The iOS 8 Review
by Brandon Chester on September 17, 2014 1:00 PM ESTHealth
Talking about the Health app in iOS 8 is difficult. Much like extensibility, what Health enables depends greatly on developer support that doesn't exist yet with iOS 8 being newly released. What can be explained right now is how it will work and what features it offers beyond being a simple aggregator of a user's health information.
At its core, Apple's Health app is a hub for keeping track of the health information from several different apps and devices. It will be able to sync data with health applications from other developers that use Apple's HealthKit framework. Many of these applications rely on data input by the user, but applications that integrate with fitness devices like the Nike FuelBand can also automatically send information that the device tracks to the Health application.
The Health app consists of four main screens. The dashboard is a user customizable section that displays cards with information about various health statistics. These cards display the information in a graph, with buttons at the top of the page to change the scale of the graph's horizontal axis.
The Health Data screen contains all the possible health information categories that the app keeps track of. You can search by a certain category such as body measurements, or you can view a list with all the various different types of information. Data points for a category can be added manually or sourced from applications that the user gives the Health app permission to access. Other applications for tracking health information can also request access to the information stored in Apple's Health app.
The Sources section contains a list of all applications that are allowed to access and update the information stored in the Health app. Once developers start to hook into the Health app using Apple's HealthKit framework, the Health app will become an area where a user can view all the information from various different health focused applications in a single place.
Medical ID
Medical ID is a new feature in iOS 8 where users can create a section that displays their personal and medical information. It's integrated into the Health app and it has sections for various information like Medical Conditions, Emergency Contacts, Blood Type, Allergies, Medications, and Organ Donor status. These are all things that would be of immense value to emergency workers when helping a person who is unable to give the information themselves. Medical ID can be made accessible via the emergency dialer so it can be viewed even on devices that have a passcode enabled.
I've personally been in situations where I was unable to give information like medications and allergies to emergency services about another person who needed immediate assistance. If you have any conditions that might be important, I encourage you to fill out the Medical ID and enable lockscreen access so paramedics or doctors can access it if they need to. It could save your life someday. What's unfortunate is that this is an Apple service for iOS, as it's something that could really be helpful if it was on every device. There's also some privacy concerns (e.g. anyone with access to your phone could view this information), but as always you have to decide which is more important.
The Health app is also an iPhone only application. I know of many elderly people who own iPads but do not own iPhones. I think Apple should bring the Health app over to iPad, or at the very least the Medical ID feature, as the elderly are a segment of the population that could benefit most from it.
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oynaz - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
What's absurd is expecting everyone to have or create a phone number account in order to use SMS.FTFY
wireframed - Saturday, September 20, 2014 - link
Yeah, now we need phone numbers for our phones? What is this bs?! What's next, needing to have an email to use Google+?crimson117 - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Assuming you've installed Hangouts and don't jus tuse the custom messaging app that came with your phone...vinospam - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
For all those crowing about how Hangouts simply work - here's one fact that renders any Google based messaging system mostly unusable to over 2 Billion people right now. All Google sites, apps and services are blocked in most of China. I was traveling for business in China for 2 weeks and on China Unicom network. Gmail, docs, hangout, google groups - nothing is accessible. You can still get Gmail via IMAP and POP but the gmail.com website is inaccessible. In some big cities like Shanghai - some providers have managed to get around it but its rare. Dropbox and Box also did not work. And what about iMessage, FaceTime, iCloud and Apple Apps - they simply did. Now conspiracy theorists will immediately say Apple is in cahoots with the censors in China and NSA (everyone except Putin's intelligence services apparently) - but I don't care. I need to keep my business going and trying to be a nerd is not a big priority. Apple's devices just work - and thats it.theuglyman0war - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
wow that is extremely sad. I feel for u.Just horrible times we still live in.
:(
bznotins - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
I was recently vacationing in China and just got a VPN service. Everything works perfectly then. Cheap, too ($30/year).Nam3less - Friday, September 19, 2014 - link
You cant use VPN all the time especially when you are on the GO on 3G or 4G services. Keeping VPN just drains the battery too as it has to maintain a constant connection for it. At home / office, i think its workable. Thats the pain currently living in China.Nam3less - Friday, September 19, 2014 - link
Very very good post. I have been living in China for almost a decade and most of the foreign web services are more or less blocked unless used with VPN. I have a Note 2 and since sometime most google services, Box, Dropbox are not working properly at all. Hell even google Maps doesnt work properly.Compared to Apple and Microsoft too in this case, their services are working so far. Apple maps are the best in China because they use the date from Autonavi and it shows results in English and Chinese as expected. Problems arise when you try to use routing Software such as google maps (which wont work) or any other Chinese mapping apps which works only in Chinese. Hence for this reason i am seriously considering IOS or Windows devices. Android is no 1 in China but its mostly by Chinese company who replace all the google apps with their chinese counterpart so people dont mind using them. I seriously think that google should think of complying with Chinese regulators again so their services work without being blocked. Until then Google services cant be used. Big factors for many foreigners like me living here.
Sushisamurai - Friday, September 19, 2014 - link
unfortunately... Gmail IMAP and POP don't work as great anymore, and this is real-time in china. Almost all google services are shut down here in China. Don't even get me started with FB syncing for apps for multiple devices... ... I wish they just used game center/icloud, cause now I have unsynced applications on multiple devices. What a mess.FATCamaro - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
Good job!! Hangouts and SMS got integrated last yer. iMessages and SMS have been integrated for nearly FIVE years!