Health App Gains New 'Symptoms' Section in iOS 13.6 Beta

[MacRumors]

In the new iOS 13.6 beta released today, the Health app has gained a new "Symptoms" section that wasn't available in previous versions of iOS.

The section appears to allow users to add symptoms of various illnesses like body and muscle aches, appetite changes, coughing, dizziness, fainting, headache, nausea, and more.

Health app users are able to add symptom data through the Health app by tapping on the "Add Data" option, providing a way to track and log various illness-related symptoms over time.

Each symptom listed in the app comes with a description and the entry options vary based on the symptom in question, with options to add details like Severe, Moderate, Mild, Present, or Not Present.

The Health app previously had options for logging symptoms related to menstruation for the menstruation tracking feature, but this general symptoms feature is more extensive and will presumably allow patients to share more detailed health information with their doctors.

Steve Moser contributed to this report.

Article Link: Health App Gains New 'Symptoms' Section in iOS 13.6 Beta

 

[totom_]

Aaaand... It’s terminal cancer.

 

[Infinite Vortex]

That's all well and good but in today's connected world I wonder if these "symptoms" can at some point be used against us when it comes to, for instance, getting insurance coverage or when we fill out that job application. There's a point were I feel it's too much information.

 

[dannyyankou]

Wonder if this could be used in the future to self-diagnose.

 

[GadgetBen]

Waiting now for the tin foil hat folk to claim this is Apple tracking who has Corona.

 

[Rogifan]

When is the health app coming to iPad or Mac?

 

[phenste]

s***—my webMD phase is gonna come back in full force…

 

[Kleber20]

Apple should make health app available for iPad... such a beautiful screen... wasted! D: also health app should include more body measurements.

 

[CNebs]

Apple should make health app available for iPad... such a beautiful screen... wasted! D: also health app should include more body measurements.

Especially since some apps like mindfulness run on an iPad and are great on a larger screen. I’d also like the ability for you to tell the Activity and Health app to let users mark a sick day so you don’t get notified you didn’t complete your rings.

 

[Infinite Vortex]

Apple should make health app available for iPad... such a beautiful screen... wasted! D: also health app should include more body measurements.

Why? To start, the difference between an iPhone and an iPad is that Apple can confidently say your iPhone will be with you for the most part. The moment you activate your health app on a tablet do you cumulatively count the tracking data from that, which will potentially double your movement data, or does Apple do what exactly? The moment your health data applies across multiple devices the assumptions they can make change, and not always for the better and/or more accurate data.

 

[CNebs]

Why? To start, the difference between an iPhone and an iPad is that Apple can confidently say your iPhone will be with you for the most part. The moment you activate your health app on a tablet do you cumulatively count the tracking data from that, which will potentially double your movement data, or does Apple do what exactly? The moment your health data applies across multiple devices the assumptions they can make change, and not always for the better and/or more accurate data.

I want to say even though iPads have the motion coprocessor they don’t have to pull data from that processor. That’s not hard to code in when pulling from sources.

 

[chucker23n1]

Why? To start, the difference between an iPhone and an iPad is that Apple can confidently say your iPhone will be with you for the most part. The moment you activate your health app on a tablet do you cumulatively count the tracking data from that, which will potentially double your movement data, or does Apple do what exactly? The moment your health data applies across multiple devices the assumptions they can make change, and not always for the better and/or more accurate data.

Redundant movement data is already a problem anyway. All of HealthKit is designed to support multiple data sources and outputs, and for movement, that could just be wearing an Apple Watch while carrying an iPhone. Hardly an unusual use case. An app like Pedometer++ will simply merge the data together.

Health on an iPad makes sense to me. It's not as critical as having it on the phone, but it's quite useful. Its bigger screen makes for nicer space to show charts and analytics. You can also hand your iPad over to a doctor, therapist, etc. to temporarily show some data, in a way that doesn't quite feel right for an iPhone.

Personally, I'd also like it on the Mac — let me use e.g. Numbers to further explore the data.

 

[locovaca]

Why? To start, the difference between an iPhone and an iPad is that Apple can confidently say your iPhone will be with you for the most part. The moment you activate your health app on a tablet do you cumulatively count the tracking data from that, which will potentially double your movement data, or does Apple do what exactly? The moment your health data applies across multiple devices the assumptions they can make change, and not always for the better and/or more accurate data.

