Apple's Health App and Healthkit Apps

I've recently acquired a taste for healthy exercise - walking, mostly. I was thus quite excited to learn that Apple's iOS 8 would offer a Health App, which would keep all my data (sourced from various Healthkit Apps on my iPhone) in one place for easy reference via a Dashboard.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get this to work quite as expected. Every free app I've tried, either keeps popping up ... er ... pop-ups, advertising their "Pro" (read Paid) version, or they don't release you from the Account you've been forced to create before you can link to the Health App. While I can understand the pop-ups, I can't quite come to terms with the enforced Account retention by WebMD, and so I'm confining this post to that app specifically.

On October 5, I downloaded (from Apple's App Store) and installed the WebMD App to try it out. As I didn't like the way it forced me to create an Account before being quite functional (Account information includes not only my "ailments" but my email address and my date of birth), I deleted it off my iPhone. However, I could find no way to then remove it from being the source shared by my Health App. Also, after I removed the App, I found my iPhone battery draining quite rapidly (it had never done that before) and I finally traced the cause, after restarting the iPhone twice, to the fact that WebMD was still showing up in my Health App source, even though the App itself (WebMD) was no longer on my iPhone.

I tried Tweeting about this, hoping one of my "followers" would have a solution but nobody responded. (All this time, my iPhone was attached to a power source, to ensure my battery didn't drain.) I then posted a post in the Apple Forums requesting help. This was on October 6. I don't think anybody at Apple's online Forum read this post (or maybe they, too, were in the dark, just as I was), because there has been no reply till this morning.(*)

In desperation, I downloaded and installed the WebMD App again, went through the whole process of logging in and then removed my device (iPhone) from being associated with the Health App. I didn't delete the WebMD App just yet. I opened my Health App and it was still showing WebMD as a source. How can this be?

I finally figured it out.

When I did remove the WebMD App for the second time, I noticed that it asked me whether I wanted to keep my data or delete it. (The first time I removed it I had chosen "keep.") I chose "delete" this time and, thankfully, it went away from my Health App Source as well. This was not documented anywhere, to the best of my knowledge. Either in WebMD's documentation, or in Apple's Health documentation.

I disconnected my iPhone from the power source and the battery stayed at its normal draining cycle, so that seemed to be all.

It wasn't.

I naturally -- after all the trouble -- wanted to totally have nothing more to do with WebMD and logged onto their web interface, to remove my Account.

I couldn't do so. This option (to remove/delete my account) just wasn't there.

Much research on the web told me that there was no direct link to delete my WebMD account. I could, however, cancel my membership by sending them an email.

The email should be addressed to CommunityManagement@webmd.net (I haven't yet written to them, so I don't know if this email address is valid), "requesting" them to delete my WebMD Account in the Subject line and, in the body of the message I should (politely, no doubt) tell them shortly that I want to leave their community.

Other people apparently have had the same experience, as I understand from my web-research that the official response is that they "don't generally delete accounts." Instead, we can just stop using the account.

In the meantime, my email address, password, my date of birth and all my medical information are sitting on a server somewhere. Oh, yes, I realize security is as important to them as it to me and they'll take every care to see that my privacy is protected.

But, as an individual, that is small comfort when my privacy is no longer under my total control.

I hope this rather long post helps somebody else.

I, for one, am going to do a lot more research before I install any other App on any of my devices.

(*) Edit: October 9, 2014: I guess I was wrong about this, because I just received a reply from a reader on the Forums who suggested a means to stop data collection (which Apple had already documented.) I had, of course, already tried this and it didn't work because -- possibly -- I had already deleted the WebMD app from off my iPhone. One will never know. Perhaps this insignificant fact, too, should be documented somewhere?

iOS 8 at Last!

Well, here are my initial baby-steps into the latest iOS from Apple. I couldn't wait to write down what I learned so far...

Notifications: I can quickly respond to a notification by sliding it up to dismiss or pulling it down to take action. I can thus immediately reply to any iMessage notification. Cool!

Mail: I can swipe a message left to Flag it, Trash it, and More. By swiping it to the right, I can toggle its Read/Unread status. Options can be changed in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Swipe Options. Also, when I'm looking forward to a response to my email, I can tap the More option, and one of the sub-options there is a new "Notify Me." I've done this and am now waiting to see the result.

An addition to Siri: If I ask Siri to identify the song playing on my stereo or anywhere else, she can now do so easily and with some amount of accuracy. I guess I have to thank Shazam for this?

Selfies: Given the world's apparent addition to selfies, Apple now allows a proper selfie with the addition of a timer shutter button within the Camera App.

Favorites: With a double-click the Home button, I now get quicker access to my favorite or recent contacts. I like this one the best as it saves me many intervening steps to call the people I talk to frequently.

Will post more when I've explored this great iOS release more completely.

All the above and more are, as usual, better laid out at http://tips.apple.com/en-us/ios/iphone

PS: Forgot to mention that I've been able to do all this on my old iPhone 4s (contrary to many doom-sayers' predictions) AND my old iPad 2! Also, the new iOS 8 was installed "Over The Air" on both iDevices. Had no need to look at my backup after all!

