(Image credit: Future)

• Apple is reportedly developing an AI-powered health chatbot as part of a new Health+ subscription
• The chatbot would help users manage their health, but Apple must prove it offers more value than similar offerings already bundled into rivals like Whoop and Oura
• Unless it meaningfully improves on today’s gimmicky tools, the feature risks becoming bloatware rather than a reason to pay for yet another subscription

Apple’s health-conscious AI chatbot is still in the works, and could be set to launch as soon as next year - opening the door to a new Health+ subscription fee.

Top insider Mark Gurman had previously reported in March thatApple was working on an AI-powered chatbot that the company planned to incorporate into a Health+ subscription. Now the Bloomberg journalist has doubled-down on this rumor, stating “a revamped Health app with a new Health+ service,” is on the horizon.

Gurman adds, the Health+ subscription “will include an AI agent that helps users manage their health. If successful, the service could make Apple one of the first major tech companies to gain steam in the health AI chatbot space.”

Considering Apple’s current AI woes, with sub-par Apple Intelligence offerings, an AI-powered chatbot that can help with your health metrics *could *be the perfect addition to the company’s AI catalog, alongside the Gemini-powered Siri we expect to see next year.

That said, will the AI health chatbot be enough to tempt users to pay yet another subscription? Apple wouldn’t be the first company to integrate AI into its health and fitness offering, but unless it stands out from the crowd, it might just be another chatbot gimmick.

Apple’s AI doctor could be a huge hit

I’ve used a Whoop for nearly a year now, and previously wore an Oura ring. Both smart health products already have AI chatbots incorporated into their subscription fees, but honestly, they’re more gimmick than genuinely useful additions.

You know the drill; an AI chatbot built into an app to answer questions on the data you can already find for yourself. Don’t get me wrong, I bet some users love the inclusion of AI into these health apps, but these chatbots don’t add anything new. If anything, they’re just better search fields.

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Apple’s AI health chatbot is still under wraps, and it’s hard to know exactly how it would work. But one thing’s for sure; in order to warrant a subscription fee as part of the long-rumored Apple Health+, this use of AI needs to go beyond the offerings from the Apple Watch’s competitors. If not, it’s just more bloatware to give the perception that the best smartwatch is powered by AI smarts, when in reality it’s just a relatively useless add-on.

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John-Anthony Disotto is TechRadar’s Senior Writer, AI, bringing you the latest news on, and comprehensive coverage of, tech’s biggest buzzword. An expert on all things Apple, he was previously iMore’s How To Editor, and has a monthly column in MacFormat. John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade, and is an award-winning journalist with years of experience in editorial.