Is your health data safe? Here's how you can protect your private information

There are innumerable advantages to wearing fitness and health trackers on your wrist, and many indeed help users lead healthier lives. Being a user of the Apple Watch myself for the past 6 years, I know how well the Watch can track sleep patterns, menstrual cycles, detect high and low heart rates along with tracking my numerous activities. This data is also easily accessible on your phone and very useful for a recreational athlete like myself with a full time job.

But there is one question that always crosses my mind every time I open the Health app on my iPhone and see the very detailed health stats and personal information on the app. And this question sends chills down my spine.

The concern that bothers me is most probably the question that has crossed many minds of people that use fitness trackers and apps on a regular basis — "Is my health data safe?"

Apple, in its new campaign, is taking this question head on.

As part of the new campaign, the brand is spotlighting the importance of health data privacy. There is a new ad voiced by Emmy Award-winning actress and comedienne Jane Lynch, a white paper offering an overview of the ways Apple helps protect data stored in the Health app on iPhone and in HealthKit, and billboards in 24 regions around the world.

The ad highlights how, as more and more people live their lives online, they are sharing more personal data than ever. It has several humourous punchlines and tells the story of people whose health data is shared without their consent by a third party. But eventually, the ad assures viewers that the Health app and HealthKit were designed with privacy in mind from the beginning, and provide them with protections, including data minimisation, on-device processing, transparency and control, and security.

The ad is directed by award-winner Craig Gillespie, who directed I, Tonya and Cruella, among other films.

The campaign will run across broadcast, social, and billboards in 24 regions around the world this summer. In India, there the skylines of Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad will be dotted with these billboards.

Apart from this, here are a few tips to review the data you are sharing with others:

Although you can choose to securely give a loved one visibility to your health data using ‘Health Sharing’, at the same time, you have full control over which data you share and with whom.

To review any health data you’re sharing with loved ones:

Tap Sharing at the bottom of the screen.

Tap the name of a person.

 Scroll down, then tap 'View Shared Data'.

Make any changes, then tap ‘Done’.

Reviewing data you are sharing with apps and devices

You can give other apps permission to share health and fitness data with the Health app. For example, if you install a workout app and give permission, its exercise data can appear in Health. For example, I work out using the Sweat app and NTC (Nike Training Club) on my iPhone. It is only with my permission that the workout app can also read and make use of data such as my heart rate and weight shared by other devices and apps.

To review any health data you are sharing with apps and devices you have to follow the following steps:

In the Health app, if you have a profile photo, then tap it, or your initials, on the top right.

Below 'Privacy', tap 'Apps or Devices'. The screen lists the items that have requested access to Health data.

To change the access for an item, tap it, then turn on or off permission to write data to — or read data from — Health.