Google Fit Launches on iPhone With Apple Health and Apple Watch Integration

[friedmud]

You are an insurance company's dream client. Seriously. The HIPAA implications alone are staggering.

Here's what I don't understand: why do you think it's ok to "hide" health information from a company that is insuring your health? IMO the insurance company should have every right to your health history so they can make an informed decision about what your rates should be. It actually _hurts_ everyone because to "cover their bets" they have to artificially inflate rates (in case you're hiding something).

Think about car insurance: car insurance companies get access to your full driving record. They can see how many wrecks / tickets you've had... and how expensive the cars are that you drive. Then they make a determination of your rate based on their risk.

Also: go take out a life insurance policy sometime. They require that you get a FULL (and I mean - really thorough) examination before they'll give you a policy. While it's not your whole "history"... it is an assessment of your health.

Health insurance is not a _right_. It's provided by private companies that are making risky investments in _you_.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Think about car insurance: car insurance companies get access to your full driving record. They can see how many wrecks / tickets you've had... and how expensive the cars are that you drive. Then they make a determination of your rate based on their risk.

Just ask anyone who's unfortunately had to deal with SR22.

 

[archer75]

Here's what I don't understand: why do you think it's ok to "hide" health information from a company that is insuring your health? IMO the insurance company should have every right to your health history so they can make an informed decision about what your rates should be. It actually _hurts_ everyone because to "cover their bets" they have to artificially inflate rates (in case you're hiding something).

Think about car insurance: car insurance companies get access to your full driving record. They can see how many wrecks / tickets you've had... and how expensive the cars are that you drive. Then they make a determination of your rate based on their risk.

Also: go take out a life insurance policy sometime. They require that you get a FULL (and I mean - really thorough) examination before they'll give you a policy. While it's not your whole "history"... it is an assessment of your health.

Health insurance is not a _right_. It's provided by private companies that are making risky investments in _you_.

Your life, car or health insurance don't get the details. None of them.

I have a life insurance policy, and I covered my wife and kids too and didn't have to have an examination at all. With more coverage I'd have to get a blood test but that's it. But they don't monitor how I live my life day to day. No details.

Health insurance sees what I had done as they get the bill. Just not the details. That's between you and your doctor.

Car insurance sees if I have wrecks and tickets but that's it. They can't see where I'm driving, what speed I'm driving at, etc. None of the details. Just as health insurance doesn't get the details. It's not about hiding, it's about privacy. There's a difference.

Actually my company is self insured. They hire BCBS just to handle billing but my company pays all claims out of their own pocket. It is a HDHP so I do pay the first $4200 out of my own pocket. Does my company deserve to know my health details as a result? Hell no.

Now there are options you can choose to lower your rates. You can plug a device in your vehicle that allows your insurance to monitor you. Some insurance companies, health and life, are giving people apple watches and monitoring their activity in exchange for lower rates. But these are choices and not mandatory.

 

[Sprite2]

The same fools who let google listen to everything they say at home with google home devices

Google doesn’t save info or listen except for it’s hey google, ok google call. You are thinking of Echo Alexa devices they do similar things , however amazon employs offices of people who listen to recordings taken from devices even when we’re not triggered by end user. They never truly hid that fact...nor advertised it. Recently some of the workers who listen have spoken out because they feel very immoral doing it.

 

[chucker23n1]

Nice to see it inspires people to move, unlike the Apple Health app which merely shows data that nobody cares about

Who knew people that can't afford a $500 Apple Watch would also like to exercise?!

HealthKit is nothing like that. It's a data hub.

The Health app's chief purpose is to give you transparency over all the data that has been collected, not for exercise. Apple has the Activities app for the latter. Other vendors of fitness have their own fitness apps which hook into HealthKit.
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Here's what I don't understand: why do you think it's ok to "hide" health information from a company that is insuring your health? IMO the insurance company should have every right to your health history so they can make an informed decision about what your rates should be. It actually _hurts_ everyone because to "cover their bets" they have to artificially inflate rates (in case you're hiding something).

Well, I hope you never need to wear glasses or hearing aids, never develop diabetes or cancer, never have relatives with a genetic disease, and always have the determination every single day to be your very best and do an hour of exercise even in the icy rain, because what you're ultimately advocating for here is: if not, you should be punished not just by poor health, but also financially.

 

[howieb2001]

Any chance of Apple Watch software appearing on an Android phone? The Apple Watch is in a league of its own as a smartwatch but is of little use without an iPhone. I have bitten the bullet and bought an XR which has many qualities, particularly battery life but iOS is very painful to use for a hardened Google Pixel fan.

 

[chucker23n1]

Any chance of Apple Watch software appearing on an Android phone?

Almost none. The Watch benefits from tight iOS integration, and serves as an additional argument to keep buying iPhones. Thus, the technical and business cases for cross-platform are poor.

 

[archer75]

Any chance of Apple Watch software appearing on an Android phone? The Apple Watch is in a league of its own as a smartwatch but is of little use without an iPhone. I have bitten the bullet and bought an XR which has many qualities, particularly battery life but iOS is very painful to use for a hardened Google Pixel fan.

You'll get used to ios. And in time I bet you'll find many things you like better. Just a normal transition and learning period. I remember when I switched I was worried I made the wrong decision. And a year later I went back to android and almost instantly regretted it. Returned that phone and back to iphone and have been every since. I still have android phones and on occasion I fire them up to see what's new and different. I still don't regret going back to ios.

Yes, I wish the apple watch could work in android. No other smartwatch comes close and they should capitalize on that by releasing an android app.

 

[howieb2001]

Almost none. The Watch benefits from tight iOS integration, and serves as an additional argument to keep buying iPhones. Thus, the technical and business cases for cross-platform are poor.

Thanks for replying. With Apple's recent focus on services I was (vainly) hoping that they might expand to allow other OSs to integrate with iMessage and the Watch. I would happily pay an annual fee for this.

 

[QuadeC]

Any chance of Apple Watch software appearing on an Android phone? The Apple Watch is in a league of its own as a smartwatch but is of little use without an iPhone. I have bitten the bullet and bought an XR which has many qualities, particularly battery life but iOS is very painful to use for a hardened Google Pixel fan.

Doubt it. This seems to be for those who either have a watch that runs android software or have an android watch and moved over to iPhone and didn’t want to have to buy another smart watch.

I don’t see it as being much of use to those of us who have an Apple Watch already.

 

[chucker23n1]

Doubt it. This seems to be for those who either have a watch that runs android software or have an android watch and moved over to iPhone and didn’t want to have to buy another smart watch.

I don’t see it as being much of use to those of us who have an Apple Watch already.

I think the question was simply about whether Apple would ever do pairing an Apple Watch with Android, regardless of Google stuff.

 

[cnoctem]

They got way enough data from me, this is not necessary to share with google.

After installing the app, I figured I'd check the default privacy settings, and to my non-surprise Google's app is set to share your usage and other data with them. OMG, Google-Facebook-Etc... when is this going to stop. DELETING THE APP NOW!!!

 

[Techwatcher]

What are the benefits to this?

Google receives and sells your information. No benefits to the consumer.