- Apple Fitness+ service apparently “under review” by Apple
- The company could merge the subscription with the Apple Health application
- Apple’s standalone AI health coach has also reportedly been abandoned
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 one source, and its future is largely undecided at the moment. Various options could be considered, with major changes potentially on the way, but nothing is certain yet.
The report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, whose latest Power On newsletter states that “there’s no telling what will end up happening” with Apple Fitness+. That makes it seem like a wide range of options could happen to the app, and Gurman doesn’t offer any solid information about what’s most likely.
However, the journalist wrote that “if I had to guess, Apple will eventually merge its Health app with Fitness+ in some way, perhaps offering it as a bundled subscription.” This is apparently motivated by “tougher” competition in this space, including OpenAI’s new ChatGPT health service.
That could mean big changes to the way you use Fitness+. It is currently located within the Fitness app and is distinguished from Apple Health (although fitness and training data can be viewed in the Health app). If Gurman’s claim is correct, Apple could stop maintaining separate apps and instead put them under one roof.
Simplified or inflated?
This may not be the only major change coming to Apple’s health and fitness efforts. In addition to potentially merging Fitness+ and Health, Apple reportedly decided to abandon its long-term plan to introduce an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered health coach that would examine your fitness metrics and offer personalized advice and tips.
Instead, Gurman believes Apple will take the planned AI health coach features and combine them “into the Health app over time.” Gurman added that “capabilities, including one that can analyze a user’s gait with an iPhone camera, will begin to appear later this year.”
Both changes — the merger of Fitness+ and Health, and the decision to get rid of a standalone AI health advisor and add its features to the Health app — could be seen as a way to simplify Apple’s fitness apps. Instead of offering multiple services that run on several different apps, Apple appears to put them all under the auspices of the Health app. That could make them much easier to use and understand.
At the same time, it risks making Apple Health bloated and unwieldy. The app already manages everything from workouts and cycle tracking to mental wellness and sleep data, and adding more could inflate it far beyond its current proportions.
And there’s an additional unanswered question: How much will all this cost? If Apple wants to combine Fitness+ and an AI wellness coach in the Health app, that could result in an expensive subscription package. And with everything in one place, you’d run the risk of shelling out for features you don’t need instead of simply paying for the service you want.
Still, even if the well-connected Gurman is unsure of the direction Apple will take, there is still plenty of room for the company 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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