Apple launches global campaign to highlight importance of health data privacy

The campaign will run across broadcast, social media and billboards in 24 regions around the world this summer. Photo Courtesy: iStock

Apple on Wednesday launched a new campaign to highlight the importance of health data privacy globally, including in India, as millions of people now monitor their health data online via plethora of smart devices.

The campaign will run across broadcast, social media and billboards in 24 regions around the world this summer. In India, there will be billboards present in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad.

It will include a new ad voiced by Emmy Award-winning actress and comedian Jane Lynch, a white paper offering an overview of the ways Apple helps protect data stored in the Health app on iPhone and in HealthKit, and billboards in 24 regions around the world.

To underscore the significance of health data privacy, a comedic ad tells the story of people whose health data is shared without their consent by a third party voiced by Lynch.

The ad is directed by award-winner Craig Gillespie, who directed "I, Tonya" and "Cruella", among other films.

The company also published a white paper on health data privacy.

The tech giant believes in four privacy principles: data minimisation, on-device processing, transparency and control, and security, and has built each of these four pillars into its Health features from the beginning.

iOS minimises the amount of health data sent to Apple's servers by generating health metrics on-device. For users with two-factor authentication, a device passcode, and a device running iOS 12 or later Health app data is end-to-end encrypted. As a result, data in the Health app is not readable by anyone - even Apple.

Data shown in the Health app like Trends & Highlights, resting heart rate, and Cycle Tracking predictions are calculated on-device. This on-device storage and computation helps ensure that Apple does not see this data in order to provide health metrics and summaries.

Health data is sensitive, so Apple makes sure the user is in control of what data is shared, who it is shared with, and how it is used.

Apps can request access to different types of data through HealthKit and the user can decide what data you want to share, if any.

Health and fitness data gathered from iPhone and Apple Watch is encrypted on device with a passcode, and is securely synced from Apple Watch to iPhone. As a result, data in the Health app is not readable by someone with physical access to your device unless they have your passcode.

As of August 2022, over 95 per cent of active iCloud users had two-factor authentication enabled.

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