health

This $28 smart scale gives you 11 ways to check your whole-body health

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Get 11 ways to check your health with this $33 smart scale.
It's all about the whole body health with this $33 smart scale.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Weight isn’t the only way to measure your health, but if you use a dumb scale, that’s the only insight it gives you. If you want a more holistic look at your wellness, try the Roomie Sophie Smart Body Scale. It’s a smart scale that can measure body fat and more.

In fact, it measures 11 key health and nutrition metrics and comes with a free health app. And for a limited time, it’s on sale for just $27.99 (regularly $79).

Track your medications on iPhone in the Health app

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Don’t Skip Your Meds
Your iPhone and Apple Watch can help you track your meds.
Image: MorgueFile/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

The Apple Health app on your iPhone will help you track your medications. It has a lot of advanced options for all kinds of medicine — you can set up schedules, log your activity and even get advice on drug interactions. If you can connect with your health care provider through the Health app, setting it up is incredibly simple. Otherwise, you can just scan the label on the bottle using the camera to import it.

Let me show you how to get started.

There’s still hope for body temp sensor in Apple Watch Series 8

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There's still hope for body temperature sensor in Apple Watch Series 8
Apple Watch Series 8 will have a body temp sensor if Apple can get it right.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple developers are trying to enable the upcoming Apple Watch Series 8 to sense the wearer’s body temperature, according to a trusted analyst. But it’s not a done deal. Cupertino also hoped to make sensing body temp part of Series 7 but couldn’t work out the bugs.

This is just one of the health-related sensors that are proving to be a challenge for the Apple Watch team.

Apple Watch Series 8 health sensors might include blood glucose monitoring

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The Blood Oxygen sensor employs LEDs, along with photodiodes on the back crystal of Apple Watch Series 6.
Blood glucose monitoring could be a major change in Apple Watch Series 8.
Photo: Apple

Rumors that Apple Watch 7 would include be able to sense the wearer’s blood glucose didn’t pan out. But Apple is reportedly collaborating with a pair of Asian companies to add non-invasive blood sugar monitoring to the 2022 model.

This would add to the already lengthy list of health-monitoring features available in Apple’s current wearable.

Why I don’t want new health sensors in Apple Watch Series 7

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Does Apple Watch need more health sensors?
Does Apple Watch need more health sensors?
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Since Apple Watch gets a hardware update like clockwork every fall, it’s a safe bet we’ll see a Series 7 model next month alongside the iPhone 13. There are plenty of rumors about what to expect, including a better display and a new flat-edged design, both of which sound great to me.

But I’m less keen on the prospect that Apple Watch Series 7 might come with additional health sensors. Here’s why.

Apple developing mystery health hardware products

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Probably not the Apple health hardware products in development.
Probably not this.
Screenshot: NBCUniversal

A job posting leaves no room for doubt that Apple plans more health-related devices. The company seeks to hire a project manager to develop “Apple-branded Health Hardware products.”

The company doesn’t have anything like this now. It’s instead mostly concentrated on building wellness features into Apple Watch, iPhone and AirPods. And selling third-party health devices.

Fix battery drain, missing GPS data after updating to iOS 14, watchOS 7

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Fix GPS data loss iOS 14
It's not easy, but it's essential.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple has acknowledged problems with iOS 14 and watchOS 7 that can cause some users to lose GPS data and experience excessive battery drain on Apple Watch and iPhone — among other things.

There is a way to fix these issues and prevent future data loss, and it means resetting your devices. We’ll walk you through it.

Apple should take this Mac Health app concept to heart

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This Health for Mac concept expands the app beyond iOS.
Is it time to port the iPhone Health app to Mac? A concept artist thinks so.
Photo: Jordan Singer

A concept artist shows what the iPhone’s Health application could look like after being redesigned for Mac.

Currently, this software is only for iOS. There’s not even an iPad version. This concept, created in SwiftUI, hopes to convince Apple to change that.

Sweet dreams: Apple might make its own sleep-tracking mattress and blanket

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With its new Apple Watch feature, Apple is getting deeper into sleep tracking.
Coming soon to a bedroom near you?
Photo: bruce mars/Pexels CC

The iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and … Apple Blanket and iMattress? That might not sound like the next logical step for Cupertino, but an Apple patent application published Thursday describes a blanket, mattress and, err, camera setup that would monitor users’ vital signs as they catch forty winks.

In addition to sleep-tracking, this could measure users’ movements during sleep, their heart rate, and their body and room temperatures during the night. It could then heat up or cool down accordingly.

Outrun is a beautiful, privacy-first iPhone running app

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outrun
Run, in private, with Outrun.
Photo: Bruno Nascimento/Unsplash

Outrun is a privacy-focused run-tracking app that integrates with the Health app. (It’s also a seminal arcade racing game from 1986, but that’s not what we’re talking about today.) The Outrun running app is a great alternative to all those running and cycling apps that upload and/or sell your data to anyone who wants it, or drive you crazy with ads. Or both.

How to make your own coronavirus Ragmask

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Make your own protective mask with Ragmask's amazing guide.
Make your own protective mask with Ragmask's amazing guide.
Photo: Ragmask

Do you need a coronavirus mask? The World Health Organization still says no, unless you are caring for someone with COVID-19 or carrying the virus that causes it yourself. But perhaps The WHO isn’t as impartial as we’d like to think. As health experts’ opinions on the subject evolve, a DIY homemade mask looks increasingly enticing.

