Apple HealthKit fitness app runs into trouble with startup of same name

An Australian startup has lashed out at Apple for calling its iOS 8 fitness monitoring app HealthKit, as it's been using the name for several years.

Healthkit specialises in the creation of practice management software for doctors surgeries, and also offers its own range of online fitness monitoring tools.

Apple announced HealthKit, which will ship with the next iteration of its mobile operating system iOS 8 in the autumn, during the opening keynote of its WWDC event on Monday night.

Shortly afterwards, the team at Healthkit tweeted their frustration at Apple for deigning to use its brand name for its own fitness app at the vendor's CEO Tim Cook.

"Feeing annoyed #Apple is using our #healthkit name for their new health product," the company wrote.

"@tim_cook ru aware of this?"

The firm followed up with another post on the social networking site Twitter saying: "Apple likes our #Healthkit name and so do we!"

Speaking to tech publication Wired, Alison Hardacre, co-founder and managing director of Healthkit, said she felt let down as a simple Google search would have alerted Apple to the fact the name was already in use.

"Everybody worries that Google or Apple will come into their space and their business will die, but no-one thinks that company will come into that space and use the same name."

Healthkit first registered its domain in 2012, and claims no-one from Apple has been in touch with it about the branding clash.

Her site has seen an uptick in traffic since the WWDC announcement was made on Monday night, Hardacre said, which ordinarily would be cause for celebration.

"It's been so intensely hard to build this business. We don't want to be trampled on by a big company like Apple," she added.

At the time of writing, Apple had made no comment on the case.