Apple is reportedly scaling back its much-anticipated “Health+” AI health service and Google isn’t wasting any time in stepping into the void, as it is bringing its Fitbit AI personal health coach service, previously limited to Android users, to the iOS platform.
The coach, which is powered by Google’s Gemini AI assistant, is described as a “personalized fitness trainer, sleep expert, and health & wellness advisor, using your data to create custom workout plans, analyze your sleep patterns, and answer your health questions.”
After a short conversation with the app’s AI coach, the app then offers daily information, providing personal health insights in the morning when waking, after workouts, and before going to bed each night.
The app tracks the user’s body temperature, blood oxygen, and heart rate. A chatbot is available for health-related questions. The app generates a personalized workout plan, tracks core fitness metrics, analyzes sleep patterns, and provides proposals to improve sleep.
While Apple had reportedly been working on a similar health coach feature for its “Health+” service that it had planned to launch alongside iOS 27 this year, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says his sources tell him Apple is scaling back on those plans.
Apple has aimed to use an AI agent to create an “AI doctor” for Apple users. While it may sound as if the company pulled back on its plans for a “Health+” service because it couldn’t do what needs to be done to make the service successful, it sounds as if the reason for pulling in the reins is due to a desire to do more with the concept.
Gurman says Apple services head Eddy Cue is pushing for Apple to “move faster and be more competitive in health,” and believes that the proposed service would simply not offer enough compelling features, or have the necessary flexibility to compete with rival solutions like Google’s.
Apple could still use some of the components of the service, repurposing them as individual features, possibly unveiling them this year, “individually over time within its Health app.”
This would both allow Apple to be more agile in rolling out such features – thanks to not being required to wait for other features to be ready – and allow Apple to avoid the regulatory scrutiny that rolling out a full-featured “AI doctor” would involve.
To gain access to the Fitbit AI personal health coach service Public Preview, you must have a Fitbit Premium subscription and meet other eligibility criteria. If you’re eligible, you can sign up through the Today screen or Account Settings in the Fitbit iOS app.
The preview is available in the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore for both iOS and Android devices.
You’ll also need a Fitbit health device, such as the Inspire 3, Versa 4, Charge 6, and Sense 2. Google’s Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Watch 4 are also compatible. Fitbit Premium is priced starting at $9.99 per month.
