Samsung Health AI Training Consent Sparks Privacy Concerns Over Misleading Data Deletion Warnings

Don't Want Your Health Data to Train Samsung's AI? Here's How to Save Your Stats and 6 Alternatives to Try

Samsung is making it harder for you to opt out of AI training in its Health app. As How-To Geek reports, users are seeing a notification when launching the app that introduces a new privacy toggle called "Consent to the use of health data for AI training and modeling." If you toggle it off, the app warns that it will no longer sync your health data with your Samsung account. "You will not be able to sync health data with your Samsung account and your health data will be deleted unless retained pursuant to applicable law," the alert reads. "If retention is required, we will erase it as soon as the required retention period ends." It is unclear what user data Samsung will collect if the toggle is enabled. A support page cited by various news outlets indicates that it could have access to your body measurements, nutrition data, step count, sleep metrics, medication data, health records, and cycle tracking data. Of late, tech companies have been collecting copious amounts of user data because such real-world data can help improve the accuracy and performance of their AI models. Many AI companies are also facing lawsuits and scrutiny for allegedly scraping copyrighted or personal data without permission. We've reached out to Samsung to confirm and will update the story if they respond. How to Opt Out of Sharing Health Data For now, if you're uncomfortable sharing the aforementioned data points for AI training, open Samsung Health, head to Settings > Privacy, and disable the toggle next to Consent to the use of health data for AI training and modeling. How to Download Your Personal Data From Samsung Health If you want to see what data Samsung has collected about you, here's how to download it. * In the Samsung Health app, tap the three dots and select Settings. * Scroll down and tap Download personal data > Download. * Grant the necessary permissions. * Enter your Samsung account information, wait for it to download, then tap OK. * To view the downloaded data, go to My Files > Downloads > Samsung Health folder. How to Delete Your Personal Data From Samsung Health If you're ready to jump ship and leave Samsung behind, here's how to delete your data. Samsung warns that the deletion process may take some time and says you won't be able to sign into your account until all of the data is completely deleted. * In the Samsung Health app, tap the three dots and select Settings. * Scroll down and tap Erase personal data > Erase > Erase again to confirm. * Enter your Samsung account information, and tap OK to finish. Alternative Fitness Trackers to Try It's difficult to avoid AI these days. The Google Health app just got a Gemini-powered health coach alongside the launch of the screenless Fitbit Air, while Siri AI is coming to watchOS 27. Apple says it "does not use our users' private personal data or user interactions when training our foundation models." Google says its "foundational language models are trained primarily on publicly available, crawlable data from the internet." (Watch out for what you upload to search, however.) It's a good idea to keep tabs on what you're giving companies permission to access and maybe give the settings in your health apps a once-over every now and then to see what you're sharing. For some fitness tracker alternatives, check out our top-rated devices:

Samsung Health App May Erase Your Data If You Opt Out of AI Training

Samsung is making it harder for you to opt out of AI training in its Health app. As How-To Geek reports, users are seeing a notification when launching the app that introduces a new privacy toggle called "Consent to the use of health data for AI training and modeling." If you toggle it off, the app warns that it will no longer sync your health data with your Samsung account. "You will not be able to sync health data with your Samsung account and your health data will be deleted unless retained pursuant to applicable law," the alert reads. "If retention is required, we will erase it as soon as the required retention period ends." It is unclear what user data Samsung will collect if the toggle is enabled. A support page cited by various news outlets indicates that it could have access to your body measurements, nutrition data, step count, sleep metrics, medication data, health records, and cycle tracking data. We've reached out to Samsung to confirm and will update the story if they respond. For now, if you're uncomfortable sharing the aforementioned data points, you can launch Samsung Health, head to Settings > Privacy, and disable the toggle next to "Consent to the use of health data for AI training and modeling." Of late, tech companies have been collecting copious amounts of user data because such real-world data can help improve the accuracy and performance of their AI models. Many AI companies are also facing lawsuits and scrutiny for allegedly scraping copyrighted or personal data without permission.

