Stop Apple Health Accessing My Contacts!

Unhelpful. There are lots of reasons one may not want to have an app access contacts.

your reply comes across as patronising. Apps do not exist only on a phone. They leak data accidents or deliberate contact harvesting like WhatsApp.

not sure why yours is recommended answer. The guy below who explains why Health is accessing contacts and how possibly to prevent is a lot more helpful

Thank you for contributing to Apple Support Communities. Let me explain.

Apple pay for the forum. It is not public domain. Their community specialists chose the Apple Recommended response. That is what made in the recommended response. Only the author of the original thread can mark responses as best answer or helpful but you can tag responses as helpful and after 4 tags the poster can win kudos points. You can report posts for breaking the ToU (including calling people snide) when you achieve level 2. I hope that explains it.

Ruaraidh.Innes wrote:

Second of your responses basically saying if you do not like what we (Apple) give you then get rid of your phone.

Really helpful, NOT

But pragmatic. No one here can change how the phone works. Apple may or may not change it in the future. If the phone you have now is so upsetting to you that it causes you to lash out at people on a public forum, it may be better for your peace of mind to get a different one. But, it's all your choice in the end.

If Health is turned OFF then why is it still accessing your contacts when it [the app] has absolutely no reason to know anything as you have toggled the switch to OFF. OFF has a specific meaning in English.

The question is a very valid one. User data and how/when it is used by private corporations is an important topic.

I also take issue with Apple Health accessing Contacts several times/day for no reason what so ever.

There is no way for me to delete the Health app, but I’m actively not using it.

So there shoudn’t be any functions on my phone that require the Health app and the Contacts app to communicate.

[Edited by Moderator] 

Is this forum to help people or to tell them deal with it or get a different phone? The attitude is unjust to people who are asking why this products apps are accessing certain data on their phone when it is not being used.. it is a very valid question.

[Edited by Moderator]

No. The volunteers that participate on this site are Apple product users just like you. We do so of our own volition, and the vast majority of  participants want nothing more than to help solve problems simply because we enjoy it.

Problem us some people refuse to accept or are incapable of understanding basic IT.

I came to this forum _solely_ because I found this post regarding this iOS issue, and I think the question is both valid and pertinent.

So to reiterate:

dnp607 wrote: "I have turned off all health app access that the UI allows in IOS 15.2. However, the health is still reading my contacts. Why? How do I stop this? I don’t use or want Apple health."

I too would like to be able to stop Apple Health from accessing my contacts (or preferably delete/deactivate the app).

Apple User Help claims it is possible to delete certain of these system apps, but I have found that to be untrue, at least for iOS 16.

I would also like to know if anyone has any factual knowledge regarding the rationale behind Health accessing Contacts (what functions?).

Knowing that often helps understanding where to look when trying to turn something off.

If anyone has any true knowledge or an earnest wish to help/discuss this please reply.

[Edited by Moderator]

By the way, you agreed to the ToU when you created your username, and you agreed not to call out or flame other members.

You are welcome to add your experiences of iPhones and iOS here, even write about your views and criticisms. However impolite references to other members, particularly those held in the highest esteem by other regular contributors and who have helped, yes helped, literally thousands of users, are not welcome.

Great link, thank you.

Although iOS 14 introduced this stock app deletion facility, when this thread was started a year ago in iOS15, I am sure that Health app was not on the list.

As far as I remember, android phones have to be rooted to remove many bloat apps.

Thank you for the link to Apple Help, Katana-san

Though I had already read that article and tried to uninstall Health, prior to finding this forum.

What it says in that Apple Help post is from my experience not correct, or at least not possible to do on my iPhone SE iOS 15.

Recap: I read privacy report on accessing Contacts, decided I didn’t want the Health app doing that and then decided I would like to delete it.

I then found info on Apple Help regarding deleting Health app, I tried to do so but my version iOS (15won’t allow it.

I have never used the Emergency contact function so there is 0 information for me to delete there, so that (very helpful) suggestion doesn’t work for me either.

I still have not found a way to either prevent Health from accessing my contacts, or delete the app (regardless of what the Help article claims).

But I will bring this issue to other channels instead.

Many thanks to all of you low-level users who tried to keep discussion helpful and relevant.

it matters because we paid for a phone it's supposed to be our phone so we should be able to control the phone how we see fit. why are people on this site answering questions on apple support forms besides apple techs ? I appreciate your advice but i understand what op is asking/concerned it seems apple devices are limiting the users control over the phone and providing very little resolution ive called apple and ask how i can s/mime or encrypt emails by default and have yet to receive a answer also ive asked about sms/call reporting option not available on my phone and they can not tell me how to get this option available on my iphone 13 pro max why is there is menu option for this under settings and phone but has nothing available past that seems like apple is getting away from users who are not very tech savvy.

rlghtpype wrote:

it matters because we paid for a phone it's supposed to be our phone so we should be able to control the phone how we see fit. why are people on this site answering questions on apple support forms besides apple techs ?

Because Apple "techs" don't answer here. This is a user-to-user forum. The Community Specialists (Apple employees) do answer questions that have gone unanswered for more than 12 hours and can be answered by a reference to a support article.

I appreciate your advice but i understand what op is asking/concerned it seems apple devices are limiting the users control over the phone and providing very little resolution

Apple has a long and storied history of giving customers what Apple thinks customers should have, not what customers think they want. Some people are okay with this. Other people find it annoying. People who are really annoyed by it sometimes decide other phones will work better for them.

ive called apple and ask how i can s/mime or encrypt emails by default and have yet to receive a answer also ive asked about sms/call reporting option not available on my phone and they can not tell me how to get this option available on my iphone 13 pro max why is there is menu option for this under settings and phone but has nothing available past that

You should start separate threads for help on any other problems.

seems like apple is getting away from users who are not very tech savvy.

Interestingly, lots of very tech savvy users feel that Apple is "dumbing down" their products and abandoning the needs of the more sophisticated user. It just goes to show you can't please everyone.

👎🏼 Apps we’re not using, or features we’ve disabled and never use like the Health App — or Apps like safari, where we are simply navigating the web for news, should not access our contacts every few minutes. It is that simple.

What tells you that health app accessed your contacts?