Samsung Health: Users must share data with AI, otherwise it will be deleted

Samsung requires users of its health app to make a decision. Anyone who does not release their, sometimes highly sensitive, health data for artificial intelligence training will lose important functions of Samsung Health. There is also a risk of deletion.

AI training or data loss

It was only at the beginning of June that Samsung announced a major renovation and AI innovations for its health app. Now, however, the South Korean technology group is apparently presenting users of the health application with a difficult choice. When opening the software on their smartphone, some users are currently receiving a request to consent to the use of their personal health data to train artificial intelligence. If you refuse, it appears that there will be serious consequences. If users object to the use, the system will refuse to synchronize with the user account in the future.

But that’s not enough. Anyone who does not agree to data processing will also likely lose recordings already stored in the cloud. According to the notification, the only exceptions are information that the company must retain for legal reasons. If it’s not a misunderstanding, Samsung is more or less putting the gun on its customers’ chests, as regular use of the app without stored cloud data is hardly practical in everyday life.

Sensitive data in focus

As How-To Geek reported, the consent required by Samsung includes, according to the official terms of use wide-ranging categories. In addition to simple step counts, it also includes body measurements, nutritional data and medical information related to medications, including prescriptions and dosages. Users should also release medical reports, diagnoses, prognoses, test results, previous records and treatments. The data collected will be used to improve algorithms and develop new features. Data protection advocates are critical of the fact that the data can also be evaluated by human examiners.

Although corporations typically anonymize such data sets, this potentially gives employees insight into private and highly sensitive information. Users can subsequently revoke the approval in the app settings. However, this apparently immediately triggers the described deletion process of the health data in the cloud and the end of synchronization across devices.

Preparing for new hardware

The timing of the procedure probably depends on upcoming products. The next Galaxy Unpacked event will take place at the end of July 2026. The presentation of new devices such as the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the Galaxy Watch 9 is expected there. The new wearables will be equipped with a digital health advisor. The digital coach is intended to create personalized training plans, analyze sleep patterns and give individual nutritional tips. In order to make such services reliable, developers need extensive amounts of user data to train the systems. AI models absolutely rely on real inputs to reliably recognize patterns in health data. Previously, Samsung offered basic functions without the requirement to share data.

The new strategy therefore marks a change of course. In the past, Samsung has often positioned itself as privacy-friendly. Samsung Health started over eleven years ago as a pure pedometer. The software has now developed into a comprehensive fitness center. With the integration of complex functions, the need for data for training AI models comes to the fore. If you want to continue using the app without restrictions, you will probably have to release your data for processing in the future.