Perhaps wearing a mask when you take the subway or visit a supermarket is a good idea after all. Whatever, none of this changes the fact that you cannot buy a mask anywhere. But you can make your own. Check out the Ragmask, a homemade mask deign from Loren Brichter. Yes, that Loren Brichter — the former Apple employee who went on to develop Tweetie and was dubbed the “high priest of app design” by The Wall Street Journal.

Apple Watch needs a Sick Mode [Opinion]

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Apple Watch Sick Mode
The next time you get ill, your Apple Watch should help you get better.
Photo: Cult of Mac

When you‘ve caught a bad cold, the flu or a global pandemic, it’s no help that your Apple Watch keeps urging you to go for a run. That’s why this wearable needs a sick mode.

When it comes out this autumn, watchOS 7 should include a mode that gives good advice for people ill enough to need bed rest rather than a trip to the gym.

How to stay informed about coronavirus without terrifying yourself

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COVID-19 coronavirus news got you down? Don't panic!
Don't panic! You can keep up with COVID-19 news without going nuts.
Photo: Simon English/Unsplash

Open up a newspaper, visit a news site or turn on the TV, and you’ll see the end of the world is nigh. And, of course, the COVID-19 coronavirus is serious business, especially if you are in one of the vulnerable categories.

But that doesn’t mean you need to panic. In fact, panicking about anything usually just makes things worse. So, how do you stay informed about the rapidly spreading disease without succumbing to media terror?

You should really stop checking your phone all the time

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stop checking phone
It's hard not to pick up your iPhone all the time.
Photo: Tyler Lastovich/Unsplash

Your iPhone is amazing. And that’s part of its problem. Every time you’re at a loose end, waiting in line, or just think that you’re bored, you pull it out and graze those Home screen icons to find something that might interest you.

This, you may not be surprised to know, is unhealthy behavior.

Nail your New Year’s fitness resolutions with Apple Watch

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Cult of Mac magazine cover, issue 330
Your Apple Watch can help you nail your New Year's fitness resolutions.
Photo: Graham Bower / Cult of Mac

New year, new you! With the Twenty-twenties just getting started, it’s time to get rolling on your New Year’s resolutions.

If you want to make amends for pigging out and get in shape for the new decade, we have an essential guide to nailing your New Year’s resolutions with Apple Watch.

Plus we have a guide to getting started with HomeKit automation, some juicy new iPhone 12 rumors, and advice on how to control a remote Mac using iMessage screen sharing. It’s all in this week’s free Cult of Mac Magazine.

Apple Research app lets iPhone users join new health studies

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Apple-Research-app
Three studies are available from today (if you live in the U.S.).
Photo: Apple

Apple today unveiled its brand-new Research app for iPhone, with three new health studies for users in the United States.

The Apple Women’s Health Study, the Apple Heart and Movement Study, and the Apple Hearing Study are available from today. They give participants the opportunity to contribute to “groundbreaking medical discoveries with iPhone and Apple Watch.”

Apple brings Health Records to all US veterans with an iPhone

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Veterans-Health-Records
Sign up today inside the Health app.
Photo: Apple

Apple and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today confirmed the availability of Health Records on iPhone for veterans across the United States and surrounding territories.

The feature promises to provide a better understanding of veterans’ health across multiple providers. They include Johns Hopkins and the University of California, San Diego.

How to set up noise alerts on your Apple Watch

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Noise alerts
Things might get loud.
Photo: Jonny Caspari/Unsplash

In watchOS 6, your Apple Watch can monitor the noise levels around you, and warn you when things get too loud. This is an essential tool to help people who work in noisy environments avoid hearing damage, but it’s also a handy safeguard against excessive noise for anyone.

Here’s how to set up Apple Watch noise alerts.

Apple Watch’s health focus took Apple by surprise

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Apple Watch may have saved the life of a 79-year-old with heart condition
COO Jeff Williams says that Apple more or less stumbled into its health focus.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Apple didn’t predict how important health-tracking tech would be to the Apple Watch, COO Jeff Williams said in an interview published over the weekend.

“It was very organic,” he said. “Most people think we had this major health initiative, well, we had some notions in the beginning but no idea where it would lead. And honestly, it’s a situation where we started pulling on threads and the more we pulled, the more we realised there’s such a huge opportunity for us to impact people with the information that’s on their wrist.”

Two great sleep-tracker apps for Apple Watch

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apple watch sleep tracking
Zzzzzz!
Photo: Danny G/Unsplash

The new Apple Watch series 5, running watchOS 6, can track just about any kind of activity. But one thing it doesn’t track is your sleep. Or at least, it doesn’t offer sleep-tracking in a native form. That’s left to third-party app makers. Today we’ll see two great apps to do just that. One is ultra-simple, and the other is super deep. Let’s take a look.

Siri will one day discuss your health problems with you

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Spanish Siri labels Bolivian president a ‘dictator’
Less "What are you doing" and more "How are you doing?"
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

The ability to have back-and-forth conversations about users’ health problems is one of several new abilities planned for Siri in “fall 2021,” a new report claims.

Based on leaked documents, The Guardian says that Apple is planning a host of new features for its AI assistant. These will include built-in machine translation and, intriguingly, support for a new, unspecified piece of Siri hardware.

Bill Gates lures away one of Apple’s top health experts

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Microsoft should have been Apple's biggest mobile challenger, Bill Gates says.
Dr. Andrew Trister is leaving Apple to join the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Photo: Statsministerens kontor/Flickr CC

One of the first employees recruited for Apple’s health team has left Apple to join the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr. Andrew Trister joined Apple in 2016, shortly after it introduced Apple Watch. Since then, Apple has heavily piloted in the direction of health-tracking. Tim Cook has said Apple’s focus on health will be its, “greatest contribution to mankind.”