Apple Has Been Working on an AI Health Coach Since 2025, and Ios 27.2 Doesn’t Bring It Either

iOS 27.2 is now rolling out to iPhones, and if you were waiting for Apple's redesigned Health app, you will have to keep waiting. The new app was tested in iOS 27.2 betas for weeks, then quietly removed in the fourth beta on October 13. The final update has shipped without it.

On its own, a feature slipping from one update to the next isn't unusual. But Apple's health plans have now slipped several times in the last 18 months, and that is starting to say something about where Apple stands in a race it was once expected to lead.

What iPhone users were supposed to get

The redesigned Health app was meant to be Apple's biggest health update in years. According to MacRumors, it includes health summaries that update through the day, an Insights tab that tracks your data over time and a Health Age score calculated from your activity, VO2 max, sleep and other measures. It can also run fitness checks for flexibility and balance on your iPhone and give Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 owners a daily readiness score.

In the US, users would also be able to book a $119 lab test through Quest Diagnostics, with the results feeding into their Health Age.

Apple hasn't explained why the app was pulled. A message in the beta told testers their data wouldn't be lost and that the redesign "will become available in a future update." Apple has reportedly confirmed it is still coming later this year.

A delay that keeps repeating

This isn't the first time Apple's health ambitions have run behind schedule. In March 2025, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was building an AI-powered health coach, internally called Project Mulberry, as part of a Health app overhaul.

By February this year, Bloomberg reported that Apple had scaled that plan back. Eddy Cue, Apple's services chief, took over the health division after Jeff Williams retired and reportedly felt the AI coach didn't meet the company's standards. The coach has been delayed, not cancelled, but there is still no firm date for it.

Now the redesign itself, which seemed to be the safer part of the plan, has missed its expected release too.

The timing doesn't help Apple. Google launched the Fitbit Air in India this month at Rs 13,999, and it already comes with the Gemini-powered Google Health Coach through a three-month Premium trial. Google is also rolling out monthly reports for blood pressure and insulin resistance trends on the Fitbit Air.

Oura's new Ring 5, which launched in India last week, offers features like Health Radar and blood pressure pattern tracking. Even Deepinder Goyal's Temple is promising brain blood flow tracking from November. Not all of these are proven, but they are in buyers' hands while Apple's next step is still in beta.

Why Indian users should temper expectations

There is another catch for iPhone users in India. According to MacRumors, the redesigned Health app will launch in US English first, with no timeline yet for other languages. The Quest Diagnostics lab tests are a US-only service.

That means even when the update does arrive, some of its most talked-about features may not be available here at launch. Health Age, for instance, works best with the lab data that Indian users won't be able to add.

None of this means Apple's health push is in trouble. Taking extra time on something as sensitive as health data can be the right call, and the Apple Watch still has the best health tracking among smartwatches for many users. But after 18 months of delays, Apple can no longer assume people will wait. For now, iOS 27.2 is worth installing for its other fixes and features, just don't expect a new Health app when it's done.