Universal Why is Apple Health App not on iPadOS and MacOS???

[Hammie]

Anyone else wish that the Health app could be accessed on the iPad or Mac?

I don't see any reason other than APPLE doesn't want to release it on the other devices.

Thoughts or insights?

 

[bradl]

Anyone else wish that the Health app could be accessed on the iPad or Mac?

I don't see any reason other than APPLE doesn't want to release it on the other devices.

Thoughts or insights?

Lowest common denominator may apply here. for the versions of iOS and iPadOS out there, do the lowest supported devices have the Secure Enclave to hold the health data?

BL.

 

[Hammie]

Lowest common denominator may apply here. for the versions of iOS and iPadOS out there, do the lowest supported devices have the Secure Enclave to hold the health data?

BL.

Don't know, but Apple has excluded features in the past for older devices.

 

[bradl]

Don't know, but Apple has excluded features in the past for older devices.

Exactly.. but if they have had to exclude features, that means there would have to be two different branches of code to be released, let alone maintained. That makes it harder to keep the code base up to date and inline with everything, because you'd have the same code base forked out by device. One would have to determine if those forked branches and maintaining those branches is worth it..

BL.

 

[NoBoMac]

And to add: probably a nightmare trying to keep everything in sync via iCloud.

Phone, exaggeration., is updating its data constantly (eg. tracking steps, Watch saving data). So instead of getting backed up when doing iCloud backup (or on Mac/PC), need to be writing this data to iCloud on a regular basis. And if one is making changes on iPad while iPhone is syncing...

It's not like a document where the data is a little more "static" with regard to amount/frequency of changes to sync.

 

[Hammie]

And to add: probably a nightmare trying to keep everything in sync via iCloud.

Phone, exaggeration., is updating its data constantly (eg. tracking steps, Watch saving data). So instead of getting backed up when doing iCloud backup (or on Mac/PC), need to be writing this data to iCloud on a regular basis. And if one is making changes on iPad while iPhone is syncing...

It's not like a document where the data is a little more "static" with regard to amount/frequency of changes to sync.

The Garmin Connect app that I use seems to keep track of my health data from my watch and syncs to the cloud easily. I can sync my watch and app, refresh my web browser, and see that data in a nice web site. Although they don't have an official iPad app, the iPhone app still works fine on it.

I was just wondering if there are rumors about it maybe expanding to other formats beside iPhone iOS.

 

[nemecek_f]

Honestly even though I really like the app on my phone, I wouldn't want it on my iPad or Mac.

One worry is that we could end up with multiple apps that have different features and/or aren't as polished.

Plus I think phone (apart from the Watch) being the most "personal" device makes a lot of sense to have the Health data on. Not to mention that withou a Watch the Health app is really limited and for Watch you need an iPhone.

 

[maflynn]

Thoughts or insights?

I'm thinking that the app is logically tied to your activity being recorded by the watch, and since the watch is paired to your phone, what reason is there to have it on your mac or iPad? What purpose could it serve?

 

[Hammie]

I'm thinking that the app is logically tied to your activity being recorded by the watch, and since the watch is paired to your phone, what reason is there to have it on your mac or iPad? What purpose could it serve?

I don't have an Apple Watch. I have a Garmin watch. It pushes the data from my Garmin account to Health.

Besides, what is the issue to have access to it on other devices? You define in the Health app where the data comes from and in what priority. You could have it never be tracked from an iPad or Mac.

And yes, I can just review my stats on Garmin. However, the Health app has access to other medical details such a medications, blood work, etc. that I have linked other accounts to. So, this further gives reason as to why we can't view the data on other devices.

 

[Hammie]

Honestly even though I really like the app on my phone, I wouldn't want it on my iPad or Mac.

One worry is that we could end up with multiple apps that have different features and/or aren't as polished.

Plus I think phone (apart from the Watch) being the most "personal" device makes a lot of sense to have the Health data on. Not to mention that withou a Watch the Health app is really limited and for Watch you need an iPhone.

Unless, one doesn't use the Apple Watch. My Health app gets a ton of data from my Garmin account. I was finally able to get all data pushed from Garmin Connect to Apple Health. The added benefits of having my various Medical groups linked helps. I can see appointment notes, blood work results, track medication schedules, etc. None of that requires an Apple Watch.

 

[GlenK]

I've been using Health Auto Export to sync the Health app with my Mac and iPad. I really like the app but have trouble getting it to sync automatically on a regular basis and have to manually initiate the sync a lot of the times. It's in the Mac App Store if you want to check it out. There are people that review it that say it works perfectly for them. I may be doing something wrong.

 

[stuartwross]

Anyone else wish that the Health app could be accessed on the iPad or Mac?

I don't see any reason other than APPLE doesn't want to release it on the other devices.

Thoughts or insights?

I was recently hospitalized and in ICU. My devices were an IPad Pro and a IPhone SE & Apple Watch 8. The phone and watch were a very recent addition to accommodate my use of a Freestyle Libre 2 Sensor. Embedded in my arm, it provides 24/7 monitoring of glucose. Each sensor is paired with apple health and its prerequisite Iphone. The phone can wake me up if my glucose is too low. I don’t use or need the phone except to participate in the Apple Health requirements.

My large iPad Pro is my primary device. It also is insensible to me that Apple Health isn’t made ubiquitous across all of Apple devices. Privacy obsessions and competitive anxiety coming from a highly fragmented healthcare industry has resulted in a slowing of access. In the last 5 years of debate about where Apple Health fits, innovations are pressed forward on other fronts using Apple Health as the base Personal Health Record. Now, imagine the tremendous power if a single entity wrestles this out of fragmented, competitive efforts. Administratively, it’s a moonshot. A man visiting mars spectacular. There is no company or government with the power to achieve this except Apple, maybe.

