How Sharing Works with Apple Health Records

Sharing a result starts long before you open Protecht. It starts with where the result comes from. Here is the path a result takes, from your provider to your phone to the person you choose to show.

It starts with your provider

When you get tested, your provider holds the official record. If your provider connects to Apple Health, you can add it under Health Records in the Health app, and your results can be downloaded to your iPhone.

Apple says that download happens over an encrypted connection directly from the healthcare organization, and that the data does not traverse Apple’s network. Not every provider connects, and each one decides what it makes available. If a result is not there yet, ask your provider whether it has been released to your patient portal. Our post on what to bring to an STI test covers how to check before you go.

Apple Health keeps it on your phone

Once downloaded, records live in your iPhone’s HealthKit database, where Apple says they are encrypted. iCloud syncing is on by default and you can turn it off. With two-factor authentication, Apple describes synced health data as end-to-end encrypted, so only you can access it, on devices where you are signed in to iCloud.

You decide what an app can read

Apps do not get your records automatically. Apple says you choose which record data an app receives, and by default the app must ask each time. When you allow it, the data goes from HealthKit directly to the app, not to Apple.

Protecht reads from Apple Health. It has no upload button, so the only results it can show are ones that came from a provider. That is the difference between a receipt and a screenshot.

Then you choose who sees it

After a result appears in Protecht, you decide what to share and with whom. A provider result says what was tested and when, so the person you show can see both. Our post on what the date on a result tells you explains why the date matters as much as the answer.

What this does not do

Apple Health Records is a way to get your results, not a guarantee. Coverage varies by provider and by test, results appear only after your provider makes them available, and Protecht can only show what Apple Health receives. If your provider is not connected, you still have your results from them as usual.

The idea behind all of it is Receipts, Not Promises: the result you share should be the one your provider issued, not a photo of it.

Sources

• About the privacy and security of your health records, Apple Support