Messaging application company Signal is calling out the United Kingdom over its plans to implement age verification that the government says will “protect” children.

As part of a new policy that would ban social media for those in the U.K. under 16 years old, the government has also announced plans to force companies to infiltrate the phone libraries of every youngster — and soon every person within its jurisdiction who fails to upload ID.

‘Children deserve to be safe, protected, and nurtured. They do not deserve surveillance.’

Such is the shocking scope and speed of the latest amendment to the country’s Online Safety Act. Just last week, embattled and unpopular Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced content detection and blocking would only be turned by age verification check, a process that in practice requires universal ID submission and/or face scanning in order to use your phone in an ordinary fashion.

An official government website details that the sitting Labour Party plans to force “Big Tech companies like Apple and Google” to activate built-in features or implement technical solutions to “detect and block nude images for children.”

This must take effect within the next three months for smartphones and tablets, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

To implement these changes — which the government said would “prevent predators” from exploiting victims — anyone refusing to submit to the ID system would be unable to “take, share, or view nude content.”

Civil rights advocates and privacy-forward apps responded with outrage, warning that the measures would begin a rapid process of total national registry and surveillance.

Representatives from the Signal app responded by threatening to withdraw entirely from the U.K. market unless major changes are made.

“Children deserve to be safe, protected, and nurtured. They do not deserve surveillance,” Signal said in a press release.

“The U.K. government’s demand that all content on all devices sold or used in the UK be scanned on the presumption of nudity, using a dystopian combination of age verification and content scanning, will not safeguard children. It endangers us all,” they added.

RELATED: Livid judge cancels trial and busts lawyers for faking briefs with AI — on both sides

After describing the U.K. government’s demand as a dystopian phone scanning operation, the company then warned such policies would lead to the government wielding its powers as a method of censorship and surveillance under the guise of what officials might consider to be “threats” or “harmful content.”

“Wherever it runs, including the ‘camera’ itself once it is in place on U.K. devices — its scope will be defined by the whims and proscriptions of the government to detect nudity today and political speech tomorrow,” Signal warned.

Of course, social media companies came at the policy change from a different angle, saying that pushing teens off their platforms would only lead to less safety.

RELATED: The backlash against AI reveals it’s a terrible scapegoat

Thomas Trutschel/Photothek/Getty Images

“Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less safe services,” a YouTube spokesperson told CNBC.

A Meta spokesperson told the outlet that bans risk isolating teenagers from online communities and information, which would send them to unregulated alternatives.

Other restrictions in the U.K. include blocking livestream and communication with strangers for those under 16 and a consideration for online curfews overnight.

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​News, United kingdom, Social media, Signal, Digital id, Tech 

For years, discussion of the U.S.-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine was dismissed by critics as little more than a Russian talking point.

Now, newly declassified documents released by Tulsi Gabbard confirm it’s real — but that’s not stopping establishment voices from calling her a propagandist.

“Tulsi comes out, what was it, Friday, and she releases, she declassifies slides of these documents about U.S.-funded bio labs in Ukraine and beyond. Over 40 labs, hundreds of millions, dangerous pathogens, anthrax, plague, ebola,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck explains.

“And now it’s a Russian conspiracy theory that those exist,” he says.

“Does it make common sense to you if we have anthrax and ebola sitting in a laboratory in Ukraine that is currently at war with Russia? Do you think it’s a good idea or should we just go take a flamethrower and burn all of those dangerous pathogens out of those buildings?” he asks.

“Why do we have them sitting there in these bio labs that are in a war zone? Now, look at the loudest people shouting about this. The ones who are saying, ‘You know, she’s a conspiracy theorist,’” he continues, pointing out that these people include “embedded Ukraine correspondents, strong advocates to send more money to Ukraine in Congress, and defense analysts that are tied to the status quo.”

These, Glenn says, are “the same people clutching their pearls over the new DNI chief. They don’t like what she did with Ukraine.”

“They’re framing this whole thing as Kremlin propaganda,” he explains. “Like Tulsi Gabbard is now working for the Kremlin. Have you ever noticed when outsiders get close to auditing foreign entanglements, surveillance powers, risky overseas labs, the defenses go nuclear?”

“All of a sudden, it’s got to be stopped. It’s the worst problem ever. They just go crazy. To me, it feels like fear of exposure,” he continues, adding, “And maybe not all of them, but somewhere, somebody in that web is applying enormous pressure.”

