Apple has released new mental and vision health features to three of its products: iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and the watchOS 10.
Exactly what kind of features are these?
The health and wellness tools promote healthy behaviors, including reducing the risk for myopia—a first for any of Apple’s products.
With the new mental health features, users are able to log their momentary emotions and daily moods, view valuable insights to identify what might be contributing to their mood, and access mental health assessments and resources in their area.
What else is new?
The Health app is now available on the iPadOS 1 and is optimized for a larger display.The app is targeted toward enabling users to receive insights into their health data via the trends and highlights areas as well as sharing their data via the Health Sharing function.
Talk more about this myopia focus.
Apple is highlighting the global impact and detriment of myopia among the current population as well as the expected future impact (affecting an estimated 30% of people today vs an estimated 50% by 2050).
The company referred to two behaviors recommended among eyecare professionals for reducing the risk of myopia in pediatric patients: spending time outdoors and increasing the visual distance of near activities.
How are they including this in the new features?
The watchOS 10 Apple Watch is enabling users to measure the amount of time they spend outdoors in the daylight via the Health app; similarly, iPadOS 17 users are now also able to download the Health app for the same features.
But how does this help children?
According to the company, for children who have an Apple Watch but no iPhone can use the Family Setup function to pair their watch to their parents’ iPhone (parents are then able to view their children’s daylight time via the Health Sharing function).
What about addressing up-close activities?
Apple’s new Screen Distance features (similar to the camera used for Face ID) is designed to encourage users to move the device further away from their face after they hold it <12 inches away for an extended amount of time.
The intent, according to the company, is to remind children to adopt healthy viewing habits (thus, reducing the risk for myopia) and for adults to reduce digital eye strain.
Gotcha. Any other updates to know about?
Another notable feature is Medications, which allows users to have the option to receive follow-up reminders if they haven’t logged taking their scheduled medication.
Further, the function is able to set reminders as critical alerts to come through—regardless if the device has been muted or is in Focus mode.