How Apple is addressing mental health with new iOS 17 features

Apple revealed new physical and mental health capabilities for iOS 17 (as well as iPadOS 17 and watchOS 10) on Monday during the WWDC 2023 event. One significant upgrade offers a simple way to evaluate and track symptoms in an effort to lessen the consequences of anxiety and depression. There is additional information.

Here are the most recent innovations for mental health that are coming to iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches worldwide.

What has the Apple Health app added recently?

An organized method to view your critical health information is through the Apple Health app. For instance, you can create a sleep routine and view your activity highlights, including average steps.

With the release of iPadOS 17, the Health app will be available on the device for the first time. This will increase the number of Apple devices on which you can access your health information, enabling you to keep track of your wellbeing from almost anywhere. Helping users maintain their bodily and, soon, emotional wellbeing is the goal. Apple also unveiled new mental health features for the Apple Health app at WWDC 2023, such as the capability to assess your mental health and reflect on it.

How the mental health tools in Apple Health operate.

Think about your mental state.

You can think about your “state of mind” or how you’re feeling in the Apple Health app on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, as well as the Mindfulness app on watchOS 10. A new sliding scale of feelings has been introduced, with each feeling represented by a different hue and ranging from very awful to very nice. You can even choose the elements that are influencing your emotions, such as family, and any adjectives that reflect your state of mind, such as appreciative.

Because sleep and exercise can affect your mood, this feeling element links to the Health app as a whole. By making the connections, you may manage your health more effectively.

Take evaluations

On the Health app, you may always take fresh tests for depression and anxiety. These evaluations are the same ones that are frequently applied in clinical settings.

You can use the evaluation to ascertain your level of risk, find nearby resources, and generate a PDF to share the results with a doctor. The risk level findings provide advised course of action.

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Are there any upcoming improvements for Apple products related to mental health?

Other health-related announcements made on Monday concentrated on journaling and medication reminders. A new Journal app with machine learning-powered journal ideas will be included in the next iOS 17 upgrade. The Journal Suggestions API selects moments for journaling from your most recent images, workouts, and other sources. Additionally, the drugs feature in iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10 allows you to choose whether or not to receive notifications about taking your prescribed drugs on time.

When will you be able to test out these new mental health features?

With the upcoming significant upgrade to iOS, Apple will release the new Apple Health app and the app’s mental health capabilities. A public beta of iOS 17 will be made available in July at beta.apple.com, but members of the Apple Developer Program can access the developer beta right away at developer.apple.com. For iPhone XS and later, the update will be widely accessible this fall as a free software update.
What makes Apple’s health updates significant?

Apple focused on topics that had a broad influence. For instance, Apple noted that the mental health assessment in the Health app is important because “in a recent survey, more than 30% of US adults said they have experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression.”