I couldn’t use Apple Health in the ICU and it was a little disruptive but I was highly encouraged by an entire nursing staff and floor using IPhones, provided by the hospital for information, actions and workflow.

I wish Apple Health momentum and will entrust in Apple to recognize theIR new public health responsibility.

 

[Hammie]

I was recently hospitalized and in ICU. My devices were an IPad Pro and a IPhone SE & Apple Watch 8. The phone and watch were a very recent addition to accommodate my use of a Freestyle Libre 2 Sensor. Embedded in my arm, it provides 24/7 monitoring of glucose. Each sensor is paired with apple health and its prerequisite Iphone. The phone can wake me up if my glucose is too low. I don’t use or need the phone except to participate in the Apple Health requirements.

My large iPad Pro is my primary device. It also is insensible to me that Apple Health isn’t made ubiquitous across all of Apple devices. Privacy obsessions and competitive anxiety coming from a highly fragmented healthcare industry has resulted in a slowing of access. In the last 5 years of debate about where Apple Health fits, innovations are pressed forward on other fronts using Apple Health as the base Personal Health Record. Now, imagine the tremendous power if a single entity wrestles this out of fragmented, competitive efforts. Administratively, it’s a moonshot. A man visiting mars spectacular. There is no company or government with the power to achieve this except Apple, maybe.

I couldn’t use Apple Health in the ICU and it was a little disruptive but I was highly encouraged by an entire nursing staff and floor using IPhones, provided by the hospital for information, actions and workflow.

I wish Apple Health momentum and will entrust in Apple to recognize theIR new public health responsibility.

Hope you are fully on the mend and you are doing better.

Your use-case is exactly why this should be made easier for us to be able to monitor health stats across devices, not just one device that gets fed data from other devices like watches, bluetooth sensors, etc.

Heck, even if they ported it to iCloud for viewing, it would be a huge step forward.

 

[Quotenfrau]

Is there an Open Source app for macOS to view health data? From Apple Watch?

 

[jondrew]

I can't imagine syncing data between the phone, iPad and a desktop would be so difficult. Maybe because I'm not doing the work. But this seems like Apple just being apple and eventually it will show up. Like "cut and paste" on the iPhone

 

[estamos]

Is there an Open Source app for macOS to view health data? From Apple Watch?

That’s the closest I have seen so far, you can have a look.

Github repo

 

[stuartwross]

Anyone else wish that the Health app could be accessed on the iPad or Mac?

I don't see any reason other than APPLE doesn't want to release it on the other devices.

Thoughts or insights?

The real strength of Apple Health as a strategy is the real health data they have secured from institutional health sources such as labs, hospitals and health authorities. I would guess that they can’t achieve, yet, the rigorous information security standards they promised with older IPads or Macs.

Apple Health needs input. The best type of input is when it’s automated gathering through out your day. I think Apple Glasses will be a very important addition to Apple Health.

 

[floral]

Anyone else wish that the Health app could be accessed on the iPad or Mac?

I don't see any reason other than APPLE doesn't want to release it on the other devices.

Thoughts or insights?

I do want this, and I'm not sure why it isn't. Probably just a Weather app situation, they need to adapt it to work best for those devices and take advantage of their different form factors before it can be released.

 

[hammie14]

Anyone else wish that the Health app could be accessed on the iPad or Mac?

I don't see any reason other than APPLE doesn't want to release it on the other devices.

Thoughts or insights?

It’s coming with iPadOS 17 😀

 

[KrisAK]

It’s coming with iPadOS 17 😀

Why is it limited to iPadOS 17? On the surface, that seems idiotic.

And I'm not going to upgrade my Pro iPad just to run a health app, since it does everything else perfectly adequately.

 

[Longplays]

Same reason as why iPadOS does not have a built-in calculator?

 

[Lee_Bo]

I can confirm Apple Health is part of iPadOS 17 as I’m on the dev beta. Seems to be working ok so far. It is nice to be able to view it on a larger screen.

 

[Lee_Bo]

I was recently hospitalized and in ICU. My devices were an IPad Pro and a IPhone SE & Apple Watch 8. The phone and watch were a very recent addition to accommodate my use of a Freestyle Libre 2 Sensor. Embedded in my arm, it provides 24/7 monitoring of glucose. Each sensor is paired with apple health and its prerequisite Iphone. The phone can wake me up if my glucose is too low. I don’t use or need the phone except to participate in the Apple Health requirements.

Hope you’re doing better.

But as a long time Freestyle Libra user, unfortunately it does not import data into Health. Nor does the app have a Watch version. Two of the biggest gripes I have with the company. And after a recent customer service call (due to a faulty sensor type 3) they informed me at this time there are no plans to make the app available in the watch nor are they working on plans to incorporate into Health.

 

[macUser2007]

It's why I would not buy an Apple Watch and will stick with Garmin. In addition to the far better battery life and the more accurate sleep data.


Phone apps have their purpose, but viewing charts and complex data is not one of them. There is no comparison between a 6" and 27" screens when viewing health data.

Regardless of the excuses, Apple is keeping the fence high in its walled garden, and that's the only reason they are not going to the iPad, or god forbid, the desktop, as Garmin and others do.

Basically, if you switch to a different phone, all YOUR data stays with Apple.

 

[H2SO4]

I'm thinking that the app is logically tied to your activity being recorded by the watch, and since the watch is paired to your phone, what reason is there to have it on your mac or iPad? What purpose could it serve?

It's FAR easier to sit down and browse data on a big screen, by an order of magnitude IMO. Especially if you have lots of the data in spreadsheet format.