Health Age is a new measure in Apple’s redesigned Health app that shows how your health metrics track against your chronological age. It draws on four readings from Apple Watch, VO2 max, resting heart rate, sleep and heart rate variability, and lets you add lab values such as A1c and LDL cholesterol.
The feature is part of the new Longevity tab in the iOS 27 Health app, which analyzes long-term data across seven categories. Health Age requires an Apple Watch, and the app itself runs on Apple Intelligence devices in US English first.
What Health Age measures
Apple’s release lists the inputs but does not describe the formula. The watch supplies the automatic readings, and lab results are optional additions.
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| Input | Source | Required |
|---|---|---|
| VO2 max | Apple Watch | Yes, from the watch |
| Resting heart rate | Apple Watch | Yes, from the watch |
| Sleep | Apple Watch | Yes, from the watch |
| Heart rate variability | Apple Watch | Yes, from the watch |
| A1c | Lab result, entered by the user | Optional |
| LDL cholesterol | Lab result, entered by the user | Optional |
Apple has not said whether Health Age is expressed as a number of years, a range, or a comparison in another form, and has not published how each input is weighted.
Why the new watches matter for Health Age
Two of the four inputs get a hardware boost on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. The new Health Sensing System measures heart rate every five seconds all day and HRV every five minutes, which Apple says is 24 times more often than before.
HRV now comes in two variants, Recovery HRV for daily stress and recovery, and overall HRV. Apple has not said which variant feeds Health Age, or whether older watches with less frequent sampling produce a comparable result.
Apple says a study of more than 1,000 participants from July to August 2026 found Apple Watch the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable versus leading competitors. Our Series 12 preview covers what was expected from the sensor upgrade before the event.
Adding lab values like A1c and LDL
Users can enter A1c, a blood sugar marker, and LDL cholesterol to refine the comparison. Apple’s new Labs feature is one route to those numbers: it lets US users book and buy a panel of more than 50 biomarkers for $119 at about 2,000 Quest Diagnostics locations.
Apple has not said whether Labs results flow into Health Age automatically or need to be entered by hand, and has not published which biomarkers the $119 panel includes beyond the count.
Requirements and what Apple has not said
- An Apple Watch is required. Apple has not said which models qualify.
- The Health app redesign needs an Apple Intelligence device running iOS 27 or iPadOS 27.
- The app launches in US English first, with more languages later.
- Some Health app features require users to be 18 or over. Apple has not said whether Health Age is one of them.
- Apple describes the Vitals app as for wellness, not medical use, and has not positioned Health Age as a diagnostic tool.
The Health app update arrives with iOS 27 on September 14, and Series 12 and Ultra 4 ship on September 18. Our event recap has the rest of the day’s announcements.