Apple and iOS 8

Apple claims to have presold 4 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units in the first 24 hours of their being available for prebooking. This is about twice more than the iPhone 5 offerings in 2012, and investors are thus optimistic about the success of the new iPhones. Many predict more than 60 million sales in the coming holiday quarter.

This hardly surprises me, when the Company, (who have reportedly spent more than 100 million in marketing the U2 album), responded to iTunes account holders' displeasure at being forced to "purchase" the free album, by launching on Monday a support page with a direct link allowing us to remove "Songs of Innocence" from our devices. “Once the album has been removed from your account, it will no longer be available for you to redownload as a previous purchase,” reads the support page. If we change our minds before October 13, we can download the album again. For free.

This, to me, speaks volumes about Apple's care for its customers.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting patiently for iOS 8 -- "The biggest iOS release ever." -- to arrive. Here's how I'm preparing my iDevices (iPhone and iPad) for it. Basically just two steps...

Back up: As with any new installation, I will first back up my data beforehand. I usually do this through iTunes on my Mac, but you can also use iCloud.

I launch iTunes on my Mac and plug in my iDevices as usual via the trusty iOS cable. I select my iDevice in iTunes, choose the Summary tab, and click "Back Up Now" in the appropriate area.

Install: I will then proceed to install iOS 8. I usually don't do a "Clean install, preferring to just use the "Over the Air" option.

I have never personally had a problem with earlier iOS releases, but the choice is yours.

Apple's iPhone, iOS 8 and Father's Day!

iPhone 5S

Chuck Jones -- Contributor to Forbes -- who covers technology companies, worldwide economies and the stock market, opined recently that Apple is expected to announce at least one new iPhone on September 9. This prediction would appear to have been justified, as the company has reportedly scheduled a big media event for that date, and September was always when Apple introduced us to new iPhones. Linked to the new iPhone 6 launch, it is also expected that iOS 8 will make an appearance at the same media event.

While it would be idle to speculate on what the iPhone 6 will bring to the public, many "leaks" appearing online and in other media, would have us anticipate "sapphire displays" and a slew of enhanced features in iOS 8. The company itself -- in keeping with its typical tight-lipped policy -- concludes its media invitation with the words, "Wish we could say more."

With September 7 ushering in yet another "Father's Day" here in Australia, we really wish that the event could have been brought back a couple of days! The marketing pushes here has to be seen to be believed. Every single magazine and company brochure prefaces every advertisement with words similar to "Buy something for Dad!" And they haven't been doing this just last week. The "...for Dad" words have begun appearing as far back as the beginning of August. Tool vendors vie with Computer stores, "handy-man" outfits vie with camping suppliers ... all for our attention and all, it would seem "... for Dad!"

In a lighter vein, what they forget is that sometimes -- just sometimes -- it is Dad who pays!

The above cynical comment notwithstanding, we are glad that Apple is giving us something to look forward to. I for one will definitely be upgrading all my Apple devices to iOS 8 to begin with. Unfortunately, with the time-difference being what it is, I can only look forward to that happening on September 10.

The Customer Is Considered

Having spent quite some time off and on in Australia, it always amazes me how much businesses here (large and small) value their customers. One instance in point is the Motor Trade Association of South Australia -- or MTA whose return/refund policy clearly states that they will accept returns and refund, exchange or give a credit where goods are/have been faulty, wrongly described and different to the product (and they go on to list some criteria which apply. Most companies will accept goods without question, if returned within a reasonable time period and when accompanied by the relevant sales invoice (bill.)

The MTA also have in place a privacy policy which states that they do not release personal details to any third party, except where required by law.

Another well-known company (IKEA) have in place what they call a policy of "No nonsense returns." This states that, if one changes one's mind, one can return the unused purchase with it’s original packaging and receipt within 90 days for a refund. Of course, they need the receipt for a full refund. But what's more customer-oriented is that, if one doesn’t have a receipt, they may -- at their discretion -- give us a refund card for the value indicated by their returns system. This means that we may purchase goods of equivalent value.

Now how I wish we had businesses where such a policy is not only stated but adhered to in practice! How many of us -- as customers -- have had to run from pillar to post (and most often without success!) before we sort things out satisfactorily. More often than not, it is we who have had to compromise.

Apple - OS-X Yosemite - and other things

Yosemite for Macs! ->  Apple - OS-X Yosemite - Overview - pity I can't use it because I have an "older" Macbook (sigh)

Nor can I get some desirable Apps from the App Store because - guess what - my Macbook (early 2008 model) is "not compatible." (sigh)

Australia 2014

Well, it's been six months since we've (Sheryl and I) been having our holiday in Australia. We're really loving it! The people have been lovely, the weather friendly, and the quality of life -- awesome! I wish more countries would take a lesson from this great country and improve their governance.
We have six months more in this lovely land, and then we're back home again (mixed feelings!)
Will try to update this blog more regularly, now that both of us have officially retired.