How to Set up a Medical ID on Your IPhone
IOS 13.5 is coming soon with a new feature that could save your life. Once the update drops, you can choose to automatically share your Medical ID with emergency dispatchers and emergency responders, who will then provide you with the best possible service.
For this to be in any way useful, you need to first set up your Medical ID in the iOS Health app . If you haven’t – there really is no reason not to – do it now. And even if you did, this is a great time to check to make sure your information is accurate – you may be able to provide more detailed information than the last time you visited a portion of the Medical Card in the Health app.
Any health information you enter is stored locally on your device (s) and is encrypted – it is never transmitted to Apple’s servers, and Apple cannot access it remotely. Communication with emergency services and emergency services is through end-to-end encryption, and anyone with physical access to your device can retrieve your Medical ID information from the lock screen ( if you’ve enabled this option ).
To change your medical ID information:
- Open the Health app on your iOS device.
- Tap your profile picture. On the Summary screen.
- Click on “Medical Certificate” in the “Medical Information” section.
- Click Change.
- Add any relevant health information you want to share, such as current medications, allergies, blood type, pre-existing medical conditions, etc.
- Turning on Show When Locked will add an icon to your lock screen so your health information can be viewed by clicking the icon in the lower left corner of the lock screen. This way, emergency responders can access your medical ID information without having to unlock the device.
- Click Finish to save your changes and close the editing window.