Health, Fitness, and wellbeing
Health data access
Most people call this which apps can read or write your health data.
Every app that touches Health has a per category permission, so an app can be allowed steps without being allowed everything else.
This setting is present on your iPhone.
- We have this path on file but have not yet confirmed it against an official source.
Where to find it - iOS 16 and later
- Settings
- Privacy & Security
- Health
What it does
Read and write permissions are separate for every data type. Health data is encrypted on the device, and when iCloud sync is on it is end to end encrypted.
What changes
When it is on
The app can read or write the categories you allowed.
When it is off
The app has no access to that data type.
Should you turn it on?
Good reasons to turn it on
- Fitness and medical apps need specific categories to work.
Good reasons to turn it off
- An app rarely needs every category it asks for.
- Health data can reveal a great deal about you.
Battery
No real change
Privacy
Helps
Performance
No real change
Cellular data
No real change
Storage
No real change
Out of the box: Denied until an app asks, category by category.
Worth reading first
Questions people actually ask
- Can an app see all my health data?
- Only the categories you granted. Each data type is a separate permission.
If it is not working
- Permissions are in the Health app under Sharing, and also under Privacy and Security in Settings.
- Revoking write access does not delete data the app already wrote.
- Apps cannot see that you denied a category, which prevents pressure to grant it.