Apple Looks to Consolidate Health and Fitness Data With HealthKit

Apple made its long-anticipated foray into health and fitness information gathering with HealthKit, a Passbook-like application that pulls in data from third-party apps and consolidates them in one comprehensive health-related profile.

There are existing apps for “everything from monitoring your activity level, to your weight, to chronic medical conditions like blood pressure and diabetes,” Apple’s Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, said. “But right now that information lives in silos.”

With HealthKit in iOS 8, there’s now a single profile of activity and health. Not surprisingly, Apple named Nike as an early partner in this. But it also named the reputable Mayo Clinic as a partner.