Samsung Health won't actually delete your data if you opt out of AI training

Opting out of allowing your data to be used for AI training doesn't actually seem to affect Samsung Health functionality, based on testing. A troubling new pop-up in Samsung Health started making the rounds yesterday. Users interacting with a toggle to opt out of their health data being used to train AI were greeted with a warning telling them that if they chose not to share their health data for AI training, previously uploaded health data would be deleted, and syncing new health data would no longer be possible. Now, though, it seems that that warning was poorly worded. SamMobile has shared a clarification from Samsung that explains the warning telling users their "health data will be deleted" is referring specifically to "data that has been separately collected and used for AI development purposes," not the health data that's "stored for the use of Samsung Health services." That being the case, the warning users have been seeing does seem awfully misleading. The obvious interpretation of Samsung's warning has understandably been causing a bit of an uproar, as the existing phrasing makes it sound like opting out of AI training would make Samsung Health unusable. As the company has clarified, though, that's not the case. Per SamMobile's testing, revoking AI training consent in Samsung Health won't delete the data that populates the user-facing side of the platform, and syncing data still works, despite Samsung's poorly phrased warning. The company says it's working on "improving the notice text" to be clearer.

Samsung is deleting your health data if you refuse to let it train its AI

I've been covering Android and other mobile technology for close to ten years now, with a specific interest in phone accessories, e-readers, and what makes each individual phone different from another. I delight in looking at the phone market from as many angles as possible, and while my opinions may be odd, at times, they're always from the heart as much as the head. I have a background in the mobile accessories world, which explains my odd enthusiasm for cases and things that clip onto smartphones. I worked for Digital Trends from 2017 to 2025. Samsung Health is holding your health data hostage so it can use it to train Samsung's AI models. A new option has appeared in Samsung Health's settings, and it lets you turn off Samsung's ability to use your data to train its AI models (via Android Authority). If you're not an AI fan, then that sounds great. But there's a kicker here. If you turn it off, then a warning pops up, informing you that turning this option off will delete your existing Samsung Health data and stop any further syncing with Samsung's servers. Samsung Health is now an AI-or-nothing deal It's hardly likely to surprise anyone that a large company with a greedy AI model to feed would resort to using every single scrap of data it could. But it's definitely a surprise that it would pull such a blatantly anti-consumer move. Samsung Health is the app you use if you use a Galaxy Watch or a Samsung smartphone, and given quite a lot of people do, it's safe to assume Samsung is getting a lot of data for its AI. But, it's your data, and you might assume Samsung will let you bar it from using that data. And technically, it does. Only, it means you won't be allowed to use that data again. Discovered by How to Geek, there's now an option to withdraw your consent for Samsung to train AI using your data. However, attempting to untick that box will trigger a pop-up telling you that withdrawing your consent will lead to Samsung withdrawing its toys and going home. In short, no AI training, no Samsung Health. Withdrawing your consent means Samsung will delete your health data, unless "required by law" -- an odd choice of words. Yes, you can make the argument that Samsung is allowed to ask for whatever price it likes for the software it owns and develops, but there's some quite unsavory about this particular practice. Not only is this a piece of software that millions will have been using long before this requirement, but it feels very anti-consumer. You can find out exactly which data is gathered by Samsung on this page. The data gathered contains everything from your mental wellness and menstrual cycle information, to the medications you take. Which would be fine if people were given the chance to opt out and keep using the service they've been using for years. Unfortunately, Samsung has chosen to go down a less consumer-friendly path with Samsung Health. An especially unfortunate turn for an app I've personally enjoyed using.

Samsung Health won't delete all of your data if you opt out of AI training after all [U]

As its new redesign rolls out, Samsung Health is also forcing users into a choice - let their data be used for AI training, or make it effectively unusable in the long term. Update 7/15: In a statement to 9to5Google, Samsung says that it won't delete all of your data if you opt-out of AI training. Rather, it will only delete "data collected for AI development." In other words, it sounds like it is deleting data from Samsung's end rather than the user's. Samsung says: Samsung Health offers an optional consent to use health data for AI development. Users can withdraw this consent at any time. When consent is withdrawn, only the data collected for AI development will be deleted. Your existing health data will be retained so you can continue to use Samsung Health without interruption. Our original coverage follows: The folks over at How-To Geek picked up on a new consent notice being sent out to Samsung Health users that allows Samsung to use that data for AI training, including human review. Samsung explains on a support page: The health data you have allowed us to collect and process will be used for AI training and modelling, including human review, to improve Samsung Health, including algorithms to analyse health conditions and our AI features. Data included here includes step counts, sleep, medication data, cycle tracking, and even your full health records including treatments, test results, and more. Opting out of this consent via the Samsung Health app's settings shows a pop-up saying that Health will delete the user's data and not sync it going forward if they withdraw consent. This would, at bare minimum, mean that data would no longer sync across devices, but it could have impacts beyond that. Samsung says: You will not be able to sync health data with your Samsung account and your health data will be deleted unless retained pursuant to applicable law. If retention is required, we will erase it as soon as the required retention period ends.

