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Apple unveils fall risk and health sharing features at WWDC 21

Apple is helping users monitor their health a little better with upcoming iOS 15 improvements.

Ozzie Mejia

June 7, 2021 11:19 AM

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Apple's WWDC 2021 presentation continued with new ways to monitor your well-being through iOS' Health app. The Health app will receive some significant additions with the upcoming iOS 15 and should be beneficial to users of all ages.

One of the Health app's bigger updates involves assessing fall risk thorugh a new measurement called Walking Steadiness. Using a new steadiness datapoint, the Health will soon be able to assess how likely a user is to fall based on how much they walk throughout the day, how fast they move, or how even or uneven their posture is. If a user's fall risk becomes critical, the app will attempt to send a warning.

The Health app will also allow for new sharing features. Users can share their health data with other iPhone users. While you probably won't be running around and giving your health data to random strangers, this feature can be shared with family members and also with doctors. Several health networks were unveiled as partners and those networks can use Apple's Health information to assist in the doctor's office. Older users, specifically, can share their health data with loved ones, who can then help monitor them. Of course, given Apple's privacy push, this is all optional and select Health elements can be kept entirely private. Apple itself will not be able to access any of this information, as all of it will be encrypted.

While Apple's Health app will be availble across its ecosystem through the new iOS 15 update, these improvements are also aimed at WatchOS. Apple's Health updates will be available later this year. We'll have more on WWDC 21 throughout the day, so stay tuned to Shacknews for the latest.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?