While we’ve been hearing a lot about the iPhone 6, rumours of iOS 8 have been few. iOS 8 is expected to debut with the iPhone 6 and word is Apple is betting big on health and fitness tracking features, and will be including a dedicated app for the same, called Healthbook.
Apple-centric site 9to5Mac claims one of the key features of iOS 8 will be Healthbook. The app is said to be visually similar to Passbook and could work in tandem with the rumoured iWatch, which is also expected to debut this year. The iWatch is cited as the reason for a sudden interest in health tracking apps within Apple. The Healthbook app could reportedly monitor users’ vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, hydration levels, and also glucose levels. While the iWatch is said to work like a smart band that athletes and fitness freaks could use to track their day-to-day exercise.
Speaking of the iWatch, it could reportedly collect data gathered by the Healthbook app from the various sensors in the iPhone. This is exactly why Apple has integrated the M7 motion co-processor in the A7 chipset. There is also the possibility of integrating iWatch with Apple Maps for location tracking and navigation.
However, it’s not yet certain that Healthbook will surely make it to iOS 8, since it’s still under development. The website also reports that iOS 8 wouldn’t be much different from iOS7 in terms of the UI and only has minor changes. This may not surprise many, as Apple redesigned iOS greatly for version 7.0.
It should be noted that Apple and Samsung are headed down the same path in terms of software for their upcoming devices. After the lukewarm response for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Samsung is working on what is known as the Galaxy Band with greater focus on fitness tracking, which will undoubtedly use data collected from the many sensors expected in the Galaxy S5, and other high-end Samsung phones.
