How to Manage (and Delete) the Health Data Your Android Tracks
When it comes to tracking health and fitness data, we most often think of smartwatches and other wearable devices. It turns out that your Android phone may be tracking some basic metrics on its own, and you might not even realize it’s happening.
Apps like Google Fit and Samsung Health can log steps, activity minutes, calories burned, and more in the background while you use your phone day-to-day, and can also share data with other health and fitness apps on your phone .
Of course, all of this can be helpful in understanding your health and daily routine, but it’s important to know what’s being collected and where it’s being stored. The best part is that auditing these apps only takes a few minutes.
How your data is stored
Google Fit now uses underlying technology called Health Connect , which manages all the information on your smartphone locally and stores it fully encrypted. applies to all applications that want to use the Health Connect standard.
As for Google Fit , it syncs data to the cloud as a backup, but does not provide end-to-end encryption. This means it has standard Google protection, but someone at Google could technically see this data if they wanted. In fact, it’s the same as many Google services, including Gmail: you trust the company to keep your data secure.
It’s a similar story with everything saved in Samsung Health : by default, that data is stored locally on your phone and encrypted there using Samsung’s own Knox technology. You also have the option to save it to the cloud if you want, allowing you to sync it across devices. It also doesn’t have end-to-end encryption by default, so while it will be well protected, there is some element of risk in terms of it being hacked.
However, Samsung recently introduced an enhanced data protection mode for files stored in Samsung Cloud, including those synced with Samsung Health. This means that the data in the cloud will be fully encrypted and inaccessible to everyone else, although for now it is only available on the Samsung Galaxy S24 series.
Health tracking check
Open Google Fit on your Android phone and you’ll get an overview of all the health and fitness data your phone is currently tracking: You’ll typically see steps, energy spent, and heart rate (a measure of your workouts). ) if default data types are registered.
Any of this data can be deleted by going to the Profile tab, tapping the gear icon (top right), and selecting Delete Data . The next screen allows you to delete data from certain categories or completely erase everything. To delete a single data point, such as a single run, select it from the History screen, then tap the three dots (top right) and select Delete .
To stop tracking Google Fit or stop it from interacting with other apps, open the Profile tab, tap the gear icon (top right), then select Manage Data and Access . From here, you can choose app permissions to connect or disable third-party health and fitness apps, as well as data and access to manage certain categories of data.
So, for example, to prevent Google Fit from tracking your steps every day, go to Data and select Activity > Steps > Fit . Here, turn off the “Steps” toggle and you’re done. The same screen lists all the different types of data that Google Fit can log if you want it to, and the same if you choose a different app.
If you have a Samsung Galaxy device and a Samsung Health device, there are a few differences. You can select a data type, such as steps, and then click the three dots (top right) to pause recording that data type. To erase all your data, go to the Home tab, tap the three dots, then select Settings and Erase Personal Data .
From the same Settings page, you can access Health Connect , which works the same way as Google Fit: you can control which apps (including Samsung Health) have access to the data your phone’s sensors report, digging into various categories. data that has been logged, and choose which apps and connected devices (such as smart watches) can send reports to Samsung Health.