Health

Apple’s Health app collects and records information about your daily physical activity, like the number of steps you take or how many flights of stairs you climb. It can store emergency medical information, like medications, allergies, and emergency contacts, and make that information available to first responders if you are unable to talk. Health can connect to compatible devices, like the Apple Watch, heart-rate monitors, and weight scales to make it easier to monitor and record health information. You can use Health as a central point to collect fitness data from other apps as well.

Connecting apps and wearables to Health

Each category in Health has recommendations for apps that collect and feed data to Health. For instance, one of the apps recommended for Activity is the Nike Run Club. This app supports the Apple Watch and offers personalized training, social media interaction with other Nike Run Club members, Spotify playlists to run with, and much more. Headspace, a recommended app for Mindfulness, helps you learn to reduce stress and anxiety with meditation. MyFitnessPal tracks nutrition with an enormous database of food information, recipes, and even a barcode scanner app that quickly logs food for you.

Other connected devices include scales, heart rate monitors, GPS trackers, and more.

Manually logging additional health data

The first time you open the Health app you are asked to fill out some basic profile information, and you can add/delete/change everything at will. You can manually add data to the Health app. Open your Health app and enter your height as follows:

1. Tap Browse at the bottom right.
2. Tap Body Measurements .
3. Tap Height.
4. Tap Add data in the upper right-hand corner.
5. Select your height. Note that the date and time can be adjusted if you are entering a historical data point instead of a current one.
6. In the upper right, tap Add.
7. The data point is added, and you are shown a graph. You can choose to show only today, the week, the month, or an entire year.

Of course, your height will not change much over time. Recording other things such as weight, blood pressure, or blood test results can be useful for noticing trends in your health.

You can browse through the categories under Health Data until you find the data point you want to add, or you can search for it. Search for data fields as in the following example:

1. Tap Browse at the bottom right.
2. Touch the search bar at the top.
3. Type in sodium.
4. Touch Sodium from the results list to open that category and add intake data.

Medical ID

One of the best features of the Health app is Medical ID. If you are unable to communicate with emergency medical personnel, your iPhone can provide critical information to first responders and emergency room doctors for you. Medical ID lets anyone in possession of your phone have access to a limited amount of data, such as allergies to medications and your designated emergency contacts, even if your phone is locked. To set up Medical ID:

1. Open the Health app and tap your picture Apple ID in the top right corner. If this is your first time opening the app, you will be prompted to create a Medical ID as part of the setup process.
2. Input the medical data you believe an emergency medical provider would need to treat you safely. Allergies, medical conditions, and medications are important fields.
3. Choose an emergency contact from your list of contacts. Your emergency contact’s phone number will display on your Medical ID card and can be called from your iPhone without unlocking it.
4. At the top of the screen, note the option to allow others to access your Medical ID when your phone is locked. This is advisable because Medical ID is there to notify first responders of your medical issues in case you cannot.
5. When finished, touch Done in the upper right corner to save your input and exit the app.

You can see what the Medical ID looks like the next time your phone locks.

1. Lock your phone by pressing the Sleep/Wake button or the Home button.
2. Slide to the right to see the Enter Passcode screen.
3. Tap Emergency in the lower left.
4. Tap Medical ID in the lower left.

Adding emergency contacts

First responders and emergency personnel can use your iPhone, even when locked, to contact your designated emergency contacts if you have them set up in Health and accessible on your lock screen.

1. Open the Health app and tap your picture Apple ID in the top right corner.
2. Tap Medical ID.
3. Tap Edit then scroll to Emergency Contacts.
4. Tap  to add or to remove an emergency contact (you cannot add emergency services as a contact).
5. To add a relationship to a contact, tap the contact and designate the relationship.
6. Tap Done to save your changes.

Sleep Mode and Sleep schedules

You can use a sleep schedule to help you meet your sleep health goals. You can schedule a time for winding down at the end of the day, getting to bed, and waking up. You can have a different schedule set for weekdays and weekends, or no schedule on weekends at all.

When you set up a sleep schedule, you can opt to use Sleep Mode for iPhone. This mode turns on Do Not Disturb and dims and simplifies your lock screen. If you want to wind down with some relaxing apps on your iPhone, you can set a Wind Down time before your bedtime and designate those apps. Wind Down apps appear as shortcuts on the Sleep Mode lock screen.

Setting up your first sleep schedule:

1. From the Health app, tap Browse, then tap Sleep.
2. Scroll down and tap Get Started (below Set Up Sleep).
3. Follow the onscreen setup wizard.

Changing or adding sleep schedules:

1. From the Health app, tap Browse, then tap Sleep.
2. Scroll down and tap Full Schedule & Options.
3. Tap Edit for the schedule you want to change or tap Add Schedule.
4. Tap days at the top to toggle them on and off.
5. Drag Bedtime  or Wake Up  to adjust times.
6. Toggle Wake Up Alarm on or off. When on, you can choose alarm type and volume.
7. Tap Delete Schedule to remove the schedule forever.

Sleep Focus

During your scheduled sleep period, your Apple devices will turn on Sleep Focus.