How to Transfer Your Health Data to a New iPhone

Since iOS 8, Apple introduced the application to the system Cheers, which records several of your biometric data such as steps taken, calories expended, weight, medical records and various other information. However, there are those who lose this information when restoring the iPhone or changing the device, even recovering the backup.

In this article, we’ll show you what to do to preserve this information in the backup, or to recover it even when you don’t want to take advantage of the old backup.


In this article, we’ll cover three different methods for retrieving your data from the Health app:


Method 1: encrypted backup

Not everyone knows, but if the iPhone backup is not encrypted, some more sensitive information will not be preserved, such as account passwords, health and home automation data (HomeKit). That’s because Apple believes that important data should not be left unprotected for possible hackers ill-intentioned (crackers) take advantage. So, the rule is this: if you want the backup to keep your Health data, you have to activate encryption.

This is quite easy. Connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable and open iTunes. Click the icon of the connected device.

In the backup area, you will see two options, one on iCloud and one on your computer. Select the latter and check the box “Encrypt iPhone backup“. This will ensure that the next time you back up, you can record all of your most sensitive data.

You will be asked to choose a password for this backup. It’s very important that you never forget this password, because there is no other way to recover the information if you forget it in the future. So don’t throw all your work away and choose a password that you are sure you won’t forget in the future.

With encryption, you’ll be able to preserve:

  • your account passwords
  • Wi-Fi settings
  • Safari history
  • your Health data
  • the Activity app data
  • iCloud Keys data

Of course, in addition to all the data and applications made in the normal backup.


Method 2: Export the Health data

Many prefer to do a clean installation of the system and not reuse any old backups. This is sometimes good for not bringing old remnants that may cause inconsistencies in the system. The problem with this is that by not recovering the backup, your health data is also not recovered and the entire Health application is zeroed.

One solution to this is to export all data from the Health app. This is easy, but as absurd as it may be, Apple only offers the option of export and not to import it back. For this, you will have to use a app paid out to import just that data so that it can be recovered on a new iPhone or a clean system installation.

Attention Apple Watch users: this method does not record daily application data Activity. To do this, you will have to use methods 1 or 3.

First, we’ll learn how to export the data and then we’ll see how to import it back.

↑ Export

  • Open the Health app on your iPhone and tap the user symbol in the upper right corner.

  • At the bottom of the screen, tap Export Health Data. Depending on the amount of information, it may take a while to create the file.

  • Save the generated file to a folder on iCloud Drive, Dropbox or any cloud service you use. You can also email the file to yourself.

There, you have just backed up your health data, which can be imported into the new iPhone or after you perform a restore without backup.

↓ Import

To import, you will need to purchase one of the apps available for that. This application, after installed, will import the data and integrate with the Health application, returning all data to it.

Here are the three applications of this type, currently available:

What is the difference between them? Well, everyone is willing to import health data into the native app, but not everyone does it in its entirety. The latter, for example, is not able to retrieve data related to women’s reproductive health, such as record of menstrual flow, ovulation, etc. It is possible that this will change in a future update, so it is important that you try to find out what each one can record, so as not to risk you losing anything.

With this method, you can recover your health data, without having to use the backup for that. However, for those who have Apple Watch and records in the Activity app, you will lose them.


Method 3: Clone part of the iTunes backup

This method is the most elaborate and consists of creating a kind of clone of the backup you made, but preserving only the Health and Activity data.

But for that, you will need a program, compatible with macOS and Windows. It’s the Decipher Activity Transfer, which is able to recover a backup that you have already done, extract only the Health and Activity data, and then create a new backup file only with that information. With this, you do a clean installation, but only recover the Health and Activity data.

The complete program is paid (US $ 29.99), but to record only the data we want in this tutorial, it is grace.

It retrieves the following information:

  • your Health app data
  • all your Activity app data
  • Apple Watch backups
  • Activity achievements and medals

To do this, the procedure is simple:

  • Install the program on your computer, through one of these links: macOS / Windows
  • If you don’t have iTunes yet, install the latest version
  • If you have an Apple Watch, unpair it from your iPhone, so the backup will save your data as well
  • Open iTunes and make an encrypted backup of the iPhone, exactly as in method 1, described at the beginning of this article
  • After the backup is finished, disconnect the iPhone from the computer
  • Open the Decipher Activity Transfer program, choose the backup you just created and start the process. Leave only the Health and Activity data option checked, which is free
  • At the end, it will save a copy of your backup. Then, when you restore the iPhone, just recover this backup that contains only Health data.

Watch a video demonstrating this process:

Ready! You have a brand new system, with all your vital records protected. ?


Choose which method is best suited to your needs. The first is for those who simply want to have less work when recovering a backup with all their information and applications together. It is the most practical, without a doubt. The third, in turn, is ideal for those who do not want to recover the backup, but cannot lose all the information recorded in the Activity and Health app. Only you can decide which is the best for you.

Keep this article in your favorites for when you need it and share it with your friends and family, so that they also know about these methods. And if you have any questions about this, ask here in the comments. ?