MacFormat UK – June 2019

16 | MACFORMAT | JUNE 2019 macformat.com @macformat

through App Store approvals process, but this

can’t delve into what happens to data after it

leaves the device. While Apple makes a point

of not letting developers access data it holds on

users, they’re not prevented from collecting

health inputs and storing them in accounts

created by users on their own platforms.

A team led by Quinn Grundy at the

University of Toronto’s faculty of nursing also

investigated third-party health apps, finding

many transmitted sensitive info, such as what

medicines people were taking and conditions

they had. An Android phone was used in this

study, but iOS apps could share data similarly,

with the user’s permission. Published in March

in the BMJ, a world-leading medical journal,

their report concluded that “sharing of user data

is routine, yet far from transparent”.

Apple says apps that access HealthKit are

required to have a privacy policy, and users

should ‘review these policies before providing

apps with access to your health and fitness data’.

In practice, of course, we rarely read privacy

policies before tapping to agree. But in Settings >

Privacy > Health, you can edit exactly the data

each app can write into HealthKit or read out.

This draws attention to the fact that, via

HealthKit, one third-party developer can access

data brought in by another. Since each is

governed by its own privacy policy, all your

Health data is only as private as the least

responsible developer whose app you’ve

granted permissions to.

You should, of course, expect that

developers will take the privacy of sensitive

data seriously. And the law is on your side –

mostly. Although people often think of data

protection as imposing a requirement for

consent, consent is just one of six lawful bases

for processing set out in the GDPR (General

Data Protection Regulation, incorporated into

UK law in the Data Protection Act 2018), and

may not be the appropriate one for medical

practice, where your records are accessed and

shared because it’s necessary to treat you.

Consumer apps that you choose to run on your

phone, however, are likely to require informed

consent. Any processing should be limited to

the purposes you’re explicitly told about.

That’s not such a simple distinction

when health and fitness apps cross over into

You can edit

exactly the data

each app can

read from

HealthKit

Testing for health benefits >

When Apple Watch Series 4

appeared in September 2018, its

ECG function was still ‘coming

soon’. Only in December did it start

to work in the US, with other

countries waiting more than twice

as long. The feature had been

cleared by the US regulator, the

FDA, but Apple waited to conduct

a clinical trial of its accuracy with

600 subjects. This turned out to

be very high, although it failed

to process 12% of readings.

A longer-running study, with

400,000 participants, tested

atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection

using the Watch’s older optical

heart rate monitor. During the trial,

0.5% of users, about 2,000 people,

received a warning, with 84%

confirmed to have an irregular

heartbeat. 57% sought medical

help. The numbers suggest a good

ratio of detection to false positives,

which could help patients avoid

strokes later, but more research

is needed into the benefits of

mass testing over time.

Health and fitness apps are great,
but there are issues over the
©Ap sharing of sensitive personal data.

ple

In
c