Now that iOS 8.0.2 is finally out in the wild those HealthKit-compatible apps that have been waiting in the wings can now go live. Apple’s helping them to find their feet too, with a special promotional section within the iTunes App Store called Apps for Health. Due to a few last-minute compatibility issues, HealthKit was disabled in the original iOS 8 roll-out, which meant apps that plugged into it had to play a waiting game. Now those apps can go live: WebMD, Human and FitStar Personal Tracker are three of the 14 apps that have so far shown up.
Health, powered by Apple’s HealthKit API, was one of the many lauded features of iOS 8. It’s Apple’s attempt to corral all your health data into one place and also empower disparate health apps with new features. Now, the platform is in full swing, complete with a new iTunes storefront. Right now, Apple’s curated content features 14 different apps that all use Apple’s new API, including personal trainers (FitStar), calorie counters (Human), and sleep trackers (MotionX 24/7). Also, WebMD’s massive encyclopedic knowledge of health and wellness integrates with Health. The page essentially provides a quick start guide of apps and services using Apple’s next generation of health-related mobile software. In some ways, these are the apps that braved the pioneered the unknown territory of HealthKit. Apps like RunKeeper even said they’d be waiting on launching any new version until all bugs were resolved, which ended up being pretty smart thinking. The atypically shaky HealthKit launch, which had some developers worried about the Apple’s health platform, started with a last-minute delay hours before iOS 8’s official launch. Apple’s next software update, iOS 8.0.1 fixed the HealthKit but introduced much more serious problems by basically turning all new iPhones into really expensive iPod Touches.
