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Even if you’ve never opened the Apple Health app, if you have an iPhone, you’ve probably used apps that send information to its on-phone database. Apple Health is a powerful tool for controlling who gets access to your health data, logging data in different ways, and even taking at-home screening tests for certain health issues. If you have an Apple Watch, that’s great, but you don’t need one (or any wearable!) to take advantage of most of these 10 hacks to get more out of the Apple Health app.

Lock down (or open up) your privacy controls

Before we get into the other hacks, I’d like to discuss just how private your Apple Health data is (or isn’t). Apple provides its Health privacy policy here, and it says that your data lives on your own device and is encrypted when your phone is locked. There are some exceptions, though, which you can turn on or off. Here are the main things you may want to check on:

• Individual apps can ask for permission to read data from Apple Health. (They also need your permission to write data to it.) You can control per-app permissions in Settings. Or, for a specific data point (like “walking and running distance”), go to that area of Apple Health and tap Data Sources and Access. 

• You can back up your health data via iCloud, which means it will live on Apple’s servers so you can access it from any of your devices. It is encrypted so Apple cannot read it. Manage this from your iCloud settings (in Settings, under your name).

• You can share health data with your doctor or with people you know, like family members. To manage who has access, go to the Health app and tap the Sharing tab. 

• During workouts, some data from your workout may appear in a Live Activity widget on your lock screen. To hide this data while your phone is locked, go to the Settings app, tap Face ID & Passcode, and then under Allow Access When Locked, toggle Workout Health Data. 

• Your Medical ID may be available when your device is locked. (This is how bystanders and first responders can access your emergency contact or other information you’d like to remain available in emergencies.) To control access to this, go to the Health app, find Medical ID, and toggle Show When Locked. 

Set up tracking so you never forget to take your medication

The Health app includes a built-in medication tracker with a number of hidden features. Browse or search for Medications, and set up tracking by adding a medication, or anything else. You can type in the name, or use your camera to scan the bottle’s label. (This also works for over-the-counter meds and supplements, like if you want to be sure to take a vitamin every day.) I like that you can customize a pill-shaped icon to match a pill’s appearance.

Next, you can set up reminders. From this screen, you can tell the app when you plan to take your medication (if it’s one you take regularly, rather than as needed). The Health app will notify you at that time. To make the most of this feature, I recommend setting up follow-up reminders, which you’ll find on a different screen as well—more about that below.

After you set up your medications, scroll to the bottom of the medications screen and tap Pin to Summary. Now you just have to open the Health app and tap Medications to see a list of what you need to take today. You can also log via Siri, including batched logging like “Siri, log that I took my 10 a.m. meds” so you don’t have to list each one. 

At the bottom of the Medications screen, you can tap Options and turn on Follow Up Reminders, which will give you an extra notification 30 minutes after the first one if you haven’t logged a dose. I use this feature all the time myself: I get the first reminder while I’m in the middle of doing something, eventually take the pill, then the follow-up reminds me to log it. If I got distracted along the way, I have a second chance to not miss a dose.

Another handy feature here is the Export PDF button at the bottom of the page, which will print out a list of all your current medications so you can bring it to your medical appointments or anywhere else you need to.

Customize the home screen to find any health data quickly

If you’re not familiar with the Health app, you might not think there’s much there—just a few things on the home screen. You can change that, but it takes a few steps. You see, rather than being a minimalist app, there’s so much available in Health that Apple figures it’s not worth giving you a big list to start off. Tap the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner, and you’ll see a whole list of categories. You can search from this screen, or browse the categories. 

Definitely take a minute to browse through these and see what features you might actually use. If you track what you eat in an Apple Health-connected app, you’ll be able to see all the individual components here: how much protein you’ve gotten today, for instance. Anything that a wearable can track is on here, including things you probably didn’t realize. I have a grade for my walking steadiness, for example. 

Once you’ve figured out which of these hundreds of data points are actually useful, put the ones you care about on the main app screen (called Summary). Find a relevant card by searching or browsing, scroll to the bottom, and tap Pin to Summary. This way you can see exactly what you want when you open the app: say, your steps, protein intake, and the day’s medications. (Plus a few things you may want to add after you learn about them below…)

Track your menstrual cycle without risking your privacy

A lot of us are nervous about logging reproductive health data anywhere that may not be private. I’ve written that Euki may be the best standalone app for privacy, but you don’t need to use an app at all: Tracking directly in Apple Health means that your data is encrypted and lives on your phone, subject to the privacy features discussed above. 

