iOS 8 includes a new app for Health, which aims to provide you a dashboard for all your health and fitness data.
The Health app will collect data from other third-party apps and devices that monitor your health and activity. It also gives users the option to share specific data with health care providers through apps.
The Health app can also display important medical and contact information on the Lock screen, where it’s available for someone attending to you in an emergency. To display this information, you need to create an emergency Medical ID. Follow these instructions to create your Emergency Medical ID.
- Launch the Health app from the Home screen
- Tap on Medical ID in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Tap on Create Medical ID
- You will now be able to add information such as your birthdate, medical conditions, medical notes, allergies & reactions, if you’re on any medications, the emergency contact, blood type, organ donor, your weight and height. Essentially information that can come in handy in case you are in an emergency. You may also tap on Add Photo to add your photo to your Medical ID by either taking a photo or choosing an existing one from the Photos app.
- After you’ve entered the necessary information tap on Done in the top right corner.
How to access Medical ID from the Lock screen
To ensure that your Medical information is available in case of an emergency, you need to keep the Show When Locked toggle enabled. However, it is important to note that anyone with physical access to your iOS device will be able to access to the information you included in your emergency Medical ID. If you don’t wish to share the information on the Lock screen, then tap on the On/Off toggle for Show When Locked to disable your Medical ID from the Lock screen.
You can access the Medical ID by following these steps:
- On the Lock screen, swipe to left to the screen where you can enter the passcode.
- Tap on Emergency at the bottom left of the screen.
- Then tap on Medical ID at the bottom left to see the medical and contact information.
If you’re wondering what next. Apple has also released a new tool for developers called HealthKit, which will allow developers of health and fitness apps to share or access information in the Health app.
Let me know how it goes, and drop me a line in the comments if you’ve any questions about Emergency Medical ID.
