What’s New in iOS 8: Health Application

Among the great changes that Apple announced in iOS 8 from a new design, new features, there is also a new health application that gives you an easy-to-read dashboard of your health and fitness data. There are four tabs in the Health app: ‘Dashboard’, ‘My Health’, ‘Medical ID’, and ‘Sources’.

Dashboard offers a quick view of the various health metrics you are tracking in a scrollable widget view. To add a metric you tap the My Health tab and select a category.

Health app contain many categories and the metrics you can track:

● Diagnostics: Number of Times Fallen, Galvanic Skin Response, Body Heat Flux
● Fitness: Body Mass Index, Body Fat Percentage, Height, Body Mass, Lean Body Mass, Distance, Calories, Activity Count, Flights Climbed, Steps, Basal Calories, NikeFuel
● Lab Results: Blood Glucose, Blood Alcohol Content, Perfusion Index
● Medication: Inhaler Usage
● Nutrition: Total Fat, Polyunsaturated Fat, Monounsaturated Fat, Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Carbohydrates, Fiber, Sugar, Calories, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Calcium, Iron, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate, Biotin, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus, Iodine, Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium, Copper, Manganese, Chromium, Molybdenum, Chloride, Potassium
● Sleep: Sleep Analysis
● Vital Signs: Heart Rate, Oxygen Saturation, Blood Pressure, Respiratory Rate, Body Temperature, RR Interval

Tapping on a metric from your Dashboard lets you view recorded data points, add data points, share data with select applications, and choose whether or not to display the widget on the dashboard.

The best thing I liked the most in the iOS 8 health app is the ability to make a “Medical ID” for yourself where you can add important medical info like: Blood Group, allergies & reactions, medications, emergency contact, birthdate, blood type, organ donor status, weight, height, and eye color.

With iOS 8, developers will be able to create apps that can access the health data in Health, if you make it shareable. For example, you can allow the data from your blood pressure app to be automatically shared with your doctor. Or allow your nutrition app to tell your fitness apps how many calories you consume each day. Tapping the ‘Sources’ tab lets you see which apps have requested permission to update your data; as well as which devices you’ve allowed data from.