What's New in iOS 8: Health

Apple has announced Health, a new app for iOS 8 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.


Here are the available 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.




You can also create an emergency card with important health information — for example, your blood type or allergies — that’s available right from your Lock screen. Tapping 'Create Medical ID' from the Medical ID tab lets you enter your name, medical conditions, medical notes, 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.

Apple teamed up with the Mayo Clinic to demonstrate how this works. With their integration, when a patient takes a blood pressure reading for example, their app can check if the reading is within their personalized thresholds and automatically notify a doctor if it's not.




WHAT'S NEW IN IOS 8:
There's a lot of changes in iOS 8. Here's a few of the changes we've posted on already: iCloud Drive,
Family Sharing, Photos, Camera, Mail, Safari, Messages, QuickType, Third-Party Keyboards, Interactive Notifications, and Contact Shortcuts.

We'll be taking a look at even more new features shortly. You can follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for more.