It is not for tracking pedometer and the like data. It is for reviewing data that is already on your Phone or viewing medical records from eligible providers. Collecting data is only one part of the Health app.

 

[Bandaman]

Aaaand... It’s terminal cancer.

Reminds me of this:

 

[B4U]

And then the phone will start the count down on how long do I have to live...
Kind of like the joke in Deadpool.

 

[adrianlondon]

And then the phone will start the count down on how long do I have to live...

Will it slow us down towards the end of our life to keep us alive a little bit longer? I'm also annoyed by the fact most of my body components aren't user-replaceable. And I over-heat while working hard. A copper shim might help.

 

[baryon]

Is this just for your own health journal of sorts, or does the app actually analyze your symptoms and tell you if you might have some likely health issue? Not that this type of thing has ever worked in the past but I dunno, machine learning and cloud bla bla bla who knows.

 

[jonblatho]

Why? To start, the difference between an iPhone and an iPad is that Apple can confidently say your iPhone will be with you for the most part. The moment you activate your health app on a tablet do you cumulatively count the tracking data from that, which will potentially double your movement data, or does Apple do what exactly? The moment your health data applies across multiple devices the assumptions they can make change, and not always for the better and/or more accurate data.

Wait, did you really think that Apple forgot to consider the possibility of redundant data and how to handle it?

That’s been handled basically since the Health app and HealthKit debuted.

 

[TimFL1]

Why? To start, the difference between an iPhone and an iPad is that Apple can confidently say your iPhone will be with you for the most part. The moment you activate your health app on a tablet do you cumulatively count the tracking data from that, which will potentially double your movement data, or does Apple do what exactly? The moment your health data applies across multiple devices the assumptions they can make change, and not always for the better and/or more accurate data.

Your phone stops counting steps etc. when you wear a connected Watch. Also, the iPad contributing to stuff like movement data makes no sense at all... it should just be a viewer and having options to edit or add data manually (or have apps write to Health, e.g. nutrition etc. data).

And the Health app being on iPad (and macOS please?) started making sense ever since they introduced Health in iCloud.

 

[jonblatho]

Is this just for your own health journal of sorts, or does the app actually analyze your symptoms and tell you if you might have some likely health issue? Not that this type of thing has ever worked in the past but I dunno, machine learning and cloud bla bla bla who knows.

Best I can tell, from the Health app’s perspective, it’s strictly for logging symptoms over time. A third-party app can log those symptoms as part of a flow to reveal potential diagnoses within the app, though.
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And the Health app being on iPad (and macOS please?) started making sense ever since they introduced Health in iCloud.

They’d just need to sync to iCloud more frequently. Mine hasn’t been synced to iCloud for over 2 hours now because it only happens when the iPhone is connected to power and Wi-Fi.

 

[Rogifan]

Why? To start, the difference between an iPhone and an iPad is that Apple can confidently say your iPhone will be with you for the most part. The moment you activate your health app on a tablet do you cumulatively count the tracking data from that, which will potentially double your movement data, or does Apple do what exactly? The moment your health data applies across multiple devices the assumptions they can make change, and not always for the better and/or more accurate data.

I wear an Apple Watch. Whenever I go walking I always have my iPhone with me. I assume the steps data in the Health app is coming from my Watch.

 

[chucker23n1]

I wear an Apple Watch. Whenever I go walking I always have my iPhone with me. I assume the steps data in the Health app is coming from my Watch.

You can check. Browse → Steps → Show All Data → tap on a day, then on a particular data point. The icon will already be a clue, and then as you tap, it goes into even more detail.

 

[boston04and07]

Count me in as agreeing with everyone here that the Health/Activity apps badly need to be on iPadOS and macOS. This is the type of feature that would be incredibly useful to me, but since my iPad is my most used device (especially at home), I’m less likely to use something like this until it’s available on that device. Since Health data has been syncing with iCloud for a while now, there’s no reason at all why they couldn’t make it a universal app.

 

[Bornee35]

Lower back pain: your wallet is too heavy. We have loaded the newest hardware versions linked to your account and have charged you via Apple Pay.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Is this just for your own health journal of sorts, or does the app actually analyze your symptoms and tell you if you might have some likely health issue? Not that this type of thing has ever worked in the past but I dunno, machine learning and cloud bla bla bla who knows.

Hopefully, it won’t say a person may have x given the symptoms. Apple would face a class action over such, in my opinion.