Samsung will kill your health data if you don't consent to AI training

Disabling this toggle means you can't sync health data to your Samsung account and that this data will be deleted. The Samsung Health app has received some major additions so far this year. Unfortunately, it looks like the company is holding your health data hostage if you don't agree to a controversial move. Some Samsung Health users (h/t: How-To Geek) are now seeing a notice and toggle titled "Consent to the Use of Health Data for AI Training and Modelling." Yes, Samsung is using your health data to train AI. But that's not the worst part. Disabling this toggle results in a message warning users that they won't be able to sync health data to their Samsung account and that this data will be deleted unless required by law. Check out the outlet's screenshots below. If confirmed, this would be a deeply concerning move by the Galaxy maker. Health data like this is extremely sensitive, and there's no word if this data is being anonymized in the first place. But even if Samsung is taking major steps to anonymize and safeguard this data, it still seems like a consumer-hostile move. Making a basic feature like health data synchronization contingent on training Samsung's AI feels very icky. We can somewhat understand the AI training/processing requirement if you're using generative AI features in the first place. However, this might be particularly frustrating for Samsung Health users who don't use AI features and just want a no-frills health suite that works across devices. In any event, we've contacted Samsung to confirm this toggle and its associated behavior. We've also asked the company how it's handling this data and for its views on effectively holding users' health data hostage. We'll update the article as soon as Samsung gets back to us.

Refusing Samsung Health AI training will not wipe your health history after all

A confusing Samsung Health AI warning is getting clearer language Samsung Health recently began asking users to allow their health information to be used for AI training and modeling. The permission was described as optional, but the warning shown when users declined or withdrew consent created a very different impression. It appeared to suggest that Samsung Cloud syncing would stop and health information stored in a user's account would be permanently deleted. Considering Samsung Health can contain years of sleep, exercise, medication, and medical records, the reaction from users was entirely understandable. Recommended Videos SamMobile contacted Samsung for an explanation, and the company has now issued a new in-app notice that draws an important distinction missing from the original language. Samsung finally explains what gets deleted Samsung says information gathered for AI development is collected and managed separately from the records required to provide Samsung Health services. When someone withdraws permission, only the information collected specifically for AI training will be removed. Health records already stored for regular Samsung Health features will remain in the account and continue to be available. The original warning did not explain this division clearly. It placed references to AI consent, cloud syncing, and permanent deletion close enough together that users could reasonably assume their entire health history was at risk. Samsung has acknowledged the problem and says it is revising the notice to make the policy easier to understand. Fixing the wording is the right decision, especially when the request covers deeply personal information such as sleep patterns, medication records, menstrual cycle data, and health measurements. Opting out should not disable cloud syncing SamMobile also withdrew consent to see what would happen inside the app. Samsung Health continued syncing afterward, and the Samsung Cloud sync setting remained active. Based on Samsung's clarification and SamMobile's testing, refusing AI training should not stop users from syncing or accessing the health information needed for the service. Samsung deserves credit for responding instead of leaving the warning unexplained. Still, users should never have needed an external publication to establish what would happen to their records. Consent involving sensitive health data needs to be precise from the beginning, particularly when deletion is mentioned.

Samsung Health will delete your data unless you hand it over for AI training

As its new redesign rolls out, Samsung Health is also forcing users into a choice - let their data be used for AI training, or make it effectively unusable in the long term. The folks over at How-To Geek picked up on a new consent notice being sent out to Samsung Health users that allows Samsung to use that data for AI training, including human review. Samsung explains on a support page: The health data you have allowed us to collect and process will be used for AI training and modelling, including human review, to improve Samsung Health, including algorithms to analyse health conditions and our AI features. Data included here includes step counts, sleep, medication data, cycle tracking, and even your full health records including treatments, test results, and more. Opting out of this consent via the Samsung Health app's settings shows a pop-up saying that Health will delete the user's data and not sync it going forward if they withdraw consent. This would, at bare minimum, mean that data would no longer sync across devices, but it could have impacts beyond that. Samsung says: You will not be able to sync health data with your Samsung account and your health data will be deleted unless retained pursuant to applicable law. If retention is required, we will erase it as soon as the required retention period ends.

