Apple is preparing to significantly upgrade its Health app – this time, with an intelligent AI-based agent that will serve as a kind of personal doctor in your pocket. According to a report by Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, this is a new project called Mulberry, which is expected to be unveiled along with the iOS 19.4 operating system in the coming spring. The project is already in advanced stages, and Apple has begun recruiting doctors and various health experts to train the new agent and build around it a much broader health service than what we currently know from the built-in app.
Apple's vision is to offer users a digital health coach who deeply understands their physical and mental condition – and can respond, advise, and guide based on real information, collected from Apple devices over time. Anyone deeply connected to the Apple ecosystem – with an Apple Watch, iPhone, and even iCloud services – is expected to see this new AI analyzing their sleep patterns, examining eating habits, and suggesting small steps for continuous improvement. This effort unites several teams within Apple, including the company’s artificial intelligence group, and appears to be gaining momentum toward a commercial launch.
But Apple isn’t stopping at just a talking algorithm. According to reports, the company is currently building a new recording studio in Oakland, California, where real doctors – including nutritionists, cardiologists, physiotherapists, and sleep experts – will be filmed in explanatory videos that will be part of the new experience. The goal: to help users better understand alarming trends or health changes and to provide explanations in accessible language. In addition, Apple is considering recruiting a well-known “medical persona” to serve as the presenter of the service – similar to how streaming services recruit hosts or stars to lead content.
This service, which according to internal reports at Apple is currently called “Health+,” will also include improved nutritional tracking – one of the main goals is to enable users to track what they eat, in a simpler and more accurate way than ever before. The AI is expected not only to track but also to offer real-time nutritional recommendations.
Another intriguing innovation is in the fitness area: Apple is exploring the possibility of using the iPhone’s rear cameras to observe workouts performed by users – whether at home or in the gym – and analyze movement and technique. The idea is that the smart agent could offer corrections and recommendations to improve performance, and perhaps later integrate this feature into the existing Apple Fitness+ service.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has stated more than once in the past that he hopes Apple’s greatest contribution to society won’t be the iPhone or the MacBook – but rather a real transformation in the field of health. If this project succeeds, it may indeed be taking a big step in that direction.