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​Anthrax, Bio labs, Blaze media, Conspiracy theorist, Deep state, Ebola, Glenn beck, Plague, Russia, Tulsi gabbard, Ukraine, The glenn beck program 

Word is now out that many popular “smart” TV brands, including LG and Samsung, allow for third-party apps on their devices. These apps usually contain a Software Development Kit that runs constantly in the background once the app is downloaded. When your TV is plugged in, connected to WiFi, and idle, the SKU is made available to others.

The setup allows — if you can believe it — for the selling of access into genuine home IPs, like yours. Simply stated: You pay for the television, the internet connection, and the house in which it is all arrayed and sustained; they use your possessions while you’re not looking and profit heavily.

Look for terms: proxy, SKD, opt-out.

Believe it or not, they would really prefer you not look more closely into this situation.

When your TV becomes their computer

Perhaps it’s merely the latest confirmation that mainstream digital American life operates on an ethos oscillating between the poles “use this to rot your brain” and “something-for-nothing favoring us.” But given that so few are aware that their very own idle internet-connected televisions are being scraped, proxied, and used as free equipment for others’ profit, this one really strikes close to home.

And who’s buying? Customers for this secretive access include, you guessed it, data-harvesting operations for AI firms and other large businesses that presumably harvest and manage their own type of market data analysis.

Israeli-owned company Bright Data (formerly Luminati) runs the scheme by paying makers of various free games, apps, and screensavers a monthly fee derived from the number of users who installed their apps. Bright Data boldly lists “API Scraper Pricing” in its drop-down menu. It’s merely the latest step down in the hierarchy of mercantile ethics: A few years ago, court documents revealed that Meta used Bright Data despite decrying its practices and actually sued Bright Data despite using its services.

But it’s all perfectly legal insofar as you accept the terms and conditions. According to data security investigators at Includesecurity.com, buried in the near-universally ignored small print is a statement of consent to allow Bright Data to use your TV and IP address to download things from the internet in exchange for something like a free or ad-free app experience. Even X lost its own lawsuit against Bright Data on the face of the law.

RELATED: Livid judge cancels trial and busts lawyers for faking briefs with AI — on both sides

Melina Mara/Washington Post/Getty Images; Grok/xAI

You’re wondering, but why? Why would anybody go to such lengths? Why is it not illegal to abscond with the paid-for resources of individuals and families, unbeknownst to them?

The secret life of scrapers

Well, much of the world’s data is accessible only through the massive server farms known as data centers. Huge operators such as Amazon AWS, Google, and so forth hang their reputations on the security and control they can exercise over their enormous data flows. They’re highly competent at turning away scrapers: legions of bots and digital creepy-crawlies programmed to act like parasites, inserting into data tranches and harvesting the morsels there that their designers seek out. Often their designers are commercial actors or governments acting by proxy. Sometimes it’s an AI firm bent on feeding its models ever more specific and “authentic” data. Authentic because it’s more useful in mimicking or simulating human beings.

So from residential proxy IPs, AI harvesters can insert into positions to scrape the precise form of information they require to keep elaborating AIs in pre-training, agent grounding, and search capacity. AI firms need fresh content in a way rather analogous to the vampire’s need for warm blood. It’s not negotiable. That’s why it’s not discussed, and why Bright Data is rewarded in the market for its labyrinthine infiltration, cloaking, and re-marketing capacities.

No one quite seems to be sure why one little-known firm gets the virtual monopoly on this scam-like meta-market. Would we be a little out of our lanes to notice that Israeli software organizations, with well-understood and documented ties to the CIA, NSA, and GCHQ, seem to play central parts in an inordinate number of such specifically located operations?

Basic hygiene

So what can you do about Bright Data and similar outfits? It starts with the simple if annoying fact that, yes, you should actually read the fine print. Check the various apps you’ve installed on your devices. Look for terms: proxy, SKD, opt-out. And be ready for the next iteration of the scheme, which will certainly still require your authenticity and human input, but will likely be buried even deeper in the digital subterrain.

​Tech, Smart tv, Ai, Bright data, Security 

Republican voters in Georgia have showed up to the polls to officially agree with the president’s recommendation.

More than 700,000 votes decided the Georgia Republican Senate runoff on Tuesday, with the victory going to the Trump-endorsed favorite.

‘Now it’s time to get to work.’

Sitting U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) received a detailed endorsement from President Trump just two days before the election, when he called Collins a “Highly Respected Congressman who has been with me from the very beginning,” in a post on Truth Social.

