Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.30-130133/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-03-30/apple-readies-biggest-push-into-health-yet-with-revamped-app-ai-doctor-service-m8vl97k2

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has maintained that, when all is said and done, his company’s greatest contribution to society will be in health care.

It’s a bold statement for a company best known for consumer devices (albeit, one that has made forays into everything from Hollywood movies to financial services). It’s even bolder when you consider that the Apple Watch has yet to live up to the dream of becoming a “medical lab on your wrist” and the company’s Health app is still fairly rudimentary.

But the company has some moon-shot initiatives in the works that could indeed transform the health industry. That includes a 15-year-plus project to create a noninvasive glucose monitor. The idea, which originated while Steve Jobs was still alive, is to add a sensor to the Apple Watch that can inform users if they are prediabetic, helping them potentially avoid the full-blown condition.

While the project remains active and has reached key milestones, the company is still many years away from delivering the feature. Apple also has hit some snags with other health sensors, such as those for blood oxygen and hypertension. The former was stripped from the Apple Watch due to a patent fight, and the latter continues to suffer roadblocks in development.

Against that backdrop, Apple’s health team is working on something that could have a quicker payoff — and help the company finally deliver on Cook’s vision. The initiative is called Project Mulberry, and it involves a completely revamped Health app plus a health coach. The service would be powered by a new AI agent that would replicate — at least to some extent — a real doctor.

I first wrote about this plan a couple of years ago, when it was code-named Project Quartz. Since then, the effort has taken many twists and turns and has roped in other parts of Apple, including its artificial intelligence group. Development is now full steam ahead, with a release due as early as iOS 19.4. That update is scheduled for spring or summer of next year.