MacFormat UK – June 2019

APPLE CORE News feature

INVESTIGATES

14 | MACFORMAT | JUNE 2019 macformat.com @macformat

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WRITTEN BY ADAM BANKS

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It was back in 2014 that iOS 8

introduced the Health app, the

visible manifestation of a new

HealthKit API that enabled

third-party hardware and software makers

to gather, process and share information.

The initial focus was on fitness, with the iPhone’s

built-in sensors and GPS allowing users to track

exercise such as running. But with the arrival of the

Apple Watch and its heart rate sensor the following

year, Apple’s attention shifted to more advanced

medical applications. And it’s here that the

measurements collected begin to stray into

the area of sensitive personal data.

Apple, known for its strong stance on user

privacy, stresses that “You decide which information

is placed in Health and which apps can access [it].”

Data is encrypted on your device and in iCloud, if

you enable syncing. But the very fact that users can

opt to let apps access Health data, and will typically

have to do so in order to run them, implies that Apple

itself can’t control where your medical information

goes, making its good intentions moot.

In February, Wa l l St r e e t Jou r n a l reporters

analysed what third-party health apps were sending

out from an iPhone over the internet. They were not

only transmitting user data back to their developers’

own servers, but also to the commercial cloud

services of companies like Google and Amazon,

and even sharing it with Facebook.

Social medica

There’s no suggestion that data was processed

unlawfully. But against a background of stories

about Facebook and other companies misusing

personal data, any lack of transparency in the

handling of sensitive data is worrying. Somewhat

reassuringly, companies involved acknowledged

as much. Facebook told CNBC, which followed up

the report, that “we prohibit app developers from

sending us sensitive data [and] take steps to detect

and remove data that should not be shared with us.”

The developer of Flo, an ovulation/period-

tracking app, explained that data was only shared to

Facebook so that the company could make internal

use of Facebook’s Analytics tool, and said it would

stop this and reconsider its policies.

The maker of Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor,

a popular app that once featured in an Apple TV ad

for iPhone, made similar comments on Facebook

Analytics, without committing to changes.

Of course, Apple endorses every iOS app

There are concerns about medical information in apps,

but it’s not Apple that we should be worrying about

Who should see

your health data?