Cupertino, California, February 6, 2026, 01:23 (PST)
- Apple is scaling back plans for an AI-driven health coach code-named “Mulberry,” a report said.
- The company is now expected to roll out pieces of the work inside the Health app over time, rather than as a single new service.
- Apple shares were down about 0.2% in premarket trading.
Apple is scaling back plans for a virtual health coach powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and will instead roll out parts of the effort gradually inside its Health app, Bloomberg News reported late on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Bloomberg
The shift matters because Apple has leaned harder on services and health features to keep customers inside its ecosystem, especially as hardware growth has become less predictable. A coach that turns Apple Watch data into daily advice had been pitched internally as a new way to deepen engagement — and potentially sell more subscriptions.
It also lands at a moment when tech firms are racing to bolt AI onto consumer products, but health is a tougher arena. Wrong or sloppy guidance can turn into a safety issue fast, and privacy expectations are higher when the data is about your body.
Services chief Eddy Cue, who now oversees Apple’s health and fitness groups after Jeff Williams’ retirement, has told colleagues Apple “needs to move faster and be more competitive in health,” a report cited by 9to5Mac said. The same report said Cue pointed to newer rivals including Oura and Whoop as offering “more compelling and useful features,” and that he is also weighing changes to Apple Fitness+, Apple’s $9.99-a-month workout subscription that competes with Peloton. 9To5Mac
Apple has never announced a “Health+” service, but the project has been discussed in leaks as a bundle of new features, including an AI chat-style interface and professional health videos, AppleInsider wrote. The report said the new direction would break those ideas into smaller releases, rather than launching one big product all at once. Appleinsider
FoneArena said the internal effort had been planned alongside iOS 26 — iOS is Apple’s iPhone operating system — before slipping toward iOS 27 and then being reshaped. The report said it was meant to blend surveys and health assessments with Apple Watch data and even outside lab reports to generate wellness recommendations. Fonearena
The reports said Apple has built out a studio in Oakland, California, to film health and training content, and that some of the material could still be repurposed and released later this year inside the existing Health app.
One feature still being developed would use the iPhone camera for gait analysis — a way to measure how someone walks — and spot changes that might signal a problem, the reports said.
Separately, Apple is working on an AI chatbot tied to an internal system called World Knowledge Answers and expects a more conversational Siri in iOS 27 that can handle more health-related questions across its devices, the reports said.
Apple shares were down about 0.2% in premarket trading at $275.91.
But the plans remain fluid. Apple has not publicly outlined a Health+ subscription or the Mulberry project, and both timing and scope could shift again as the company tests what it can ship safely in an area that edges close to medical advice.
Latestly, citing Bloomberg, described the move as a pivot away from a standalone coaching product and toward embedding the features directly into the Health app over a longer rollout. Latestly
