Apple's Waiting Room Spot Keeps Your Health Data Safe
'Waiting Room' is the latest film in Apple’s ongoing Privacy campaign and tackles the often-difficult conversations around health data privacy and how iPhone helps protect data stored in the Health app and in HealthKit.
The film takes place in a waiting room filled with people, as omniscient narrator Jane Lynch comedically shares peoples most personal health information with the rest of the room, demonstrating how much of the health and wellness data that is tracked and shared digitally goes unprotected.
With their quick wit and authoritative voice, the narrator exposes each person in the room until they come across the hero iPhone user whose health data, due to Apple’s privacy protections, can’t be shared. So naturally, the narrator is stumped and annoyed at being thwarted on their power trip.
The Health app and HealthKit were designed with privacy in mind from the beginning, and provide users with protections, including data minimisation, on-device processing, transparency and control, and security:
- When a user’s iPhone is locked with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, all the health and fitness data in the Health app - other than Medical ID - is encrypted. Any Health data backed up to iCloud is encrypted both in transit and on Apple’s servers.
- Data in the Health app and HealthKit is never shared with any third party without the user's explicit permission, and if users decide to share their health data, the Health app provides users with granular control over the types of data they share and who they share it with. You can review, manage, and withdraw permissions at any time.
