Apple held a very exciting live event this week.
One thing that confused me and others, however, was that they did NOT mention anything about period tracking being added to the Health app.
I'm not the only one confused about this, btw.
“Seriously Apple, leaving out period tracking from an app that’s specifically for tracking personal health data?” http://t.co/cOuZIdeuiU
and they say technology isn’t gendered // iWatch HealthKit tracks COPPER INTAKE, but not women's cycles: http://t.co/7YsVSKsdU0
...to have another Apple Health release six months later, still without period tracking, requires active dismissal of the issue.
That's because it's not exactly news that the Health app weirdly doesn't include a period tracker.
It's just a little strange, given that the Health app is able to track pretty much everything else you might possibly think to care about when it comes to personal health information.
Things like Molybdenum intake, for example.
And that is certainly an important thing that matters for our general health, absolutely.
But being able to track your period is JUST AS IMPORTANT. Or, you know... more important, actually. At least when it comes to the sheer number of people who would benefit from it.
Here's why: Tracking monthly menstruation helps people take control over their fertility and family planning, which in turn helps them control their futures.
And yes, OK, of course, there are fertility- and period-tracker apps that we can all download from third-party companies in the App store. That's true.
But there are also food-tracking apps, and activity-tracking apps, and so on, and those are able to connect to HealthKit, and the tracking of their data appears in the Health app. Because the goal here is to help people be healthy by giving them all the tools they need in one place, right?
And it's kind of a matter of principle, also, if you know what I mean.
Why is a major component of health just completely ignored in the Health app? That seems remarkably... incomplete. Myopic. Flawed, even.
I mean, maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised about this, given how few women Apple seems to be consulting about their product and feature names...