Collins won the runoff with about 56% of the vote against fellow Republican Derek Dooley — a former football coach for the University of Tennessee Volunteers — despite Dooley outperforming Collins in the counties surrounding Atlanta, including Fulton County, where the capital city is located.

Collins’ victory was by nearly the same margin that separated the two during the May primary. At that time Collins finished with nearly 41% of the vote, while Dooley had about 30%, according to CBS News. This time, Dooley finished 11 points behind Collins again, garnering nearly 45% in the head-to-head vote, per The Hill.

RELATED: Early red flag for GOP? Democrats rack up massive Q1 fundraising hauls

Collins has long been considered the favorite in the election as a MAGA-style Republican and led polls ahead of the primary by an average of 11.5 points. However, polls had him with just a two-point advantage over Dooley ahead of the runoff election in June.

Collins now heads to the November general election against Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff. Ossoff went unopposed in the Democratic primary, having held his office since 2021.

Collins reacted to his victory with a post on X, saying he is “honored” to be the Republican nominee.

“Now it’s time to get to work, defeat Jon Ossoff, and take this seat back for the people of this state. Hammer Down!” Collins wrote.

RELATED: ‘Friend’ of President Trump advances to Georgia Republican Senate primary runoff

Jason Allen/Getty Images

Trump had previously endorsed Collins ahead of the primary, as well, calling Collins his “friend” while adding that he likes him “a lot.”

On Sunday, the president assured voters that Collins would work hard to “Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Champion American Energy DOMINANCE,” and more.

Collins reaffirmed his immigration stance in a post on runoff Election Day, stating that “America wasn’t built by people who chose the easy path. It was built by patriots who worked hard, took risks, and never gave up.”

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​Jon ossoff, News, Mike collins, Georgia, Republicans, 2026 midterms, Politics 

A Democrat-aligned lawfare outfit filed a lawsuit on behalf of a pair of anti-Trump protesters earlier this month in the hope of shutting down the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn last Sunday.

Evidently, the Public Integrity Project and activist plaintiffs were not the only ones keen to rain on President Donald Trump’s parade.

‘The landscape has changed.’

The FBI announced on Tuesday that an alleged assassination plot targeting the UFC event was uncovered on June 10 and ultimately thwarted thanks to a timely phone call from a concerned mother and the rapid action of local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Five men have been charged in the alleged plot to assassinate “high value targets” at the UFC event: Tycen C. Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa, 24, of Calimesa, California; Michael Alan Thomas 32, of Pinon Hills, California; Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Missouri; and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, of Omaha, Nebraska.

According to the Justice Department, the suspects’ plan consisted of two parts: First, they would use explosive drones in and around the event to prompt an evacuation; and second, they would deploy snipers to assassinate specific individuals within the fleeing crowd. In addition to the estimated 4,300 people present for the invite-only event on the South Lawn, there were roughly 85,000 additional people gathered nearby during the back-to-back fights.

One of the suspects, Michael Thomas, allegedly discussed the four “tiers” of this anti-government plot: the first being the gunmen on the ground; the second being the drivers and drone operators; the third being logistical suppliers; and the fourth being social media suppliers.

In addition to allegedly advocating for jail breaks for surviving tier 1 members in the aftermath of the planned attack, Thomas allegedly underscored the need for suspects to train for “gorilla [sic] style warfare.”

Another suspect, Daniel Eskridge, allegedly proposed that they form “5 teams of 3 each team consisting of 1 sniper, 1 tier one operator as support/ look out, [and] one drone operator.”

RELATED: James Comey-style ‘threat’ against Trump apparently etched into National Mall grass

Screenshots of messages and maps on a suspect’s phone and a photo of another suspect’s equipment. Justice Department.

Another suspect, Alvarez, allegedly suggested that snipers could escape to the Potomac River after taking their shots and identified an old church in Nebraska as a potential safe house.

Multiple federal complaints filed in relation to the case across the country allege that Tycen C. Proper told investigators that the ball got rolling on the plan around March. While there were apparently more individuals involved in the discussions at the outset — roughly 19 — Proper allegedly claimed that the more serious plotters migrated their conversations to an encrypted chat app.

The FBI alleged beyond amassing firearms, ammunition, and tactical gear at his Ohio home, Proper identified multiple targets, including multiple members of Congress and business executives.

According to an affidavit submitted with Proper’s complaint, the Ohio suspect proposed the following lawmakers as targets: Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Jim Justice (W.Va.), and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), and Republican Representatives for West Virginia Carol Miller and Riley Moore.

The targets were allegedly chosen in part because of their perceived coziness with the Israeli lobby.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Elon Musk’s names were also allegedly floated as targets in the suspects’ conversations.

