Updated (16 July): Samsung has since clarified this warning. Opting out only deletes data collected for AI training, not your existing health records, and cloud syncing stays active. You can read the full clarification here.
If you use Samsung Health to track your sleep, workouts, or medications, you may have noticed a new consent toggle pop up in the app this week. Samsung is now asking users to allow their personal health data to be used for AI training and modeling. The catch is hard to miss: say no, and Samsung will stop syncing your health data and delete all data stored in your account (via Cybernews).
The sensitive health data sitting behind Samsung’s new AI consent toggle
The new toggle, which appeared in Samsung Health’s updated privacy settings on Monday, asks for consent to use your health data to train and improve Samsung’s AI models, including through human review.
The data in question is not just step counts. Samsung wants access to body measurements, nutrition logs, sleep data, medication records, including prescriptions and dosages, full health records, such as diagnoses and test results, and menstrual cycle tracking data.
If you sync the app with a Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring, the list gets even more personal, adding biological aging indicators, body fat percentage, heart rate variability, skin temperature, and blood oxygen levels. Users who decline or later withdraw consent receive a warning that syncing will be disabled and all synced health data will be permanently deleted.
Users are pushing back on Samsung’s AI data move
The backlash was immediate. Samsung Health has over 1 billion downloads on the Play Store and around 65 million monthly active users worldwide, and the policy applies to iPhone users too since the app is available on iOS.
Critics were quick to point out that calling this a consent choice while threatening to wipe your data is not really consent. Samsung has not clarified whether the data gets anonymized before AI training, who does the human reviews, or how often they happen. Samsung says you can withdraw consent anytime through the app settings. But with your health data on the line, that option feels a lot less free than it sounds.