Samsung Health threatens to delete your data if you opt out of AI training

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. Recommended Videos 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.

Samsung is holding your health data hostage to train its AI

Samsung is forcing users to consent to AI training in the Samsung Health app or face losing access to their health data. The controversial new toggle, now appearing in the app, requires users to allow their health information to be used for AI modeling or risk having it deleted. The notice, titled "Consent to the Use of Health Data for AI Training and Modeling," appears upon opening the app. Disabling it prevents users from syncing health data to their Samsung accounts, and the data is removed unless required by law. How-To Geek reported the first sightings of the toggle, which has since spread to more users. This move raises serious privacy concerns, especially since the data in question may include highly sensitive information, such as medical records, medications, and menstrual cycle data. The broader AI industry is increasingly reliant on personal data, but requiring users to give up privacy or lose core functionality is a troubling trend. Samsung's decision may signal a shift in how health data is treated in the AI era. "The health data you have allowed us to collect and process will be used for AI training and modeling, including human review, to improve Samsung Health, including algorithms to analyze health conditions and our AI features," reads the Samsung Health page With no clear opt-out path, users are left with a stark choice: give up their privacy for AI training or lose access to the data they've tracked. If this becomes standard practice, expect more scrutiny and pushback from privacy advocates and general users who don't wish to contribute to the seemingly endless hunger of AI companies wanting to feed their expansive models, which are then sold right back to the same consumers that are being harvested. The main problem with this feature is: what do Samsung Health users who don't use any generative AI features do, but just want access to the standard Samsung Health? By not opting into data tracking, those users have now had their access revoked.

Samsung Health just turned AI training into a requirement, not a choice

Samsung Health's recent AI overhaul added tools like Vitals and a new Heart Health Score. Samsung Health AI training now comes with strings attached. According to a report from How-to-Geek, a new in-app toggle asks users to consent to AI training on their health data. Saying no comes with a real cost. The notice carries a blunt title: "Consent to the Use of Health Data for AI Training and Modelling." Turning it off does more than opt you out. Samsung stops syncing your data to your account. It also deletes the data already stored there, unless local law requires longer retention. The data list isn't short. Samsung says it covers sleep tracking, medications, medical records, and menstrual cycle data. The company also says human reviewers, including outside contractors, may look at some of it. That's a lot to hand over just to keep Samsung Health AI training running in the background. Why this feels different Most AI consent requests apply only to the AI features themselves. This flavor of Samsung Health AI training skips that limit. People who never touch Samsung's generative AI tools still have to hand over health data just to keep syncing it across devices. Compare that to Google's competing health app, which lets people opt into individual features without losing their own data. Samsung hasn't said whether it anonymizes health data before training. That detail matters, since medical records can stay identifiable even without a name attached. The AI push behind all this only rolled out a few weeks ago. Train Samsung's AI, or lose your health history. Those are the only two options on the table right now.

Samsung Health may soon ask users to share health data for AI training

The collected data is expected to power new AI-driven health features arriving with the Galaxy Watch 9 and future Galaxy devices. Samsung seems to be relying on AI for its health ecosystem but the move may need users to make big privacy decisions. As per multiple reports, the company has started rolling out a new consent prompt within the Samsung Health app which asks users whether they want to allow the health information to be used for AI training and model development. The new notice which is titled as Consent to Use Medical Data for AI Training and Modeling and reportedly explains that some health information may be processed to improve Samsung's AI powered health features. The company also notes that some data can be reviewed by humans during the development process. What data will Samsung collect? As per the reports, the consent will need a wide range of sensitive health information stored in Samsung Health. It includes activity data, medical records, medication history and menstrual cycle information. The company says the information will be used to improve AI models that power personalised health reports, wellness recommendations and other smart health features. Also read: Meta discontinues Muse Image AI feature after backlash, says it missed the mark The company has also claimed that the data will be combined in a way that reduces the possibility of identifying the individual users, although it has not provided detailed information about how the anonymisation process works or whether the information could still be linked to a Samsung account. What if you say never? The users can choose whether to participate via a new privacy setting inside Samsung Health. However, reports suggest declining the consent may come with notable limitations. Those who opt can lose Samsung Health cloud synchronisation via their Samsung Account, preventing health records from syncing across Galaxy devices. Samsung also reportedly warns that previously synced cloud data may be removed if consent is not granted, unless local regulations require the company to retain it.