Granting Health permissions

At some point the Workbench asks for access to Apple Health. iOS shows a long list of data types with switches beside each one.

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What to do

Turn on everything you are willing to share. The app reads only; it will not write over your health data. There is a Turn All Categories On switch at the top. Use it.

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The trap

This catches people out constantly, including us. It looks as though you granted everything, the app looks as though it is ignoring your readings, and the actual cause is an iOS design decision several screens away. Blood pressure matters here because it is the only thing needed for Vascular Age — no expensive scale or ring required.

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Checking what you granted

You can review or change it any time, and this is also how you fix the blood pressure problem after the fact:

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Permissions the app cannot see

A quirk of Apple’s design worth knowing: an app cannot tell whether it was denied read access or whether there is simply no data. Both look identical. So if a card is empty, it might be a permission you did not grant, or it might be that your watch does not measure that thing. The Workbench cannot distinguish them, which is why it tends to say “no data” rather than “permission denied”. If a card stays empty and you think it should not, checking the list above is the first thing to try.

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Other prompts you may see

• Bluetooth — only if you use a directly-connected device.
• Notifications — for reminders. Declining costs you nothing important.
• Background refresh — lets the app collect while closed. Worth allowing.