Samsung Health is changing how it handles user data, and the new policy forces a difficult choice for anyone who tracks their health on the app. The company is now using sensitive health records to train artificial intelligence models, which means your personal medical history may leave your device. This shift matters because it fundamentally alters the privacy expectations for millions of users who rely on Samsung Health for daily wellness monitoring.
Users must consent to AI training or lose years of health records
The Samsung Health app collects a wide range of personal information, including sleep patterns, menstrual cycle tracking, heart rate data, and clinical diagnoses. Samsung Health stated, "Medications, menstrual cycle, and more: Samsung shares sensitive data with AI and employees." This broad data collection extends to test results, treatments, and specific medications, creating a detailed digital profile of each user's health status.
Samsung employees will have manual access to this data to review and refine the AI results, raising concerns about human involvement in private health analytics. The notification message does not indicate whether the data is anonymized before sharing, leaving the privacy status of the shared information unclear. Users who do not consent to this new AI training use face a significant consequence: Samsung will delete all their health data from the app.
Anyone who has used Samsung Health as a central hub for health data over the years will potentially lose records regarding workouts, illness histories, and sleep patterns if they refuse the new terms. Samsung has not commented on whether it will be possible to use Samsung Health without sharing data for AI training, leaving a gap in user options. This lack of a non-sharing tier means the app effectively requires consent for continued use.
Source: NotebookCheck
