Samsung Health users are in an uproar after learning they must opt in to allow their personal health information to be used to train the company's AI models – or face having it erased from the app entirely.

Accept AI training or lose synced data

The policy change – appearing on Monday in Samsung Health's updated privacy settings – asks users to consent to the use of their health data for AI training and modeling as soon as they open the app.

“The health data you have allowed us to collect and process will be used for Al training and modeling, including human review, to improve Samsung Health, including algorithms to analyse health conditions and our Al features,” the new update states.

Samsung says users can withdraw consent at any time through the Samsung Health privacy settings.

However, users who decline or later decide to opt out of AI data training automatically receive a pop-up warning that declining to participate will disable Samsung’s account syncing – and that any synced data will be completely deleted from the app.

"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 notice states.

The last phrase, “unless retained pursuant to applicable law,” implies that Samsung may eventually be legally required to retain users’ data, but that does not appear to be the case at present.

Also worth noting, the policy does not explain whether health data used for AI training is anonymized before human review, who performs the reviews, or how frequently they occur.

Samsung users slam AI training ultimatum

As expected, the policy has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and actual users of the health and fitness tracking app, who expressed outrage over what they called a huge violation of privacy.

“Opt out and the app stops working. that's not consent, it's a toll booth,”

one user commented about the privacy update on X.

“Here we go. So now tech companies are threatening to make apps that you use in your daily life that you become reliant on fuel for their AI training and if you don’t comply then they just won’t work. Come on @Samsung tech companies are just as cold as big pharma,“ another X user wrote.

Here we go. So now tech companies are threatening to make apps that you use in your daily life that you become reliant on fuel for their AI training and if you don’t comply then they just won’t work. Come on @Samsung tech companies are just as cold as big pharma

undefined TurnedAgainst aka “TA” (@turnedagainst) July 12, 2026

According to Samsung's AI consent page, also posted on its website, to use the Health app, users must allow the company to collect and process a slew of health data – data that ultimately “may” wind up in the proverbial hands of its AI models.

Samsung says the training data it collects may include:

• Health and wellness data, such as body measurements, nutrition, step count, activity, and sleep.
• Medication data, including prescriptions and dosages.
• Health records, including diagnoses, prognoses, test results, past records, and treatments.
• Cycle tracking data, including menstrual cycle information and related physiological indicators.

Besides monitoring daily activity, workouts, sleep stages, and nutrition, Samsung says users who sync the app with a Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring will unlock even more advanced health metrics.

These include biological aging indicators, body fat percentage, skeletal muscle mass, body water, heart rate variability, skin temperature, blood oxygen levels, and more detailed running metrics, such as asymmetry and ground contact time.

Samsung Health tracks far more than steps

To date, over 1 billion people have downloaded the app from the Play Store, while Samsung itself boasts over 64 to 65 million monthly active users worldwide.

The free-to-use Samsung Health app comes pre-installed on all Samsung Galaxy devices and is available to all Android users on Google Play, supporting over 70 languages.

The Health app is also available on the Apple App Store, meaning the policy affects Samsung Health users regardless of whether they use an Android phone or iPhone.

The app can also be synced with other fitness apps such as Google Fit and Health Connect.

The Samsung policy also notes that it prioritizes user privacy and compliance with standards such as the GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO in regards to consent-based sharing.

The app is also said to employ strong encryption methods and to use Samsung Knox Security to protect "your personal data, passwords, and biometrics from the chip up, actively blocking hacking, malware, and tampering in real-time."

Last month, Samsung announced a major AI upgrade to the app for Galaxy Watch users, referring to the interface as an “Intelligent Health Partner.”

The AI integration is aimed at “transforming the user experience from passive tracking to proactive guidance using a suite of personalized, intuitive daily insights,” the company said.