Is the Health App accessible only with iCloud ID?

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Level 1

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Is the Health App accessible only with iCloud ID?

Years ago, my wife and I setup all our Apple devices using the same iCloud account but used

different Apple ID’s for each of us. This arrangement allows us to share the same contact, calendar, notes and reminder information as well as photos taken from any device, while

permitting us to text and facetime separately as individuals. The ability to

share information while keeping text and facetime communications as individuals

is most important to us.

An unintended consequence to this common iCloud setup is that the health app is also shared, i.e., apparently tied to the iCloud account and not our separate Apple ID's. In order words, my health info is on both of our devices. This would not be a problem IF the Health app was accessible by our separate Apple ID's. This does not appear to be an option?

Is there a work-around to allow individual access/records to the Health app, so that her health info is on her devices and my health info on my devices.

Of course we could have separate iCloud accounts, but is there any solution short of that?

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Posted on Aug 1, 2021 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

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muguy

Level 9

76,585 points

Aug 1, 2021 9:30 AM in response to Geekseeker

Sharing iCloud info leads to a few interesting issues, like health synced data and using FindMy to find individuals. But, you can toggle off the health sync in settings. Go to Settings > Apple ID/Profile > iCloud and toggle off health on both devices. Health data will then not sync allowing you to keep individual data.

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Answer 2

Geekseeker Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 1, 2021 9:50 AM in response to muguy

Wow! Great response. Follow-up question: does your suggestion permit a way for my wife to setup her information. It seems that the Health app is still tied to the common icloud we share with no means to actually login to it separately.

To clarify, each us uses the same icloud account (ID, Password) but for text and facetime we use individual phone # and email addresses. The settings for Messages and Facetime apps allow us to use these individual ID's rather than the iCloud id.

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Answer 3

muguy

Level 9

76,585 points

Aug 1, 2021 9:51 AM in response to Geekseeker

It should. As the devices no longer sync in the cloud, the data would be retained separately. I have my folks set up the same way to share a common photo library. Admittedly, I never looked at their detailed health settings to see if they are turned on and combining records. I'll have to check that later. Still, not syncing with the cloud isolates each device from sharing health data so it should work just fine. Of course, should you ever enable cloud on health, everything will merge again since you access iCloud using one Apple ID.

I'd encourage you to submit feedback to Apple too. I have suggested a little granularity in cloud settings specifically for photos. Notes, reminders and calendars are easily shared/updated between accounts but photos is not.

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Answer 4

Geekseeker Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 1, 2021 10:09 AM in response to muguy

I am working this as you suggested. Looks Promising. In the Health App for her phone, I have toggled it off in the iCloud setting and am beginning to edit the profile info on her Health App. After that I will begin to link her app to other health sources and apps and see how that goes. For now I will leave the iCloud settings for the Health app toggled on for my phone only.

You have greatly clarified how this app works ... there is no login for it...I get that now. Her phone was getting my info only because it was syncing her health app to mine.

I'll come back to this post when done and let you know how it turned out. Thanks so much!

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Answer 5

Geekseeker Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 3, 2021 6:26 AM in response to Geekseeker

Muguy! Using your suggestion to toggle off the Health app option from iCloud, I was able to create

a separate profile for my wife on her iPhone.

Next, the process of removing my old data sources and devices (other than her iPhone itself) went well with one notable exception: my iWatch ecg data had to be deleted one entry at a time from her health app. Very time consuming but doable. No clear reason for this since my iWatch was never paired with her iPhone.

It was however necessary to delete and reinstall the apps that read and write to the Health app. This was needed so that the contributing apps could be signed in/linked with her login info rather than mine.

One very minor issue remains: although I could change the photo associated with her profile within the Health app, I could not change the photo that appears when the Health app is opened. That photo is still linked to our shared iCloud account and could only be edited within the iCloud account. It is baffling why the Health app doesn’t take photo applied within the

profile rather than using the one linked to our iCloud account.

For most people (those who do not share an iCloud account) none of this would be a problem. For those that do, an easy fix would be to allow the user to setup the Health app as we would in any other third party app.

Many thanks, muguy. Your suggestion was crucial in solving this problem.

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Is the Health App accessible only with iCloud ID?

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