hidden tools , so it’s nice that the app is finally getting an improved interface that makes it more user-friendly. I installed the beta version, and here’s what I learned.

Apple’s Health app is not included in iOS 27 or the new Apple Watch.

I was using the iOS 27 public beta and didn’t have the new Health app. Then iOS 27 was officially released, I updated, and I still didn’t have the new Health app. This was disappointing—it turned out the update would be coming “later this year.”

Luckily, I was able to get it. It’s in the iOS 27.2 developer beta. To access it, you need to sign up as a developer , which is free. (There’s a higher developer membership tier that costs $99, but signing up for free is enough to download developer betas.) Once signed up, go to Settings on your phone, then General , Software Updates , and then tap Beta Updates to access the public and developer beta options.

Your step count is displayed at the top of the Health app screen.

Apple announced that the Series 12 and Ultra 4 watches will feature step counting on watch face accents and in the Smart Stack. Unfortunately, watchOS 27 doesn’t add step counting to older Apple Watch models. However, the Health app has small “Insights” cards at the top of the home screen, and I can see my daily step count directly in the “Fitness” card.

You can view your Fitness Rings in the Health app.

The “Closing Rings” feature is a unique feature of the Apple Watch: by completing enough activities throughout the day, you’ll complete each of three counters represented by rings. Until now, these rings were only visible on the watch or in the Fitness app. But in the new Health app, there’s a card at the top of the screen displaying your rings (the same card used for step counting). Tapping it reveals your rings and their status.

The Fitness app is still available and appears to provide the same information as always, so it appears rings will be available in both apps. However, I wonder if Apple plans to retire the Fitness app in the future, as this data will be available directly in the Health app.

To get a full “durability” report, you’ll need to provide Apple with a lot of new data.

After installing the new beta, I checked the Longevity tab to see how the program thought my long-term health was doing—and discovered that only four petals of the longevity graph were active. It’s not entirely clear what data is needed to fill each one. You can click on each petal to see a list of factors for that area, some of which have a “classification” such as “good” or “excellent.” However, filling out all the fields isn’t necessary. For example, my heart health is classified as “excellent,” even though I don’t have recent data on my blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol, or glucose levels. I do have data on my resting heart rate and cardio fitness, and that seems sufficient. Here’s a list of areas on the longevity graph and the data I added to see the results.

• Mental Wellbeing : Uses screening questionnaires to identify anxiety and depression.

• Nutrition : A nutritional assessment questionnaire is used. You can also track your food intake.

• Daily physical activity : using stairs and standing for long periods of time.

• Heart Health : This uses your cardio fitness and resting heart rate, along with other available factors as I mentioned above.

• Metabolic Health : Body composition is used, which includes waist and hip circumference measurements. Height and weight alone do not add to this information, but measurements are necessary. This section suggests adding test results, but they are not required for this area to be displayed on the graph.

• Sleep : Uses sleep data from your Apple Watch or other wearables. There’s also a sleep assessment questionnaire that asks how rested you typically are. I didn’t need this to display the sleep icon on the graph, but that may be because I already had sleep data.

• Hearing Health : Uses environmental sound exposure (measured by Apple Watch) and headphone sound exposure.

I don’t like that Apple asks for so much data, and I especially don’t like that they don’t specify the minimum amount of data required to complete the chart. People will want the full chart, and for a moment I thought I’d have to upload my medical test results. While I didn’t end up needing those tests, I felt a little awkward forcing myself to measure my body just to please a phone.

There are so many assessment tests in the Health app!

As a regular user of health features (and occasional Apple Watch user), I see a message on my phone screen informing me that I’ve only completed three of 16 tests—including depression and anxiety tests I took several years ago. The information about the missed tests appears directly below the half-filled graph displaying my life expectancy. I feel like I’m being graded and given homework.

The body composition assessment includes waist and hip measurements. The anxiety assessment asks how many days in the past two weeks you experienced certain feelings (for example, unable to relax or feeling like your worries were out of control). The nutrition assessment asks how often you eat different types of food, such as vegetables or red meat.

Luckily, you don’t have to take every test to fill out the “Longevity” tab. I took three tests to fill out the three missing sections: a nutrition questionnaire, a body composition assessment that included measurements, and an updated anxiety test. I could have taken many more if I wanted. It’s like when the receptionist hands you a clipboard full of papers at the doctor’s office, only there are endless clipboards, and the doctor never calls you.

The age corresponding to the state of health is recalculated every Monday.

I had to go through the “Getting Started” screen to activate my “Health Age,” but after that, it was instantly available. The screen indicated that my Health Age would be recalculated every Monday. Currently, I’m about five years younger than my actual age.

To be completely clear, all apps that show your “healthy age” are complete nonsense. Regular exercise, good sleep, or maintaining the weight the app recommends have nothing to do with your age. We simply attach a certain cultural value to youth, which means being young is a good thing. So apps subtract years from your age as a kind of reward for healthy habits.

As much as I find the “age” and “longevity”-based approach annoying, I have to admit I like how the app uses this data: if you scroll down on the “Healthy Age” screen, you’ll get recommendations on how to improve your “healthy age”—which essentially means how to focus on healthier habits.

To find your Health Age, go to the Longevity tab and then find “Health Age” at the top of the screen. (It looks like one of the Analytics cards on the main screen, but you won’t find it there.)

The “My Health: Age” screen indicates that the only thing that “increases” my “healthy age” (meaning, negatively impacts it) is the quality of my sleep, and I “would benefit from more restorative rest to support healthy aging.” The things that decrease my “healthy age” (meaning, positively impact it) are my cardio fitness, exercise minutes, heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate, and step count. Each of these metrics has a numerical value, and presumably I should work on each more—for example, walking more steps each day—to improve my score. I’m offered the option to add or order glucose (essentially, glycated hemoglobin A1c) and LDL cholesterol tests, which may impact my “healthy age,” but there’s no data yet.

The program includes four, rather than one, camera-based fitness assessments.

After wandering around the endless stream of notepads in the waiting room for a bit, I decided to get up and do something more enjoyable: a fitness test. I’d already tested camera-based fitness tests when I tried three flexibility assessment apps to see how each would measure my results.

Unfortunately, the fitness tests in the beta aren’t ready for testing yet. Every time I tried them, I’d lean my phone against the wall, step back, and a video would start with instructions on what to do. As soon as I started the task, the app would crash. That’s what happens when you’re testing a developer beta, so I’m looking forward to trying this again in a more stable version of the app in the future.

However, I noticed this: there are actually four camera-based tests, not just the one VO2 max test hinted at in Apple’s presentation. Some of them have options or modifications, and you can skip components you can’t complete. Here are the available tests and what they include:

• Flexibility (5 minutes): Arm raises, elbow bends, calf stretches, hamstring stretches, hip and knee bends.

• Balance (5 minutes): One-leg stand

• VO2max (5 minutes): Step test (on the floor, steps in time with an accelerating rhythm)

• Strength training (5 minutes): push-ups (on or off your knees, your choice before the test), overhead squats, and multiple sit-to-stand exercises. If you choose push-ups on your knees, you’ll also need to perform a forearm plank.

For the VO2 max test, you’ll need a device that measures your heart rate (like an Apple Watch). For the strength test, you’ll need a chair to perform the sit-to-stand test. I’m reserving judgment on these tests until I can perform them myself. They seem to be designed for people of all fitness levels, especially older adults who may not be very strong or active. I’m not sure I’d do the sit-to-stand test for myself, but it might be useful for someone my parents’ age.

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