Just before the expected launch of the Galaxy Watch 9 on the 22nd of July, Samsung is giving a big makeover to its health application. The Samsung Health app is set to receive a lot of new features like Daily Cardio Load that leverage AI to deliver their results.
While all these new capabilities would be welcomed, Galaxy users will definitely not appreciate a recent report that suggests that the health app is leaving users with no choice but to opt in to AI training if they want to enjoy its features fully.
Controversial AI training pop-up
Samsung Health is a popular fitness and wellness tracker available for Android and iOS. If you go to its Settings page, you will find a toggle that says, "Consent to the use of Health Data for AI Training and Modeling." Having this toggle enabled means you are allowing Samsung to use your health-related information collected by the Samsung Health app to train its AI models.
These include details related to your health records, meditation, menstrual cycles, and more. You must be thinking that turning off the switch would simply stop the app from collecting your data for AI training. Though it actually does that, you also get to see a pop-up with a warning that basically says that the app will stop syncing data with your Samsung account and that your health data will also be deleted.
Warning in the Samsung Health app. | Image by How-To Geek
This definitely feels like an act of arbitrariness from the tech giant, as opting out of AI training would also mean losing access to the core functionality of the health application. Users only have two choices: making their health metrics available for AI training or losing all the information collected by the app to date.
There's a twist in the story
Clarification notice by Samsung. | Image by PhoneArena
I was honestly a bit surprised to see such a message from a brand like Samsung. That's because the company would obviously be aware that its users would not appreciate any such move when they are being forced to submit their personal details like their health metrics. So, I was really hopeful that the brand would soon release a clarification on this matter.
The clarification is finally here, and it's good news for the users. In the Notice section of the app, you'll find a new notice regarding this matter. It clearly says that even if you decide not to contribute to AI training, the "existing health data stored for the use of Samsung Health services will not be deleted and will not be affected by your use of the service."
Only the information that was collected and used for AI development would be removed. The notice further mentions that the team would soon update the prompt text that led to the confusion so that the end user can understand its meaning more clearly and accurately. So, it appears that all the confusion was caused because the text in the pop-up that appears when you try to opt out of AI training did not clearly convey the message.
Do you like where Samsung is heading with its AI strategy?
Yes, I'm ready to see what comes next
49.06%
I'm not sure a full-blown AI ecosystem would be OK for me
11.32%
I don't care about AI at all
26.42%
I like some AI features on phones but not the strategy
13.21%
53 Votes
Obviously, Samsung fans were not happy with this move
Although it's now clear that your health data wouldn't be deleted, Samsung fans were definitely not happy with this move when things were not clear before. A user on X commented on a related post, "This is just insidious."
this is just insidious
why will they delete your data because you refused consent to train AI with your personal information
The frustration of users can also be found on Reddit. Under a related post, a user commented that moves like these, where big companies give their customers almost no option but to opt in to AI training, would eventually cause the AI bubble to burst.
The confusion is now clear
Samsung was definitely under fire for a while, but after the clarification notice, things will definitely settle down now. That said, I am really looking forward to all the AI capabilities that are being added to its health app. I hope they truly turn out to be helpful to the end user and do not end up being features with a lot of promises but little real-life usage.
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Aman Kumar is a news writer at PhoneArena covering Google Pixel phones, Android features, AI-powered smartphone tools, and mobile tech news. Before joining PhoneArena, he spent over five years writing about consumer technology for publications like MakeUseOf, How-To Geek, and Guiding Tech. His current daily drivers are the Pixel 10 and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, while his red iPhone SE (2nd gen) remains a personal favorite. Aman also appreciates bold smartphone experiments and still considers the Nokia N-Gage one of the industry’s most iconic designs.
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