Project Discontinuation and Strategic Shift
Apple Inc. has made a significant strategic decision to scale back its ambitious plans for a standalone virtual health coach, marking a notable shift in how the technology giant approaches the rapidly expanding wellness services market. The initiative, internally code-named Mulberry, was officially wound down in recent weeks after years of development and investment.
According to sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the decision, Apple now intends to distribute the features originally designed for this AI-powered health coaching service across its existing Health app ecosystem. This represents a fundamental change in approach from launching a comprehensive standalone service to integrating capabilities incrementally into established platforms.
Leadership Restructuring and Vision Changes
The decision reflects evolving leadership perspectives on Apple’s health services strategy. Key executives have reevaluated whether the proposed standalone health service met the company’s standards for market-ready products. Additionally, the company is exploring potential modifications to Apple Fitness+, its $9.99 monthly subscription service that competes directly with Peloton Interactive Inc.’s digital workout platform. An Apple spokesperson declined to provide official comment on these strategic changes.
The Mulberry Initiative Explained
The health coaching project, also referred to internally as Health+, represented Apple’s most ambitious foray into personalized wellness services powered by artificial intelligence. The comprehensive system was designed to revolutionize how users interact with their health data and receive actionable wellness guidance.
Planned Capabilities and Features
The virtual coach was intended to generate detailed, personalized health reports and deliver AI-driven recommendations to help users proactively improve their overall well-being. This would have marked Apple’s first major venture into providing prescriptive health guidance rather than simply tracking health metrics. The service aimed to synthesize data from multiple sources, including new health surveys, comprehensive assessments, Apple Watch sensor readings, and even external laboratory test results.
Content Studio Development
As part of this extensive effort, Apple established a dedicated content production studio in Oakland, California, specifically to create video programming for the Health app. This multimedia content was designed to serve multiple educational purposes: explaining complex medical conditions in accessible language, guiding users through structured training and fitness plans, and providing comprehensive wellness education across various health domains.
Competitive Pressures Driving Change
Apple faces increasingly formidable competition in the health-tracking and wellness technology sector. Samsung Electronics Co. has been gaining significant market traction with its health monitoring capabilities, while specialized fitness platforms like Strava continue expanding their user bases and feature sets.
OpenAI’s Health Entry
Perhaps most significantly, OpenAI recently disrupted the market by launching ChatGPT Health, a sophisticated tool capable of analyzing health data, answering medical questions, and providing personalized feedback. This move by a major AI competitor likely influenced Apple’s strategic recalculation regarding the standalone health coach concept and the most effective way to compete in this evolving landscape.
Timeline of Delays and Postponements
The Mulberry project experienced multiple significant postponements before its eventual cancellation. Apple initially targeted launching the service alongside the iOS 26 operating system last year. However, development challenges led to the first delay, pushing the anticipated release to spring of the following year.
Subsequently, the company postponed the debut yet again, rescheduling it for September with the planned iOS 27 release. These repeated delays ultimately contributed to the fundamental strategy change, with leadership deciding to abandon the standalone service concept entirely in favor of incremental feature integration.
Features Being Repurposed and Integrated
Despite discontinuing Mulberry as a standalone service, Apple plans to salvage and repurpose substantial portions of the developed technology and content. The video programming created at the Oakland content studio will be integrated into the existing Health app, potentially rolling out as early as this year.
Data-Driven Suggestions
Certain capabilities, particularly AI-powered suggestions based on existing Health app data analysis, will be introduced gradually rather than as part of a comprehensive new service. This approach allows Apple to deliver value to users while avoiding the risks and resource commitments associated with launching an entirely new product category.
Innovative Assessment Tools
One particularly innovative feature remains in active development: technology that utilizes an iPhone’s camera to analyze and evaluate a person’s walking gait. This capability could provide valuable insights into mobility, balance, and potential health concerns through simple, non-invasive assessment methods.
Future Health Technology Roadmap
Apple continues advancing multiple health-related initiatives despite the Mulberry cancellation. Recent years have seen the addition of features like sleep apnea detection and hypertension notifications to Apple devices. However, these tools primarily serve as screening mechanisms that flag potential conditions rather than helping users actively manage diagnosed health issues.
AI Chatbot Development
The company is developing an AI-powered chatbot that would enable users to ask natural language questions about their health and well-being. This technology draws upon an internal system called World Knowledge Answers, designed to compete with Google’s Gemini-powered search capabilities and specialized applications like Perplexity.
Enhanced Siri Integration
Looking toward longer-term objectives, Apple plans to integrate an upgraded Siri chatbot—scheduled to debut later this year with iOS 27—to support more sophisticated health-related queries throughout the Health app and across operating systems. Additionally, a long-running research project aims to develop noninvasive sensor technology for continuous glucose monitoring, which would represent a breakthrough in diabetes management.
