How to customize Health for iPhone

iOS 10's Health app is a great way to keep track of a variety of health stats, whether you're tracking activity or your sleep patterns. What's more, you can customize Health to fit your exact needs. Add calories from a meal, a quick cat nap, and much more. You can even create a medical identification card with all of your essential information in case of emergencies.

Follow this guide to find out how you can take control of Health in iOS 10.

How to add or change health data

Some data, like your step count, is automatically tracked thanks to the on-board sensors in your iPhone; other information, like your heart rate, requires an external device (like an Apple Watch) to automatically log that data. There is a third option, however: You can manually add or change your health data from the Health app itself.

  1. Launch the Health app from your Home screen.
  2. Choose a category.
  3. Select the subject, such as Caffeine or Sleep Analysis, for which you wish to add data.

Open Health, choose category, choose subject

  1. Tap the '+' button in the top-right corner
  2. Choose the starting and ending times for the activity, and set any other relevant data, such as how many calories you burned or the amount of caffeine you ingested.
  3. Tap Add.

Hit Add, Choose parameters, tap Add

How to change display units

  1. Launch the Health app from your Home screen.
  2. Choose a category.
  3. Select the subject, such as Active Energy, whose display units you would like to change.

Open Health, choose category, choose subject

  1. Tap Unit.
  2. Choose from the available display options. In the case of Active Energy, for instance, select either kilocalories (kcal) or kilojoules (kJ).

Tap Unit, choose your unit

How to delete data from the Health app

  1. Launch the Health app from your Home screen.
  2. Choose a category.
  3. Select the subject, such as Active Energy or Sleep Analysis, from which you wish to remove data.

Open Health, choose category, choose subject

  1. Tap Show All Data.
  2. Find the data that you want to remove and tap Edit.
  3. When deleting select pieces of data, tap the subtraction symbol in the red circle next to the data point or points you wish to remove.

Tap Show All Data, hit Edit, tap subtraction symbol

  1. Tap Delete.
  2. If you wish to remove all of a subject's data, tap Delete All.

Tap Delete, alternatively, Delete All

How to manage data access permissions

These permissions let the Health app know which apps can read and write data to this category.

  1. Launch the Health app from your Home screen.
  2. Choose a category.
  3. Select the subject, such as Active Energy or Sleep Analysis, where you want to temporarily disable data recording from an app.

Open Health, choose category, choose subject

  1. Tap Data Sources & Access.
  2. Under Apps Allowed to Read Data, find the app for which you wish to revoke permissions, and flip its switch to the 'off' position.

Tap Data Sources & Access, revoke permissions

How to remove a data source from your Health graph

If you don't want a data source to show up in your Health grab, you can disable it.

  1. Launch the Health app from your Home screen.
  2. Choose a category.
  3. Select the subject, such as Active Energy or Sleep Analysis, from which you wish to remove a data source.

Open Health, choose category, choose subject

  1. Tap Data Sources & Access.
  2. Tap Edit.
  3. Under Data Sources, find the data source you wish to remove and tap it. The check next to its name should disappear, and "Inactive" should appear under the source's name.

Tap Data Sources & Access, Edit, remove data source

How to create your Medical ID

  1. Launch the Health app from your Home screen.
  2. Tap Medical ID.
  3. Tap Create Medical ID.

Open Health, tap Medical ID, then Create Medical ID

  1. Fill out each of the applicable sections with things like your age, height, weight, and blood type.
  2. Hit Done.

Enter information, hit Done

How to update your Medical ID

  1. Launch the Health app from your Home screen.
  2. Tap Medical ID.
  3. Hit Edit.

Open Health, tap Medical ID, hit Edit

  1. Add or remove your new information, such as a medical condition or new emergency contact.
  2. Tap Done.

Enter new information, tap Done

Questions?

Let us know in the comments.

Joseph Keller

Joseph Keller is the former Editor in Chief of iMore. An Apple user for almost 20 years, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.