Health and fitness-tracking app updates pulled, with cure expected by the end of September
Apple may have launched its iOS 8 software update for iOS devices, but one of its key features ran into last-minute problems forcing developers to pull their apps.
HealthKit is Apple’s new platform for health and fitness apps to share people’s data between themselves, as well as with the new Health app that’s part of iOS 8.
A number of apps were expected to launch HealthKit-compatible updates as iOS 8 rolled out, but they are now unlikely to go live until the end of September.
“We discovered a bug that prevents us from making HealthKit apps available on iOS 8 today,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told CNET, in a statement.
“We’re working quickly to have the bug fixed in a software update and have HealthKit apps available by the end of the month.”
Having its ambitious new fitness system derailed by a surprise bug is a setback for Apple, which has been working with a number of developers and medical institutions on its move into personal health.
MyFitnessPal, WebMD and Carrot Fit are among the apps affected by the last-minute delay. Carrot Fit developer Brian Mueller told Cult of Mac that he was informed of the problems in a call from Apple.
“The rep couldn’t clarify what was wrong, though users of the app who had already downloaded the update were able to use the HealthKit features without any issue.”
Although apps using HealthKit were removed from Apple’s App Store, most are expected to revert to previous versions in the coming days, while Apple works on a fix for the bug.
HealthKit, along with Apple’s soon-to-launch Apple Pay payment system, is under particular scrutiny since the recent mass-leak of celebrities’ private photos, many of which were stolen by “brute-force” attacks on their iCloud accounts.
There is currently no indication that the HealthKit bug is related to security, but with Apple aiming to make iOS users feel comfortable tracking and storing their personal health data on its devices, launching HealthKit with any major bug could spark unease.
HealthKit is also a key part of the upcoming Apple Watch product, but if the company meets its goal of fixing the problem by the end of September, the bug is unlikely to have an impact on the wearable device’s launch in early 2015.
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Apple may have launched its iOS 8 software update for iOS devices, but one of its key features ran into last-minute problems forcing developers to pull their apps.
HealthKit is Apple’s new platform for health and fitness apps to share people’s data between themselves, as well as with the new Health app that’s part of iOS 8.
A number of apps were expected to launch HealthKit-compatible updates as iOS 8 rolled out, but they are now unlikely to go live until the end of September.
“We discovered a bug that prevents us from making HealthKit apps available on iOS 8 today,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told CNET, in a statement.
“We’re working quickly to have the bug fixed in a software update and have HealthKit apps available by the end of the month.”
Having its ambitious new fitness system derailed by a surprise bug is a setback for Apple, which has been working with a number of developers and medical institutions on its move into personal health.
MyFitnessPal, WebMD and Carrot Fit are among the apps affected by the last-minute delay. Carrot Fit developer Brian Mueller told Cult of Mac that he was informed of the problems in a call from Apple.
“The rep couldn’t clarify what was wrong, though users of the app who had already downloaded the update were able to use the HealthKit features without any issue.”
Although apps using HealthKit were removed from Apple’s App Store, most are expected to revert to previous versions in the coming days, while Apple works on a fix for the bug.
HealthKit, along with Apple’s soon-to-launch Apple Pay payment system, is under particular scrutiny since the recent mass-leak of celebrities’ private photos, many of which were stolen by “brute-force” attacks on their iCloud accounts.
There is currently no indication that the HealthKit bug is related to security, but with Apple aiming to make iOS users feel comfortable tracking and storing their personal health data on its devices, launching HealthKit with any major bug could spark unease.
HealthKit is also a key part of the upcoming Apple Watch product, but if the company meets its goal of fixing the problem by the end of September, the bug is unlikely to have an impact on the wearable device’s launch in early 2015.
Like on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
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