How to Check (and Change) the Health Data Your iPhone Tracks

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If you have an iPhone, you also have the Apple Health app pre-installed on it. This app is designed to serve as a central hub for all your health and fitness data, from the steps you take to the foods you eat.

Some of you may check the app every day, or maybe even use it with your Apple Watch. Or maybe never open it at all. But whether you use the Health app often or not, it’s worth checking what data it collects, as well as the different apps and devices it communicates with and shares that data with.

The Health app can count your steps every day, for example, even if you’ve never specifically told it to. Here’s how to see what health info it collects and which devices and apps are involved.

Your data in the Health app

Apple says the Health app automatically counts your steps and walking and running distances. If you’ve paired your Apple Watch with your iPhone, activity data from other types of exercise and movement will also be recorded. The app also includes a Health Profile, to which you can add details like your blood type and date of birth.

By default, all the information you store in the Health app is also stored in iCloud. If you’ve turned on two-factor authentication for your account (and you should), that data is encrypted end-to-end—even Apple can’t see it. If you’d rather just keep that data on your iPhone, open Settings and click on your name at the top: Select iCloud, Show allThen Health to turn off iCloud sync. All health data stored on your iPhone is encrypted with your passcode or Face ID when the phone is locked.

Keep in mind that simply deleting the Health app from your phone doesn’t also delete the data the app has previously collected—it stays on your iPhone for other apps to access if they need to. If you want to delete your data and uninstall the Health app, you’ll need to clear your records through the app before deleting it from your iPhone.

You can manually delete everything that is saved in the Health app by tapping the categories and records that have been logged. On the page for each specific type of data, you should see Show all data link – on the next screen tap Editand you will have the option to delete some or all of the collected data.

How to See What Your Health App Tracks

Open the Health app on your iPhone and check summary screen will give you a good idea of ​​the types of data the app is already tracking. If you go to Scroll you can view all the types of data the app can log, from medications you take to your sleep: Just tap a data category to see if there are any records.

On each data type screen you will see Data sources and access link. Click here to see where the Health app gets its information from. You can see, for example, your iPhone and Apple Watch, as well as any third-party apps you’ve allowed to interact with your health data (either to report it, access it, or both).

Stop iPhone from tracking your health data

You can delete records from here as explained above, but to actually stop tracking you need to go to the main iOS Settings screen. Select Healthand you will see a list of apps connected to the app. Selecting any of them will allow you to delete the data recorded by it and disconnect it.

To stop iPhone from tracking your activity (including steps), select privacy and security Then Movement and physical fitness from the iOS Settings screen. Toggle Fitness Tracking toggle it off and data from the iPhone itself will no longer be logged. If you have third-party tracking apps installed, you can grant permission to log activity for some of them but not others, if necessary.

Stop tracking health data on Apple Watch

If you have an Apple Watch, you can also stop recording activity on it – in the Watch app on your iPhone, open My watch card and then select Privacy to find Fitness Tracking switch. However, this does not delete any data the watch has already recorded (to do this, go to the Health app as described above).

Check who you share your health data with

Finally, it’s worth checking who else can see your health data—though there probably won’t be any surprises here since you’ve set up these connections specifically with family members or fitness buddies. In the Health app, tap Sharing and you can see current connections, choose the types of data being shared, and disable any connections you no longer want to keep active.