Apple has released the second public beta of iOS 27.2, a day after the developer build. It is the first test version that lets you get hands-on with the new Health app, unveiled in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro. Alongside iOS come betas of iPadOS, macOS Golden Gate, tvOS and watchOS 27.2.
The final release is expected by the end of October. To try the beta you need to sign up to Apple’s testing programme and update from Settings > Software Update.
What changes in the Health app
The app has been redesigned around three tabs: Insights, Longevity and Browse.
Insights gathers a summary, updated throughout the day, covering heart, sleep, fitness, vital signs and cycle. A “For You” section offers tips and articles based on your data: for example, suggestions for fixing your sleep habits after a few late nights.
Longevity looks at your data over time, across seven areas: cardiovascular health, sleep, mental wellbeing, mobility, metabolism, hearing and nutrition. This is where the most talked-about new feature appears, Health Age: a figure that compares how the user’s metrics are doing against their chronological age. It is based on Apple Watch data such as VO2 max, resting heart rate, sleep and heart rate variability, and can also use lab results such as glycated haemoglobin and LDL cholesterol, if the user adds them.
Apple also describes movement tests that measure flexibility, strength, balance and VO2 max using the iPhone’s camera and the Apple Watch. According to the company, the analysis happens on the device, and no video is recorded or shared. In cycle tracking you can also indicate perimenopause or menopause; from the age of 40 onwards, the app can alert you when the changes it records suggest perimenopause.
The other new features in the beta
- Siri AI supports French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.
- FaceTime adds dual capture for group calls.
- Apple TV app with profiles on iPhone too.
- Podcasts with a revamped interface for organising episodes.
- During calls, reminders such as birthdays and anniversaries may appear, if they are entered in Contacts.
Availability: what about Italy?
Here the news is less good for those of us reading in Italy. Apple has explained that the new Health app launches in US English, with other languages “later”, and that some features may not be available in every region. Siri AI, in the beta’s list of languages, does not include Italian. Apple has not announced a date for its arrival in Italian.
The lab tests that can be bought through the app, in partnership with Quest Diagnostics (over 50 biomarkers, 119 dollars), are valid only in the United States. Health Age requires an Apple Watch, and the full package an iPhone or iPad compatible with Apple Intelligence. Some features are restricted to adults.
What we think
The idea of reading your health data over the long term, rather than leaving it as a pile of charts, makes sense: the Health app has always been rich in numbers and poor in guidance. Insights and Longevity move in that direction.
The risk lies in the single number. A “health age” is easy to understand and to share, but it remains an estimate built on a handful of metrics from a watch. It should be read as a nudge to move more and sleep better, not as a medical assessment; Apple itself presents it as a comparison between metrics and chronological age.
For Italian users, for now, the practical choice is to wait. Those who already have an Apple Watch can, however, see how Apple is shifting the weight of the watch: sensors and data are at the heart of the new generation too, as we reported when writing about the Apple Watch Ultra 4. For the other big strand of iOS 27, the assistant, we recall what Apple had to deliver with Siri.
If you want to try the beta, do so on a secondary device: test versions can have bugs and unusual battery drain.
Written by the SpazioiTech newsroom with the help of AI tools, from facts verified across at least two independent outlets, and checked before publication. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Translated from the Italian original. Read in Italian