The affidavit indicates that the alleged plot — the purpose of which was to “jumpstart” a revolution in the United States — was foiled thanks to the vigilance of Proper’s mother, who called law enforcement on the evening of June 10, expressing concerns about her son’s recent conduct, including his firearm purchases and communications online.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Danville Police Department arrived 20 minutes later and soon learned from Proper’s father that the teen, who lived at home, was allegedly planning “recons” with individuals he met online; planning to leave to meet up with those individuals on the weekend of June 13; had spent roughly $3,000 of his graduation money to purchase camping gear, firearms, ammunition, plate carriers, and food; and had quit his job recently in preparation for his big excursion.

The following day, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office got the FBI involved.

If convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, each of the defendants faces a maximum of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. They each face an additional five years in prison apiece if convicted of conspiracy to commit violence on the White House grounds.

“The FBI, our law enforcement partners and our U.S. attorneys did what they do every day to make America safe through quick response and vigilance in investigating, disrupting, and dismantling this alleged plan before it could be carried out,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“Protecting the president of the United States and the White House grounds is priority number one for the U.S. Secret Service,” said U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran. “The landscape has changed, and as a result we have seen a dramatic rise in threats against our protectees.”

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​Assassination, Murder, Donald trump, 250, Ufc, Republican, Marsha blackburn, Sniper, Drone, Attack, Plot, Fbi, Doj, Arrest, Politics 

Four years after the Dobbs decision, the pro-life movement faces a sobering crossroads. The end of Roe v. Wade was a historic victory. But abortion remains the leading cause of death in the United States, and the most vulnerable among us are still denied the basic human right to life.

Dobbs held that the people’s representatives at every level of government may pass laws protecting unborn children. That includes national leaders. Half the states have enacted pro-life laws since Dobbs, yet abortions have gone up, not down. A “states-only” strategy does not merely fail. It abandons unborn children in blue states to the same logic that once treated fundamental human rights as a local question.

We must extend equal protection and the right to life to all Americans, in every state, no matter how small.

As America marks its 250th anniversary, the pro-life movement and the Republican Party must move beyond half-measures. They should embrace national leadership for the right to life.

A national minimum standard — whether tied to a baby’s detectable heartbeat or the point at which a baby can feel pain — would not replace stronger state pro-life laws. It would set a floor for the whole country, including blue states, while allowing pro-life states to protect life more aggressively.

The Democratic Party has made abortion with no limits its de facto position. But public opinion is not with them. Only 10% of voters support abortion until birth. Fifteen states allow abortion at any point in pregnancy, including the seventh, eighth, and ninth months. The United States is one of only eight countries that allow all-trimester abortion, a list that includes China and Vietnam.

This is not hypothetical. Second- and third-trimester abortions happen in blue states. Babies who can feel pain and survive outside the womb are being killed.

In Washington, D.C., the bodies of five full-term babies were found in medical waste boxes outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion facility. They are now known as the D.C. Five. Several abortion businesses openly advertise third-trimester abortions, including the DuPont Clinic in Washington, D.C.; RISE Collective in Colorado; Partners in Abortion Care in Maryland; and Hope Clinic in Illinois.

Planned Parenthood performs late-term abortions as well, and women have died alongside unborn children. An 18-year-old girl in Colorado died last year after a late-term abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility. According to her family, Fort Collins Planned Parenthood did not call an ambulance immediately and specifically requested no sirens on the way to the hospital.

RELATED: The judgment behind the abortion numbers

DREW ANGERER/AFP/Getty Images

The other side has a national strategy, and it is no secret. If Democrats gain power, they will try to pass the so-called Women’s Health Protection Act. That bill would block states from enforcing pro-life laws and push the country beyond the Roe status quo. In practice, it would make abortion available at any time, for any reason, in all 50 states. Almost every elected Democrat in Congress has voted for the bill, and party leaders have committed to eliminating the filibuster to pass it.

A leave-it-to-the-states strategy will not stop them. No great human rights cause in American history has been won that way. The GOP must commit to pro-life action at the national level.

The first step is to elect leaders who believe unborn children deserve protection no matter where they live. Those leaders must pledge to help America turn the page on its ugly chapter of late-term abortion. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is beginning that work by dedicating $160 million in 2026 and 2028 to elect candidates who will take pro-life action nationally.

After the midterms, the pro-life movement must rally around a presidential candidate who will take up this fight and fiercely defend mothers and their unborn children. That leader must act on the consensus of the American people and sign the most ambitious national protection for life possible.

