Apple updated its Health app with new features alongside the release of iOS 17, which included the addition of a function for recording one’s mood as well as tools for ensuring one’s eye health is maintained.
This guide will walk you through each and every one of the brand-new features that have been added to the Health app with iOS 17.
Tracking Mood
With the release of iOS 17, Apple updated its Health app to include a “Understanding of Mind” function. This feature is intended to make it possible for you to keep a record of your feelings every day, which will provide a comprehensive picture of your mental health.
You may keep track of how you’re feeling throughout the day by using the Health app notifications on your Apple Watch or by logging your mood at specific periods throughout the day. You can also enter an overall attitude for the day.
When you are logging a mood, a slider bar will appear with a variety of possibilities, that range from Extremely Unpleasant to Balance to Pleasant. The choices are color coded (extremely unpleasant is represented by the color purple, neutral is represented by the color blue, as well as very pleasant is represented by the color orange), and the objective is to drag the knob to the position that most closely represents your current state of mind.
After that, Apple will inquire as to what phrase most accurately captures the sensation, and it will provide a list of descriptors associated with the state for you to choose from. Amazed, Calm, Joyful, and Peaceful are some of the possibilities available under the “Very Pleasant” mood, for instance. The emotions of Angry, Stressed, Drained, and Sad make up the “Very Unpleasant” mood, whereas the emotions of indifference, Peaceful, along with Content make up the “Neutral” mood.
You are unable to enter your own adjective; rather, you are required to select one of the options provided by Apple. Because there are many dozen possibilities in all, the goal here is to simply select the one that is the most similar.
Following the selection of a mood as well as an adjective to go along with it, Apple will inquire as to the reason for the selected mood. You have a number of choices, such as your fitness, family, health, partner, friends, dating life, the weather, finances, and current affairs; but, you are required to select from Apple’s selection. You are, nevertheless, able to add a background in this section, which will allow you to write down specifics regarding the reasons you have selected a particular category.
A chart that plots your state of mind over time and provides splits for the week, the month, or the 6 months, and the year is available for viewing. You can gain insight into what has contributed to how you feel by looking at the states you’ve been in, the associations you’ve had, and the life factors you’ve been exposed to.
A listing of every entry split down by association, which is the category that contains elements like employment and relationships, enables you to identify what is generating problems or what is making you happy by providing you with this information.
Apple also keeps track of life factors in order to demonstrate patterns of behaviors that can have an effect on your mood. Life factors include the amount of time spent exercising, practicing mindfulness, sleeping, and being exposed to natural light. Apple makes a direct comparison between your mood over time and your exercise over time as well as other elements that are given. This allows you to determine whether or not spending time exercising or meditation has an effect on your overall mood.
Questionnaires for Mental Health
The Mental Wellbeing area of the Health app has health quizzes that screen for depression and anxiety in order to provide you with the opportunity to discuss these issues with your primary care physician if necessary. These are the kinds of screening instruments that are commonly employed by doctors, which consist of a series of inquiries concerning how you found yourself experiencing over the span of the most recent few weeks.
By filling out these questionnaires, you will be able to populate depression and anxiety risk charts, which will allow you to see at a look if you may want further self-care or the assistance of a doctor at certain times throughout the year. By completing the questions, you will receive readings regarding your likelihood of experiencing anxiety and depression.
Health of Eyes
Apple has included fresh features to enhance eye health in iOS 17, the majority of which are geared at youngsters but are able to be used by everyone. These tools may be downloaded by anybody. A fresh “Screen Distance” option has been added to Screen Time. This setting is designed to alleviate eye strain by ensuring that an iPhone or iPad isn’t positioned too close to the user’s face.
An alert will appear on the display to let visitors (or your kid) know that the iPad or iPhone has to be moved further away from the display if it is too close. Apple suggests keeping the gadget approximately 12 inches away from the eyes while watching it, and the company provides a position guide on its website to help customers choose how to position the device for best viewing that does not cause eye strain.
Daylight Time
Another function of the Apple Watch that is geared toward youngsters is the ability to monitor the period of time that they spend outside in natural light. There have been studies that indicate spending eighty to one hundred and twenty minutes outside can reduce the risk of developing nearsightedness or myopia.
Because of this, when linked with an Apple Watch operating watchOS 10 as the Health app has the ability to inform you how much time was spent out in the daylight.
According to Apple, individuals can also benefit from daylight because spending even 20 minutes outside has positive effects on their physical and mental well-being. Apple makes use of hours spent in daylight as one of the indicators for determining mental well-being among its employees.
Medications
Apple has added medication schedules for follow-up appointments to the Health app, which you can use to keep track of your medications. You have the option to sign up for a second notification that will be sent to you if you do not log a medicine within the first 30 minutes after receiving an official notification. This will ensure that you do not forget to take your medication.
In addition, Critical Alerts may be activated, and once activated, they will display on the display and play sounds even if Focus mode is activated on the device, and this is true even if the device’s volume is muted.
iPad Health App
Since it was first made accessible, the Health app was only compatible with the iPhone. However, beginning with the release of iPadOS 17, it is now also available for use on the iPad. The iPad is not actively collecting data related to the user’s health, but it is capable of displaying all of the data acquired by the iPhone and any additional devices on a more substantial screen.
It is sized appropriately for the iPad and includes a navigation bar along the left side of its display. Essentially, it displays all of the identical information as the iPhone app does, but it does so in a more organized fashion.
Design
Apple has updated the look of its Health app by making some minor changes. To provide greater visual interest in the information that is presented by the app, individual sections such as “Heart,” “Sleep,” “Medications,” and “Mobility,” among others, each have their own backdrop colors.
There have been some minor adjustments made to the colors and other minor tweaks that help polish the design of the Health app, but for the most part, the app still has the same appearance.