Apple's smart glasses will track your health — just not right away

Apple plans to make health and fitness tracking a core feature of its upcoming smart glasses — but the first model, expected to ship in late 2027, will launch without it. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports via Bloomberg Power On that health capabilities are central to Apple's long-term vision for the glasses, even though the full platform won't be ready at launch. For anyone hoping to ditch their Apple Watch, it's a waiting game.

The Vision Pro detour

Apple already tried to build a fitness experience into a headset. The company developed a version of Fitness+ for the Vision Pro that would track body movements during workouts. That project was scrapped — the headset weighed around 600 grams, making it impractical for exercise, and the device itself flopped commercially. Apple has now discontinued further development of new Vision Pro models.

The smart glasses take a different approach. The first generation (internally codenamed N50) will be lightweight, with no AR display. Instead, they'll work as a Siri companion — built-in cameras, speakers, and microphones give the assistant real-world context. Think Meta Ray-Bans, but with Apple's ecosystem behind them.

Health features come later

The health roadmap is explicitly a second-generation story. Per 9to5Mac, Apple is planning a heart-rate sensor embedded in the glasses frame — similar to what AirPods Pro 3 already do — along with a "Workout Buddy" concept for future versions. Gen 1 will lay the groundwork; Gen 2 is where the fitness tracking arrives.

Apple is also weighing a significant privacy trade-off. The Meta Ray-Ban backlash over bystander recording has pushed Apple to consider launching without a camera, or with severely restricted recording capability. That's a cautious call in a market where the FTC watches health-related wearable claims closely, even if HIPAA doesn't technically cover consumer fitness devices.

Apple has posted a job listing inside its Vision Products Group for a health and fitness lead — someone to define the "future of health, wellness, and fitness experiences" across the Vision product line. It's a clear signal of intent, even if the timeline stretches well into the decade.

Leaked pricing puts the glasses somewhere in the $200–$500 range — a rumor, not a confirmed figure. If accurate, that positions them directly against the Apple Watch Series 12, also expected in 2026, raising the question of whether two Apple devices will end up competing for the same fitness-minded buyer.