The initiative, code-named Mulberry, was wound down in recent weeks, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the move wasn’t public. — AFP
Apple Inc is scaling back plans for a virtual health coach, according to people with knowledge of the matter, part of an effort to rethink how the company approaches the burgeoning market for wellness services.
The initiative, code-named Mulberry, was wound down in recent weeks, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the move wasn’t public. Apple now plans to take some of the features it had planned for the artificial intelligence-powered offering and roll them out individually over time within its Health app.
The decision followed a leadership shift at Apple’s health organisation, with services chief Eddy Cue taking over the division after longtime executive Jeff Williams retired at the end of last year.
Cue has told colleagues that Apple needs to move faster and be more competitive in health, the people said. He added that newer rivals – including Oura Health Oy and Whoop Inc – offer more compelling and useful features, particularly through their iPhone apps.
The longtime Apple executive didn’t think that the company’s existing plan for a new health service met that bar. He’s also considering changes to Apple Fitness+, a US$9.99 (RM39)-per-month competitor to Peloton Interactive Inc.’s app that offers guided workouts.
A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.
Apple is facing tougher competition in the health-tracking market, with Samsung Electronics Co and fitness platforms like Strava gaining traction. OpenAI has also moved into the space. It recently launched ChatGPT Health to analyse health data, answer questions and provide feedback.
Apple, which spent years developing the artificial intelligence-powered service, referred to it internally as Health+. The company had previously aimed to introduce it with the iOS 26 operating system last year, before delaying the launch until spring. It then postponed the debut again until the release of iOS 27, scheduled for September, before the change in plans.
The goal was to create a system that could generate detailed health reports and – for the first time – deliver AI-driven recommendations to help users improve their well-being. The major new service would have combined new surveys and health assessments with data from Apple Watches and external lab reports.
As part of the effort, Apple built a content studio in Oakland, California, to produce videos for the Health app. The programming was designed to explain medical conditions, guide users through training plans and offer wellness education.
The video content and some capabilities, such as suggestions based on existing Health app data, will be repurposed and introduced as early as this year. Another feature that remains in the works: using an iPhone camera to analyse and evaluate the way a person walks.
The health-coach offering had been a top priority for Sumbul Desai, a physician who leads Apple’s health team. She added responsibility for Fitness+ when Cue became her boss last year.
Apple has continued to add health features to its devices in recent years – such as sleep-apnea detection and hypertension notifications – but those tools primarily flag potential conditions rather than help users actively manage them. It also has a long-running project to develop a noninvasive sensor for reading glucose levels.
As part of other health efforts, Apple is working on an AI chatbot that would allow users to ask questions about their well-being. It draws on an internal system known as World Knowledge Answers – technology that’s designed to rival Google’s Gemini-powered search results and apps like Perplexity.
Longer term, Apple plans to integrate a new Siri chatbot – set to debut later this year with iOS 27 – to support more advanced health-related queries across the Health app and its operating systems. – Bloomberg
