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Apple's Healthbook app would play virtual doctor -- report

Reportedly being tested for inclusion in iOS 8, the app would be Apple's first major push into monitoring and recording your health and fitness, according to 9to5Mac.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
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Lance Whitney
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Apple's Healthbook app would reportedly track many of your vital stats.
Apple's Healthbook app would reportedly track many of your vital stats. Apple

Apple's rumored Healthbook app could break new ground in the area of health and fitness tracking.

Reports of Healthbook have previously popped up, but new information and recreations of screenshots of the app from 9to5Mac reveal Apple's ambitious plans for the app.

Healthbook would be able to monitor many of your vital stats, according to 9to5Mac, including heart rate, blood pressure, weight, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and blood sugar. It also reportedly will track your bloodwork, hydration, physical activity, nutrition, and sleep.

The Weight feature would let you enter your height and weight to keep track of your BMI (Body Mass Index) and your percentage of body fat. You could then watch these indicators over time as part of a weight loss program. The Nutrition feature would allow you to enter your daily food intake as you try to stay true to your diet, according to 9to5Mac.

Healthbook will be able to store and track your blood pressure as well as your heart rate. It will record your oxygen saturation to help measure your respiratory rate and quality of breathing. It will also track your blood sugar, a key factor in determining your risk for diabetes, and it will be capable of keeping tabs on your sleep cycles, said 9to5Mac.

Other apps and devices offer some of these same features. But Healthbook would combine them all in one single mobile interface. As for the data that feeds into Healthbook, it is unclear if that information will come directly from an iPhone or if the app will pull data from an Apple or third-party activity-tracking device.

Though Apple is reportedly testing Healthbook with iOS 8, the app could be postponed for a future version or potentially cancelled altogether, 9to5Mac added. But assuming the app is the real deal and on track for the next version of iOS, when might we expect Apple to announce it?

Apple typically unveils new iOS features at its Worldwide Developer's Conference in June. But if Healthbook is tied to a specific Apple device, like an iWatch, its debut may be delayed until the launch of that device.