Apple Health: Massive Shift 🍎🤯 What Changed?
Tech
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Following a recent leadership shift within Apple’s health organization, the company has scaled back its plans for Project Mulberry, an initiative intended to bring an AI-powered health coach to the Health app. Originally, the project involved training an AI agent on data from Apple-hired physicians, alongside input from sleep experts, nutritionists, and medical professionals. Apple had established a studio in Oakland, California, to produce educational video content. Subsequent organizational changes, including the retirement of longtime COO Jeff Williams and the restructuring of Apple’s AI divisions, led to a reassessment of the project’s scope. Despite these alterations, Apple continues to pursue various health-related advancements, including a camera-based walking analysis feature and an AI chatbot leveraging internal knowledge systems. These ongoing efforts, coupled with planned Siri enhancements, demonstrate Apple’s sustained commitment to integrating AI and health technologies within its ecosystem.
PROJECT MULBERRY: A SHIFTING STRATEGY
Apple’s ambitious Project Mulberry, initially envisioned as a comprehensive AI-powered health coach integrated within a revamped Health app, has undergone a significant scaling back following internal restructuring within the company’s health organization. The original plan, detailed extensively by Bloomberg, involved leveraging data from Apple-hired physicians, sleep experts, nutritionists, physical therapists, mental health professionals, and cardiologists to create educational video content. This content was to be produced in a newly established studio in Oakland, California, and was slated for release alongside iOS 26. However, leadership changes and competitive pressures have prompted a revised approach, prioritizing a phased rollout of key features.
INTERNAL REORGANIZATION AND COMPETITIVE PRESSURES
The strategic shift behind Project Mulberry’s scaling back is deeply rooted in internal organizational changes and a heightened awareness of the competitive landscape. The retirement of longtime COO Jeff Williams and the subsequent shift in oversight of health and fitness teams to services chief Eddy Cue signaled a fundamental change in priorities. Simultaneously, the departure of Apple’s senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea, and the integration of his organization into the broader software engineering group under Craig Federighi, highlighted a refocusing of resources. This restructuring was driven by a recognition that Apple needed to accelerate its progress and offer more compelling features in the health space, particularly in response to rivals like Oura Health and Whoop, who had gained traction with their iPhone-integrated apps. The executive acknowledged that existing plans for the new health service were not meeting the required bar for innovation and competitiveness.
PHASED FEATURE ROLLOUT AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Despite the changes to Project Mulberry, Apple remains committed to enhancing the Health app with several key features. These include the implementation of an iPhone camera-based tool for analyzing gait, an AI chatbot capable of answering user questions about well-being, and leveraging Apple’s internal “World Knowledge Answers” system – a technology designed to rival Google’s Gemini and Perplexity. Furthermore, Apple is planning to integrate revamped Siri to support more advanced health-related queries across the Health app and its operating systems, with anticipated rollout coinciding with iOS 27. The company is also exploring modifications to Apple Fitness+, its existing $9.99-per-month guided workout service, suggesting a layered approach to health innovation within the Apple ecosystem.
This article is AI-synthesized from public sources and may not reflect original reporting.