Everything you need to know about Apple’s new Health Sharing tool.
At WWDC 2021, Apple revealed its plans to shake up the Health app. Some of these updates will be small, like the addition of new profiles for t’ai chi and pilates, but there’s also one big change on the horizon: the ability to share key health data with other people. The Health app is a one-stop shop for all your fitness and wellbeing data, including heart rate, step counts, sleep data, and much more. When iOS 15 rolls out later this year, you’ll see that it has a new tab specifically for sharing that data with anyone in your contacts – whether that’s a relative, a friend, a personal trainer, or a doctor – provided they have an iPhone 8 or later, and have upgraded to iOS 15. Apple is keen to point out that it’s totally up to you what data you do and don’t share (you can pick and mix which figures to share using a series of toggles), and all data is encrypted end-to-end. You can even choose to share data from the new Walking Steadiness tool (also being introduced with iOS 15) which assesses changes to your gait and determines whether you’re likely to have a fall.