On America’s 250th anniversary, we should remember that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution inspired great human rights triumphs, including the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage. With 1.1 million Americans losing their lives to abortion every year, this is the moment to confront the greatest human rights violation of our time.

We must extend equal protection and the right to life to all Americans, in every state, no matter how small.

​Dobbs v. jackson women’s health organization, Abortion, Democrats, Planned parenthood, Gop, Midterms, Opinion & analysis, Pro-life, Full-term abortions 

The Justice Department has announced indictments against more than a dozen members of Direct Action Minnesota, a group dedicated to opposing federal immigration enforcement.

In a media briefing Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen claimed the Antifa-related organization members had “violently” opposed immigration law enforcement.

He identified a Direct Action Minnesota subgroup called the Black Cat Workers Collective, which he accused of utilizing, advocating, and promoting ‘militant tactics and violence.’

“Today, a federal indictment was unsealed charging 15 defendants with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers and other charges related to efforts of two Minneapolis-based Antifa groups that violently opposed the enforcement of federal law in our state,” Rosen said.

Some of the members faced additional charges, including making interstate threats, interstate stalking, assault on a federal officer, destruction of government property, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.

Rosen accused Direct Action Minnesota of training its members in the “aggressive use of shields against law enforcement, surveillance, operational planning, and rapid mobilization against law enforcement actions.”

He identified a Direct Action Minnesota subgroup called the Black Cat Workers Collective, which he accused of utilizing, advocating, and promoting “militant tactics and violence.”

Some of the members infiltrated peaceful protests against the Whipple Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and blockaded federal operations on at least two occasions, according to Rosen.

The evidence included video from 37-year-old Kyle Wagner, who allegedly made explicit threats of violence against ICE members and called them Nazis. Wagner was arrested in February at his Minneapolis apartment.

“We want to know who they are. We will identify every single one of them and we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. If it has to be done at the barrel of a gun, then let us have a little f**king fun,” Wagner allegedly wrote.

“This is where ICE has come to die,” he added.

In one of the videos of Wagner’s arrest, he wore a shirt reading, “I AM ANTIFA.”

Only 12 of the 15 indicted were in custody, and three others are being sought.

Direct Action Minnesota did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: ‘This is where ICE has come to die’: Self-identified Antifa member arrested for threats against federal agents, DOJ says

The DHS lashed out at the framing of the indictments by CBS News, which noted that no actual acts of violence against federal officers were cited by Rosen.

“These violent rioters weren’t charged for ‘opposing immigration enforcement’ — they were charged because they violently obstructed and assaulted law enforcement agents and destroyed government property. Why is the media excusing violence?” the agency asked Tuesday on social media.

In St. Paul on Tuesday afternoon, activists outraged over the charges against the Direct Action Minnesota defendants held a rally outside the federal courthouse. Some allegedly refused to shut the courthouse doors and chanted, “Drop the charges, drop them now,” according to KSTP.

One participant told the outlet: “We tried to get into the courthouse to pack the court.”

In response, law enforcement apparently sprayed some type of orange-colored chemical on crowds gathered by the doors.

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​Justice department, Politics, Antifa, Conspiracy, Ice 

Part of what makes Fitbit Air so good is the new Google Health app. Google Health is a complete overhaul of the original Fitbit app, taking Fitbit’s core features and expanding on them with a new design. Plus, paid users get a nifty AI upgrade that provides clarity to their data, and it can even help users get in better shape. Here are my thoughts after testing the app for two full weeks.

Now, a quick disclaimer before we dive too deep — many users didn’t like the new Google Health app when it first launched, and some even reported several pretty egregious bugs with missing data, unfinished UI elements, and clutter. From what I can tell, iPhone users had more trouble getting the app to work properly than Android users, signaling a possible development issue between platforms. Personally, I tested the app on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL, and it was mostly bug-free.

Most data in the app is collected automatically.

There are two experiences you’ll find in the Google Health app. Free users get access to all the tracking features you’d expect in a fitness band, including everything we covered in the Fitbit Air review. There is also a subscription option called Google Health Premium (available as an add-on for all users and included for free on all Google AI Pro and AI Ultra accounts), which unlocks a Gemini-powered AI coach that looks through your data, builds custom fitness plans, and serves as a personal trainer through your fitness journey. Before you raise the red flag on privacy, Google states that it is “committed to not use Fitbit users’ health and wellness data for Google Ads. The Fitbit app is now the Google Health app, and we’ll continue to keep this commitment.”