To use the built-in tracker, go to the magnifying glass and tap (or search for) Cycle Tracking. The cycle tracker on this screen (which you can pin to your summary) allows you to log menstrual bleeding, as well as “factors” like contraceptive use, pregnancy, and more. 

Under the Options at the bottom of this screen, you can turn on period predictions, fertile window estimates, and more. I recommend enabling the Symptoms log if you’d like to keep track of things like cramps and nausea. You can also decide if you want Apple Health to use your temperature and heart rate data from a wearable for better cycle detection. 

Track your mental health over time

Another surprising use for manual logging in the Health app is under Mental Wellbeing. This is a really useful screen, since it collects things known to affect mental health, like your sleep, exercise minutes, time in daylight, and more. From here, you can also set up emotion and mood logging. The app explains that it considers emotions to be how you feel right now, and moods are how you’ve felt overall that day. 

You can turn on reminders to log your moods. The default is to log twice per day: once around midday, and once at the end of the day. Scroll to the bottom of the Mental Wellbeing screen to set up logging.  Once you’ve set it up, it will appear as State of Mind; you may want to pin this to your summary. You can even view graphs of your state of mind over time, and see what other factors they associate with. A really useful view is to tap Show in Charts and then highlight Life Factors so you can see if your moods seem to track your exercise minutes or your hours of sleep. 

Take a hearing test (if you have AirPods Pro 2 or 3)

The Health app also includes a built-in hearing test, but it requires AirPods Pro 3 (or AirPods Pro 2). To find the hearing test, look up Hearing in the Health app, then Get More From Health, and then Take Hearing Test. This will only be available if you have the right type of headphones connected. Follow the prompts to take the test. Apple has more information on this test here. If your results seem concerning, you can export a PDF of your results to discuss with a professional.

Find your medical records without having to go through a patient portal

Accessing your medical records through patient portals can be annoying. Instead, you can import your digital medical records directly into the Health app, giving you quick access to your medical history as needed. Apple offers a list of the healthcare systems whose data it can access. 

It’s worth looking over the privacy policies for this feature as well, but the good news is that the data follows an encrypted connection between your phone and the healthcare organization, without ever giving Apple (the company) access to it. I’d recommend turning off Improve Health Records, which sends an anonymized version of your data to Apple; health records are detailed information about your body—but feel free to leave it on if that’s your preference. You can back up your health data over iCloud, as discussed above.

Track your blood pressure, even if you don’t have a device that estimates it

As with menstrual cycle tracking, it can be useful to any health data directly in the app. You can actually do this with just about any data point: just view that type of data, and then tap the plus sign in the upper right corner. Think you took about 1,000 steps when you had your watch off? Just tap the plus on the Steps screen and add them. 

A handy place to use this feature is for blood pressure tracking. Some wearables estimate your blood pressure, like Whoop and the Samsung Galaxy Watch. But you don’t need one of those to log your numbers: just take note of your blood pressure at the doctor’s office, or when you use a wrist cuff or one of those machines they sometimes have at pharmacies. Open Blood Pressure and tap the plus, then put in the new reading. You’ll be able to view your history of blood pressure readings, and even see charts of how it has changed over time.

Get a better cardio fitness estimate by entering your medications

Some medications affect your heart rate, most notably beta blockers and calcium channel blockers. If you’re taking one of those, your heart rate won’t match Apple’s general-purpose formulas for gauging your cardio fitness (a VO2max estimate) from your heart rate. You’ll appear to have a higher cardio fitness than you actually have.

To let Apple account for this, go to your profile picture, tap Health Details, tap Edit at the top of the page, and scroll down to Medications That Affect Heart Rate. You can select calcium channel blockers or beta blockers, or both; these are the only categories of medication that Apple can account for. 

Automatically share medical info in an emergency

There’s a Medical ID feature that can be accessed from your lock screen even without unlocking your phone. It’s a great place to put your emergency contact information, but to make the most use of it, you need the people in your life to know how to access the information and what’s in there. 

I first learned about the Medical ID when I was teaching a class. A student came up to tell me about a medical condition, and showed me how to access her Medical ID (it’s right at the bottom of the lock screen). Most importantly, she made sure I knew what information I’d be able to find there, so I knew when and whether to reach for it in an emergency. 

I’d advise that you do the same if you want to be prepared. Besides allergies and contact information, the Medical ID field can include information on whether you’re pregnant, what medications you take, any medical conditions you’d like to disclose, and your height, weight, and blood type. There’s also an area at the bottom for notes, where you can add any information you feel is critical. 

Also consider whether you want to turn on Share During Emergency Call, which allows this information to be shared with emergency services. You can also control whether or not your Medical ID appears on your lock screen using a separate toggle.