iCloud sync and moving HealthLab to a new iPhone

iCloud sync in HealthLab is opt-in and off by default: it only turns on once you give explicit consent, either during onboarding or later in Settings. That one setting is also what makes moving to a new iPhone painless — without it, there is no way to carry the app’s data from one device to another. It’s free, with no subscription required.

What to do and where

Step 1. Turn on iCloud sync

Sync has been available since version 1.11.0, and it ships off by default — turning it on requires your explicit consent, either during onboarding or later in Settings → iCloud Sync. Nothing moves between devices until this step happens, which is exactly why it’s worth doing on the old iPhone well before that phone gets traded in or handed off, not the night a new one shows up.

Step 2. Decide what happens to the “Sync original files” toggle

Alongside the main sync setting there is a separate toggle, “Sync original files,” which is on by default. Leave it on, and iCloud receives not just the recognized values but the original PDF lab files and medication photos themselves. Turn it off, and only the recognized data syncs — the original files stay put on whichever device they were first created on.

Step 3. Take stock of what needs to move

While you’re still on the old iPhone, open “Lab results” and “Medications & courses” and note what’s there — profiles, test results, medications, intake history. This is an inventory of what has to travel, not proof that it already has: those screens only show what’s stored locally on that one device, and opening them confirms nothing about iCloud. After turning sync on, leave the old iPhone online for a few minutes so the upload actually has time to run. Don’t wipe or hand over the old iPhone until the new one, in Step 4, has shown that same data — that’s the real confirmation a copy exists in iCloud.

Step 4. Set up the new iPhone under the same Apple ID

Sign in on the new iPhone with the same Apple ID that had sync turned on, and install HealthLab. Profiles, lab results, test results, medications, intake history, local preferences, and the PIN hash — kept via Apple iCloud Keychain, end-to-end encrypted — all become available right away, as long as sync was enabled ahead of time and the new device is signed into that same Apple ID. Seeing that data land here — not just sitting on the old phone — is the actual proof the upload succeeded; only then is it safe to wipe or trade in the old iPhone.

Step 5. Turn sync off, if you decide you don’t want it anymore

If sync stops being useful — say you’d rather keep everything on a single device — open Settings → iCloud Sync and switch it off. That stops any further changes from moving between devices, but on its own it does not remove whatever is already sitting in your iCloud zone.

Step 6. Delete the iCloud data, if you want it gone for good

Turning sync off and deleting the iCloud copy are two separate actions. To clear the data out of Apple’s infrastructure entirely, choose “Delete my iCloud data.” This is final — it removes the data from every device signed into that Apple ID, and there is no way to undo it once it’s done.

What syncs and what does not

With sync turned on, the following moves from the device into your private Apple iCloud zone under your Apple ID: profiles, lab results, test results, medications, and intake history; original lab PDFs and medication photos — only if the “Sync original files” toggle is left on, which is its default state; local preferences such as theme, notification settings, and the free-import counter; and the PIN hash, via Apple iCloud Keychain, end-to-end encrypted.

The data lives in Apple’s infrastructure under your Apple ID. HealthLab (healthlab.pro / the app developer) has no access to it — access is limited to your own devices signed into that same Apple ID, plus Apple itself as data processor under the Apple iCloud Terms of Service and Apple Privacy Policy. None of it ever passes through HealthLab’s servers. With sync off, everything stays local on the device, stored via SwiftData and protected by iOS file protection. For the full wording, see the privacy policy.

Sync and family cabinet sharing are different things

iCloud sync moves all of one person’s data — profiles, lab results, medications, intake history — strictly between that same person’s own devices, all signed into one Apple ID. That has nothing to do with a separate feature, the shared family medicine cabinet, which uses Apple CloudKit Share to give another person visibility into only the medicine cabinet contents and the refill list — never lab results.

It’s easy to conflate the two because both run through private iCloud with no HealthLab account involved, but the intent is opposite: one carries everything across a single person’s own devices, the other hands a narrow slice of data to someone else entirely.

Example: a new iPhone the night before a doctor’s appointment

The evening before an endocrinologist appointment, the old iPhone won’t turn on anymore, and a new one has to be picked up in a hurry. Inside the app sit 4 TSH results spanning the last 14 months — exactly the numbers the doctor is going to ask for in the morning.

If iCloud sync had already been turned on, this resolves itself just by signing into the new phone with the same Apple ID: all 4 TSH results, along with the rest of the profile, show up because they were sitting in the private iCloud zone the whole time, not only on the phone that just died.

If sync had never been turned on, and the old phone is unrecoverable or already traded in, those 4 results are gone — there is no way to pull them back from anywhere. They existed only locally on that one device, and no copy of them was ever created anywhere else, not by HealthLab, not by anyone. That’s not a support ticket that gets resolved with a message to the developer — nobody outside the reader’s own devices ever had access to that data in the first place.

Edge cases

• The new phone is signed into a different Apple ID. Nothing from the old iCloud zone shows up there — sync is tied to the Apple ID it was enabled under, not to any particular physical device.
• The originals toggle was off. Recognized lab values and medication data sync normally, but the original PDF files and medication photos do not — they remain only on whichever device first created them.
• No internet. Everything already saved — lab results, trends, medications — opens offline exactly as it always does. Sync itself needs a connection, though: changes made offline queue up and move across once the connection comes back, and AI recognition also requires internet.
• Wanting to stop syncing but keep the data on the phone. Turning off the toggle in Settings → iCloud Sync and choosing “Delete my iCloud data” are two separate actions: the first simply stops future changes from moving, the second permanently removes the copy from every device signed into that Apple ID.

Free or Pro

Turning on iCloud sync, the originals toggle, turning sync off, and deleting the iCloud copy are all Free, with no limit and no subscription required. The Pro features that sit nearby have nothing to do with sync itself — AI recognition of lab results and photos, and the AI summary — those are the only paid pieces in this part of the app.

Frequently asked questions

HealthLab: your data, under your control, on any device

iCloud sync is most visible exactly at the moment a device changes — everything imported earlier through how to import lab results shows up on a new iPhone without re-importing anything, as long as sync had already been turned on. It’s the same principle behind family profiles: each profile keeps its own data, and none of it is tied to one specific physical device once sync is on.

The decision in practice comes down to one tap in Settings, made ahead of time rather than after a phone is already lost, stolen, or traded in. Skipping that tap doesn’t cost anything until the moment a device is gone — at which point whatever was never synced anywhere else is gone with it.

To see how HealthLab stores and protects your data — from local SwiftData storage to optional sync, laid out in full in the privacy policy — visit the HealthLab home page, which explains where your data actually lives. The medicine cabinet syncs along with everything else once sync is on; the only separate piece is handing family members visibility into it, covered on the medicine cabinet page.