Take that as you will.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Google Health app

The good

Information tabs: At first glance, Google Health is packed with information. The “Today” view offers quick glances at customizable tiles that show useful data like steps, sleep, heart rate, readiness score, etc. The “Fitness” tab shows a running list of weekly activities, as well as cardio and fitness metrics that highlight your overall heart health and output for the day. The “Sleep” tab provides neat daily graphs of your sleep quality from the previous night, along with a sleep score that tells you how rested you are. Finally, if you want even more information, check the “Health” tab for an entire wall of everything your fitness tracker knows about you. There’s a lot.

Google Health Coach: Like having your own personal trainer, the AI-powered Google Health Coach is great at building workout plans and tuning them based on how your body reacts and recovers. Coach looks at your data every morning, measuring yesterday’s activity against last night’s sleep quality to determine how hard you can push today. Coach is also flexible, so if your body isn’t responding well to the current plan, it can use your data and feedback to make a new one. The coolest part is that Coach is always available to chat about anything related to your health, whether it’s exercise routines, diet, illnesses, mental health, etc. Although Coach is powered by Gemini, all health data and conversations stay within the Google Health app; the main Gemini app doesn’t have access to this information.

Food log: If you’ve ever used a food tracking app to watch your calories and maybe lose some weight, you’ll know that the worst part is logging the data by hand. If you spring for the AI plan, Coach makes food logging more accessible with a new photo feature that lets you take a picture of your food, describe what it is, and it’ll log the calories for you. That said, accuracy was a mixed bag during testing, with some foods marked accurately while others were tens to hundreds of calories off. Your mileage will vary depending on the foods you eat, but at the very least, this feature has made me more conscious of my food choices over the last two weeks.

Interoperability: Since Google Health is replacing the Fitbit app, it has to work across platforms. It’s currently available for Android and iPhone, and it can track health metrics directly from existing Fitbit devices, the new Google Fitbit Air, and Google Pixel watches. For iPhone users, it even has the ability to pull health data from Apple Watch via the Apple Health app and analyze it in the Google Health app.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Google Health app

The bad

Clutter: While the app provides a lot of health data, the user interface is busier than I’d like. The Health tab in particular is just a wall of information that’s sometimes more daunting than informative, especially when searching for a specific metric among the mess. Google needs to overhaul the layout and allow users to group data together into organized sections — heart, activity, sleep, energy input and output, etc.

Manual data: Most data in the app is collected automatically via a fitness tracker, but manual data is a different story. You can input things like weight, body temperature, glucose levels, food, and water intake by hand, but you’re out of luck if you want to add medical information. You’ll have to connect Google Health to your medical provider or upload blood tests to log your allergies, medications, blood pressure, health conditions, procedures, and more. There should be a way to log everything by hand without turning over your medical records, but that currently isn’t an option.

Google Health Coach: I like Coach a lot (as you can see above), but it also has some issues. For instance, it doesn’t always listen. On my initial setup, I told it about my health ailments, including a year-old arm injury that only bothers me on occasion. For a week after that, it repeatedly asked me how my arm was doing after workouts — even ones that didn’t involve my arms at all — despite telling it to stop. On a couple of occasions, it also misread the metrics in my app and built an activity plan based on incorrect data. As it turns out, Coach can and will hallucinate just like any other AI. Finally, Coach adds to the clutter by leaving walls of AI-generated text everywhere throughout the app. I would prefer if Coach lived only in one section of Google Health, but right now, you can find it spread around every single tab, adding to the chaos.

The shady

Privacy: Lastly, there’s the massive elephant in the room. Google is a data hog. Its entire business model is built on gathering as much information as possible and monetizing it through ads. This is how it offers so many “free” products and services. Ultimately, to get the most out of the new Google Health app (and Fitbit Air hardware), you have to turn over a lot of very personal data, and whether or not you trust Google with your health is something only you can decide for yourself.

For what it’s worth, Google promised not to use customer health data for ad targeting and other “Don’t be evil” things. In the EU, it’s even legally blocked from monetizing this data, but there’s a time limit in place. The ban only lasts for 10 years from Google’s Fitbit acquisition in 2020. With only 4 years left, Google can legally monetize health data at the turn of the decade. The only question is: Will it? Google would face a massive PR nightmare if it decided to cash in on its users’ trust in its products, but that hasn’t stopped it before. As for what Google will do about all the information contained in Google Health, I guess we’ll find out … in 2030.

​Tech, Google health, Fitbit, Ai