Consumer Health Personal Data Privacy Policy
Updated March 31, 2024
Your privacy is important to Apple. This Consumer Health Personal Data Privacy Policy describes our existing privacy principles and protections for Apple health features. It also describes our privacy practices for “consumer health personal data” as defined under applicable U.S. state laws.
Health Privacy Overview
At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. There are four privacy principles that inform everything we do at Apple — data minimization, on-device processing, transparency and control, and security. We build each of these four pillars into our products and features from the beginning, including our health features, such as the Health app and HealthKit. As a result of these protections, Apple works to minimize the amount of health data that it collects and these principles have enabled us to provide you, where possible, with health features without the need to collect your health data:
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Data minimization. We use innovative technologies and techniques to minimize the personal data and health data generally that we, or anyone else, can access. For example, for users using a recent version of watchOS and iOS with the default two-factor authentication and a passcode enabled, Health app data is end-to-end encrypted. As a result, data in the Health app is not readable by anyone — even Apple.
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On-device processing. We minimize data collection by processing as much of your health data on your device as we can, rather than sending it to a server. For example, data shown in the Health app like Trends & Highlights and Cycle Tracking predictions are calculated on-device.
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Transparency and control. We help you to better understand the data being collected so that you can make your own choices over who you share that data with and how it's used. For example, within the Health app you're in control of what data is shared and who it is shared with. You can view and control data sharing with friends and family, and health care providers in the Sharing tab of the Health app.
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Security. Security protections, such as end-to-end encryption, are the foundations of privacy. Health and fitness data gathered from iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch is encrypted on your device with a passcode, and is securely synced across devices. As a result, data in the Health app is not readable by someone with physical access to your device unless they have your passcode.
To learn more about how the Health app and HealthKit protect your privacy, view the Health App Privacy white paper at apple.com/ios/health/pdf/Health_Privacy_White_Paper_May_2023.pdf. To learn more about our health features and the privacy protections, visit apple.com/privacy/features.
Consumer Health Personal Data
In some circumstances, Apple may process personal data in order to provide you with the products and features you have requested. A limited amount of this data could constitute consumer health personal data under U.S. state consumer health privacy laws, such as Washington and Nevada. Consumer health personal data is broadly defined under these laws, respectively, as personal data that is linked or reasonably linkable to a consumer and that may identify the consumer's past, present, or future physical or mental health status or that is used to identify health status.
Even in the limited cases where we process data that could be considered consumer health personal data, we in a small number of cases only actually use the data to identify health status, as described below. Since consumer health personal data is broadly defined, this policy describes where personal data that Apple processes could include health status information, even if we do not use such data to identify health status or use the data for any other purpose other than to provide you with a requested product or feature.