Apple’s “services” business has grown significantly in recent years, leading to some users becoming weary of the growing subscription trend. But Apple’s announcement of iOS 27 on the planned “Health+” service is good news for weary subscribers.
Apple has reportedly scrapped plans for a new ‘Health+’ service.
There is no doubt that services have become a very important part of Apple’s business.
People usually think of services like Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and the Apple One bundle first.
But the company’s ever-growing service revenue is much more diverse, including things like a lucrative search deal with Google, the App Store, AppleCare and more.
However, there is a common narrative that Apple is trying to push subscriptions on users all the time. For example, when Apple’s recent Creator Studio bundle was launched, it earned a mixed reaction from jaded subscribers.
But yesterday, and Bloomberg news brought good news for anyone tired of subscriptions.
Mark Gurman reported that Apple has decided to move away from plans for a paid service “Health+” in iOS 27.
“Apple Health+” features will now be added to iOS 27 and later for free
According to Gurman’s report, Eddy Cue recently took charge of the Health division and didn’t think Apple’s planned AI-powered Health+ service was the way forward.
Instead, Gurman writes, “Apple now plans to take some of the features it planned for an AI-powered offering and roll them out individually within its Health app.”
The report mentions two specific new features coming in iOS 27:
- video content created by Apple that is “designed to explain health conditions, guide users through training plans and offer wellness education”
- personalized AI-generated recommendations on how users can improve their health, based on data from the Health app
He says more features from the planned service will gradually be added to the iOS Health app.
While I was looking forward to the Health+ service, I’m thankful that I don’t have another subscription to deal with. And it looks like iOS 27 and beyond will bring planned upgrades to the Health app completely free.
I’m fine with Apple offering new subscriptions as needed when it makes sense. For example, I’d still like Apple Books to get a subscription option.
But it’s great to see that, at least in this case, Apple is willing to move away from the possibility of recurring revenue in favor of providing new features for free.
What do you take away from this news about Apple’s iOS 27 Health plans? Let us know in the comments.
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