We were supposed to start using Apple’s Health app weeks ago, when iOS 8 launched. It’s dependent on other apps to feed it nutrition data, workout sessions, and vital signs via Apple’s HealthKit software, which developers build into their offerings. The challenge for Apple is that the Health app, by itself, doesn’t do anything. If you’re going to put the bar all the way up there, you’d better be able to jump up, grab it, and knock out a solid pull-up. But this is Apple, which has set expectations around its push into health and fitness sky-high. It’s easy to be critical of a 1.0 version of any piece of software. I have to imagine that’s what Apple’s software designers had in mind when they created the first version of the Health app that’s getting installed on millions of new and upgraded iPhones. You know those super-awkward “before” shots with a fat guy holding a newspaper as he’s about to start a diet and workout regimen?

ReadWriteBody is an ongoing series where ReadWrite covers networked fitness and the quantified self.

Connect apple health to myfitnesspal