Google Health App Overhauls Core Features, Fixes 15+ Bugs After User Complaints

The rollout of the Google Health app has not exactly earned a warm reception, but the company is now following through on its promise of meaningful improvements. A series of changes have begun arriving, with the first major Google Health app update now live, bringing substantial fixes and feature upgrades.

Google has released version 5.01 of the Health app. While jumping from 5.0 to 5.01 might suggest only minor tweaks, this update is actually packed with significant revisions. At least 16 notable changes are included, ranging from nutrition enhancements to workout labeling corrections, map loading speedups, and fixes for missing run splits.

Users can now view and log previously created custom foods, a feature that had been missing. The update also improves how meal logs from third-party apps are handled, and adds default names for entries coming from Apple Health that lack them. On the fitness side, GPS exercise map loading has been accelerated, workout labels that incorrectly identified runs have been corrected, and a bug that double-counted steps on iOS has been resolved.

Sleep tracking receives attention too, with a fix for the issue that prevented sleep scores from displaying. For Android users, the Today tab now shows more current information, while several other iOS-specific bugs have been addressed.

Below is a summary of the full changelog:

Nutrition Upgrades

• Custom Foods: You can now view and log previously created custom foods. The ability to add new custom foods will be available soon.
• Macronutrient Goal Guidance: Explanations and guidance have been added to help users set macronutrient goals.
• Third-Party Food Log Improvements: A fix ensures meal logs from MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, and LoseIt via Apple Health are correctly labeled instead of being marked as “Other.” Handling has also been improved when the same third-party app is connected to both Health Connect and Google Health directly. Default food names are now provided when Apple Health logs lack them.
• More Controls on iOS: Switching between measurement units when logging meal items from search results is now easier.
• Chart Improvements: Nutrition and calorie charts are now more consistent across the Today, Health, and nutrition deep dive views.

Fitness and Activity Updates

• Corrected Workout Labels: An issue that labeled some runs as other workout types has been fixed. New and past runs will now appear correctly.
• Missing Splits: A problem where splits were absent from some run summaries has been resolved.
• Map Loading: Loading states for maps from GPS exercises have been improved.
• Mobile Step Counting on iOS: A bug that caused steps to be counted twice for users who enabled both Apple Health and Mobile Track is now fixed.

Sleep Updates

• Sleep Score Reliability: Issues that prevented the Sleep tab from showing sleep scores for some users have been resolved.

General Updates

• Today Tab on Android: An issue where some users saw outdated information in the Today feed has been fixed. Defaults for Cardio Load supported devices have also been updated for new users.
• Account Migration on iOS: A bug blocking some users from migrating their Fitbit account to a Google account has been fixed. Restarting the migration flow should now work.
• Friends and Family on iOS: A problem causing the Friends and Family screen to load slowly or fail entirely for some users has been corrected.
• VoiceOver on iOS: Buttons and charts have been enhanced for better compatibility with VoiceOver and TalkBack.

This initial update is a welcome step given the number of bugs present in the first release of Google Health. However, the company has indicated that a longer roadmap of fixes and improvements is still ahead.