Health-related updates in iOS 15 will provide iPhone users a view into the health stats of other iOS users. With permission, they can keep tabs on elderly parents or children, or share data with a doctor. For those who want to keep an eye on their physical fitness, meanwhile, a Trends feature will let them know how they're doing.
When iOS 15 rolls out in the fall, it will add a Sharing tab to the Health app, which will let people privately share access to the data with people they trust.
“Many people around the world are caring for someone, and we want to provide a secure and private way for users to have a trusted partner on their health journey," Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.
If you want to give your doctor a peek at your stats, iOS 15 will let you share things like heart rate, detected falls, hours of sleep, or exercise minutes. Your doctor will need to be part of a participating healthcare organization. Apple mentioned a few during its WWDC keynote on Monday: Cerner; Allscripts; Athena Health; CPSI; DrChrono; and Meditech Expanse.
A new metric coming to iOS 15 is walking steadiness. As people walk with their iPhones, a custom algorithm will assess balance, stability, and coordination through the smartphone's built-in motion sensors. It'll then classify steadiness in the Health app as OK, Low, or Very Low. The iPhone can alert people if their steadiness is Low or Very Low, and the Health app will add exercises they can do to help improve their strength.
To see how you're doing, Trends will "proactively highlight important changes," like whether your steps have increased (or decreased) over the past few months. It can send you alerts about changing trends if that's helpful to you.
Worried about security? Apple says health data is encrypted when it's on your device and while it's being shared. "Apple does not have access to this information when a user chooses to share it with a loved one or doctor," the company says.
Apple will, however, now let you hand over your account to a legacy contact in the event of your death. That person would then request access to your Apple ID when you die, and after providing a copy of your death certificate, Apple would hand over your data and remove the Activation Lock from your device.