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    Apple Health+ could offer nutrition planning and medical suggestions

    A new report claims that Apple Health+ will include an AI-based health coach, said to offer features such as nutrition planning and medical suggestions.

    In his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman said nutrition planning and medical suggestions should be included in Apple Health+, a paid service featuring an AI-powered health coach. It’s unclear how much this service might cost and what other features it might bring. Gurman did say earlier that Apple Health+ will be included in the Apple One bundle.

    Gurman originally stated the health coaching service would launch alongside iOS 19.4 in the spring of 2026. He later updated the timeframe, saying the service would not be commercially available until at least iOS 27 (which will initially debut in the fall of 2026) or later because it takes more time to develop those features than originally anticipated.

    Apple Health+ is in the works

    Gurman is the only source claiming that Apple is working on such a service, with no other publication corroborating his reporting so far. The first time he mentioned AI-based health features was in March 2023. Citing people with knowledge of the project, he reported that Apple was preparing its biggest health care push with a revamped Health app along with an AI-driven doctor service. We got a revamped Health app, but not (yet) an “AI doctor service.”

    In April of the same year, he reiterated this prediction while adding some new details. An AI-powered health coaching service codenamed Quartz would be built into the Health app on the iPhone and iPad and leverage new technology for tracking emotions to “keep users motivated to exercise, improve eating habits, and help them sleep better.”

    The AI doctor “would be powered by a new AI agent that would replicate — at least to some extent — a real doctor.”

    The goal is reportedly to leverage data collected by the Apple Watch and AI algorithms “to make suggestions and create coaching programs tailored to specific users.” These suggestions might include videos from health experts that would recommend personalized lifestyle changes based on the user’s health conditions.

    “Apple is also looking to bring in outside doctors, including experts in sleep, nutrition, physical therapy, mental health and cardiology, to create videos,” Gurman wrote.

    Food tracking and instructional videos

    If the Apple Watch’s onboard sensors detect anomalies in terms of the heart rate, then a user may see a video outlining the risks of heart disease, Gurman said. The virtual health coach would also offer food tracking (“Food tracking will be a particularly big part of the revamped app”) and fitness tips, including techniques to improve technique during workouts.

    “That content would serve as explainers to users about certain conditions and how to make lifestyle improvements. For instance, if the Health app receives data about poor heart-rate trends, a video explaining the risks of heart disease could appear,” he wrote.

    “Apple is opening up a facility near Oakland, California, that will let the physicians shoot their video content for the app,” Gurman added. “It’s also seeking to find a major doctor personality to serve as a host of sorts for the new service.”

    Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/25/apple-health-plus-ai-health-coach-nutrition-planning-medical-suggestions/

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    Apple couldn’t care less about the AirPods Max

    Apple is apparently not interested in pouring resources into second-generation AirPods Max, so it just continues selling the woefully outdated $550 model.

    Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that we shouldn’t be keeping our collective fingers crossed for a pair of new AirPods Max, although the current model is almost five years old. Gurman writes that the AirPods Max are “too popular for Apple to stop selling them, and not popular enough for the company to invest a ton of time and money into creating a new version.”

    Instead, the company’s audio team is apparently focused on annual AirPods updates and sharing its technologies across other products, including speakers and microphones. But how does that even make sense? No one wants to say it out loud, so I’m gonna do it: the AirPods Max are way overpriced for what they offer and incapable of supporting Apple’s modern computational audio features that require its H2 headphone chip. The AirPods Max run the outdated H1 chip and still cost $550.

    No new AirPods Max for you

    “But the reality is that the headphones are in an odd spot commercially,” Gurman wrote. “They’re too popular for Apple to stop selling them, and they’re not popular enough for the company to invest a ton of time and money into creating a new version.”

    The sad truth is this: One can easily get a pair of wireless cans with active noise cancellation and comparable sound from Sony, Bose and other makers at a much lower cost. The AirPods Max do have premium build quality, they certainly look nice and integrate seamlessly with the Apple ecosystem.

    But their value quickly diminishes if you consider that the AirPods Max don’t support Apple’s modern computational audio features found on much cheaper AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2, such as intelligent noise cancellation and transparency blending (called adaptive audio), voice isolation, conversation awareness and more. And yet, they’re among the most expensive over-ear headphones.

    If the AirPods Max are “not popular enough for the company to invest a ton of time and money into creating a new version,” then perhaps Apple should lower their price to make them more popular. Because at $550, they’re surprisingly terrible value and stuck in the past for anyone but die-hard Apple fans.

    How hard is it to put an H2 chip in there?

    The only hardware refresh we saw for the AirPods Max was last year, when Apple swapped the Lightning port for USB-C charging to comply with EU regulations. Oh, and we got some new color options. It seems unbelievable that Apple couldn’t justify assigning some engineers to at least put the H2 chip in the AirPods Max to get the same audio features as the AirPods Pro.

    Clearly, the $550 AirPods Max underperformed commercially, and it’s Apple’s fault. And the fact that Tim Cook & Co. seem fine with milking buyers who are willing to pay through the nose for brand loyalty is disappointing, to say the least.

    For the sake of completeness, I should mention that Gurman’s report contradicts an earlier report from reliable industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that the AirPods Max 2 could enter mass production in 2027.

    Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/25/apple-couldnt-care-less-about-the-airpods-max/