Apple Adds Medication Tracking Feature to Health App

Apple announced that it is adding a new tool to remind people to take their medications to the iPhone's Health app. Apple Watch is also getting additional sleep tracking features.

The new medication app will allow users to add any medication they take by scanning a label on a medication bottle or searching through a medication list. People will be able to create personalized schedules for each medication they take and receive alerts to remind them when it's time to take one.

In the United States, the app will also alert users if there are dangerous interactions between their drugs. watchOS 9 also includes updates to the sleep feature, which the company says can now track when users are in different stages of sleep, such as REM or deep sleep. However, tracking sleep stages is tricky: Experts say it's often inaccurate, and people shouldn't pay too much attention to what a wearable device says about the kind of sleep they're getting. Wearable devices are often better at calculating the amount of time someone spends asleep (which the Apple Watch also measures).

Other new health features that could be on the horizon could include a temperature sensor on the Apple Watch, which could be used for fertility tracking. (Body temperature changes throughout the menstrual cycle, and the device can help predict when someone might get their period or get pregnant.)