The HealthKit part of iOS is trying to shake a bug that is causing the platform's fitness apps to have to keep their distance, but Apple hopes to remedy the problem within a week or so.
HealthKit has already missed out on the launch of iOS 8 and it won't be available for the release of the next line of Apple smartphones, the iPhone 6 and Plus.
"We're working quickly to have the bug fixed in a software update and have HealthKit apps available by the end of the month," a company spokesperson stated on Sept. 17.
MyFitnessPal was one of the apps to have the HealthKit pulled from under it, though its developers have stated their intent to rework the app so that it can stand on its own and make a quick return to work.
"The MyFitnessPal app, which supports integration with Apple's HealthKit, was temporarily removed from the Apple Store this morning to address some minor issues," MyFitnessPal told Reuters. "We are working with Apple on a solution and will have an updated version of the app, without the HealthKit piece (for the time being), back on the App Store shortly."
The HealthKit application programming interfaces are a collection of tools software developers can use to feed biometrics collected from fitness apps into a singular repository, conveniently allowing both doctors and patients to review a compilation of reports on an individual's health.
Before HealthKit, all of the data collected by peripherals and apps lived in separate "silos," said Craig Federighi, Apple senior vice president of software engineering.
"[Up] until now the information gathered by those applications lives in silos," said Federighi. "You can't get a single comprehensive picture of your health situation. But now you can, with HealthKit. HealthKit provides a single place that applications can contribute to a composite profile of your activity and health."
Problems with Apple's latest offering don't end with HealthKit. Some users are reported performance issues after upgrading to Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 8.
iOS 8's performance issues appear to be worst on the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 series, while new Apple mobile devices running an install of the company's latest mobile OS don't face nearly the same loss of responsiveness.
Ars Technica compared load times for apps installed on iPhone 4S devices, one running iOS 8 and the other using iOS 7.1.2
The newer version of the mobile OS took 2.16 seconds to load Safari, 1.8 seconds for the Camera app and 1.83 seconds for Messages in the performance comparison. iOS 7.1.2 took 1.25 seconds for Safari, 1.5 seconds for Camera and 1.73 seconds for Messages.
From a cold boot, power on the devices from an Off state. A device running iOS 7.1.2 took 36.4 seconds and the handset using iOS 8 required 39.8 seconds to complete the start-up process.
