Apple seemingly removing HealthKit compatible iOS 8 apps from App Store due to issues
Several apps began rolling out on the App Store this morning with HealthKit support for Apple's new Health app, but it seems issues on Apple's side have forced HealthKit-compatible apps to be completely removed …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's health push has been building all year: June coverage framed HealthKit's focus on data collection rather than interpretation, August reporting had Apple in talks with Mount Sinai, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and Allscripts, and earlier this month Apple laid out developer rules for HealthKit, HomeKit, TestFlight, and Extensions ahead of the iOS 8 launch.
Today, the first HealthKit-compatible apps began appearing on the App Store alongside the iOS 8 release — and were then pulled, reportedly over issues on Apple's side. The story travelled widely on the same day (MacRumors, VentureBeat, Business Insider, iMore, among others), but the removal remains unconfirmed by Apple, so the 'seemingly' in the headline is doing real work.
First-order effects
- Developers who shipped HealthKit-enabled app updates overnight see them disappear from sale on launch day, costing them visibility during the highest-traffic window of the iOS 8 cycle.
- Users buying into the new Health app on day one find its third-party app ecosystem empty, undercutting the marquee feature Apple is pitching alongside the iPhone 6 launch.
Second-order effects
- Developers will hold back further HealthKit integration until Apple ships a fix, delaying the pipeline of compatible apps that Apple's September 2 rules were designed to seed.
- The hospital systems Apple has been courting for HealthKit pilots face a slipped starting line, since their integrations depend on a functioning consumer-side app store.
Third-order effects
- If framework launches keep arriving broken at major iOS releases, developers will learn to treat day-one adoption of new Apple APIs as risky, shifting real integration work to point releases — which hands Apple's platform team de facto control over when the health-data ecosystem actually comes online.
The trend: Apple's health-data ambitions are converging on a pattern where the App Store gatekeeper role, not developer readiness, sets the pace at which new platform capabilities reach users.