NYT: Apple to Debut Health Tracking App, ‘Smart Home’ Plans at WWDC 2014

According to the New York Times, their sources are reiterating previous rumours about what to expect at tomorrow’s WWDC keynote:

Along with operating system updates for mobile and desktop machines, Apple plans to introduce at its annual developers’ conference on Monday a new health-tracking app, according to a person briefed on the product, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans were confidential. The app for mobile devices will track statistics for health or fitness, like a user’s footsteps, heart rate and sleep activity.

Sources say the health app will receive data from third-party fitness and health accessories and will “most likely” be able to also connect with Apple’s rumoured smart watch, expected to release sometime later this year.

Rumours of Apple’s ‘Healthbook’ app were first leaked in January by 9to5Mac while alleged screenshots surfaced later in March. Reuters corroborated the rumours last month, while yesterday trademark filings revealed upcoming products could be named ‘Healthbook’, ‘HealthKit’ and ‘iResearch’.

Another announcement Apple will make is an initiative related to ‘smart home’ accessories, such as the possible introduction of a software development kit to allow developers to connect their apps better to connected appliances and items such as light bulbs, thermostats, or door locks. Previous rumours cited this initiative would be a ‘Made for iPhone’ program but related to smart home accessories.

As for the expected preview of OS X 10.10, the NYT says the overall look will resemble the “flat design” of iOS 7, which debuted last year.

NYT journalist Brian Chen on Friday debunked rumours of iOS 8 would debut a new split-screen multitasking feature at WWDC 2014.