KeptWell vs Apple Health
KeptWell vs Apple Health: what your family can see
Reviewed
Apple Health Sharing can send a parent's hospital records to family, but only to people in their contacts, who open them in the Health app on their own iPhone or iPad. KeptWell brings the same records into one private circle. Everyone you invite opens it on any device, reads the records in plain English and can ask questions about them.
The short version
Apple Health can share a parent's hospital records with family, alongside alerts, trends and medications. The catch is who can open them. Each person has to be in your parent's contacts and has to open the records in the Health app on their own iPhone or iPad. That leaves out a brother on Android or a sister on a work laptop. What arrives is a summary, and it's deleted from their device if sharing stops. KeptWell gives everyone the same place to read those records. Your parent connects Apple Health once from their iPhone. After that, each person in the circle opens the labs, conditions and notes on any device, reads them in plain English and asks about them, next to the paper records you upload. It's free today, and nothing changes in Apple Health.
What reaches the family, side by side
Apple's column comes from Apple's own Health app guide, privacy page and feature-availability page for iOS 27, plus a check on an iPhone, as of October 2026.
| Feature | KeptWell | Apple Health |
|---|---|---|
| Who in the family can see it | Yes — Everyone invited to the circle, with no limit on members, each with their own login | Partial — People in the sharer's contacts; they see a summary of what's shared |
| What the family reads it on | Yes — A browser on any device, Android phones and computers included, or the iPhone app | Partial — The Health app on their own iPhone or iPad; a web, Mac or Android version isn't listed |
| Hospital records (labs, conditions, clinical notes) seen by family | Yes — Once the patient connects Apple Health from their iPhone; clinical notes get a plain-English summary | Yes — When the parent chooses to share them, as part of the summary in the family member's Health app |
| Where the hospital records come from | Apple Health, MyChart at Epic health systems that have turned KeptWell on, and anything you upload | Participating health systems in the US, UK and Canada, connected with the patient portal login |
| Connecting the records from a caregiver's own phone | MyChart connects from any device, where the health system has turned KeptWell on. Apple Health records connect from the patient's own iPhone, same as in Health. | Not listed in Apple's Health app guide (as of Oct 2026). The guide has the patient sign in inside Health on their own device. |
| Medication list seen by family | Yes — With every change dated; doses logged in Health come across on iOS 26 and later | Yes — Through Health Sharing; the list also exports as a PDF |
| Medication reminders | No — The journal can log a dose with the time it was taken | Yes — Scheduled reminders, a follow-up reminder 30 minutes after a dose goes unlogged, and Critical Alerts |
| Home readings (blood pressure, weight, glucose) | Yes — Imported from Health and charted next to the clinic's numbers; all-day streams roll up to one entry per device per day | Yes — Stored from iPhone, Apple Watch, compatible apps, connected devices and manual entry |
| Explaining what a record means | Yes — Every document gets a plain-English summary and key findings, and each member can ask about it in a private chat that cites the source | Partial — Educational content about common lab tests (US). Expert videos on lab results are announced for a redesigned app coming later in 2026 |
| Paper records, PDFs, photos of documents | Yes — Upload them; the AI reads every page | Not listed in Apple's Health app guide (as of Oct 2026) |
| When the parent stops sharing | If the patient disconnects Apple Health, the clinical records already imported stay in the circle; the circle exports as a ZIP any time | The shared history is deleted from the family member's device |
| Price | Free today; no ads, never sells data | Comes with iPhone and iPad; no separate price listed |
When KeptWell is the fit
Why families add KeptWell to Apple Health
Keep Apple Health for what it does on your parent's phone. KeptWell is where the whole family reads what's in it.
The records reach everyone, whatever phone they carry
Your brother has an Android phone. Your sister checks things on her work laptop. Apple lists Health Sharing only in the Health app on an iPhone or iPad, so it doesn't reach either of them. Once your dad connects KeptWell from his iPhone, his labs, conditions and clinical notes come into the circle, and each of you opens them in a browser or the iPhone app. If he disconnects Apple Health someday, the records already in the circle stay.
Apple Health keeps doing its job
Nothing about Apple Health has to change. The pill reminders, the heart rate alerts, the blood pressure cuff that writes to Health: keep all of it. KeptWell only reads from Health and never writes back. Home readings come into the circle in the background, usually within the hour, though iOS decides when. On iOS 26 and later, the doses your parent marks as taken come across too. The family sees the cuff readings charted next to the clinic's numbers, and nobody has to copy them over by hand.
The paper lands in the same place
A discharge packet, an outside imaging report, a PDF from a clinic Apple Health doesn't connect to. Upload it, or snap a photo of the paper, and the AI reads it cover to cover. It sits in the circle next to the records that came from Health, with a plain-English summary on top.
Everyone can ask, not only whoever holds the phone
Each person in the circle gets their own private chat, and it has read the whole record. Ask what changed in Mom's medications since spring, or what the last scan said, and the answer comes with its source. Nobody else in the circle sees what you asked unless you share it.
Other head-to-heads families have asked us about
If you're keeping Apple Health
- Connect Apple Health to KeptWell What comes across from the iPhone, how to set it up, and how often it syncs.
- How to export Apple Health data Getting a full copy of everything in the Health app.
- KeptWell for aging parents Keeping one parent's records in one place the whole family can read.
- What free today means No ads, no data sales, no AI training on your records, and an export any time.
A note from KeptWell
Keep every record in one place your whole family can read
KeptWell takes the scans, lab results, visit notes, and appointment recordings a family collects and turns them into one organized, searchable record. Upload a document and it's read, summarized in plain English, and filed where everyone in the care circle can find it. Ask a question and get an answer grounded in the actual records.
It's free to start, with no credit card. We never sell your data or show you ads.
Questions families ask about Apple Health
- Why can't I share my health data with someone on my iPhone?
- Start with the two things Apple requires. The person has to be in your contacts, and you need an iPhone on iOS 15.6 or later or an iPad on iPadOS 17 or later. If both are true, you pick what to send, such as alerts, trends, heart rate, medications and the hospital records in Health Records. The person you share with sees them in the Health app on their own iPhone or iPad. For family without an iPhone or iPad, you can connect Apple Health to a KeptWell circle from your iPhone, and they open the circle in any browser.
- Can I see my parent's Apple Health records from my own phone?
- Yes, if your parent shares them with you through Health Sharing and you have an iPhone or iPad. You see what they choose to send, in your own Health app. Health Records are set up inside Health on their own phone with their portal login, and Apple doesn't document a way to connect them from yours. KeptWell works the same way. It reads only the Health data on the iPhone it's installed on, with that person's permission, so it goes on your parent's phone, not yours. Your parent installs it and connects Apple Health once. After that you see everything in the circle from any device, Android phones and laptops included. If their health system runs on Epic and has turned KeptWell on, you can connect their MyChart from any device instead.
- Can I use Apple Health and KeptWell together?
- Yes, that's how it's meant to work. Keep logging doses and taking readings in Health. KeptWell reads from it and never writes back. If your parent deletes a home reading in Health, it comes out of KeptWell too. The iPhone app needs iOS 17 or later.
- Does Apple Health explain lab results?
- Partly. In the US, the Health app has educational content about common lab tests. Apple has announced a redesigned Health app with Apple Intelligence for later this year, starting in US English, with expert videos that explain results such as LDL. That redesign hadn't shipped as of October 2026. KeptWell reads every document in the circle, labs or not, and writes a plain-English summary and key findings for each one. It explains what a record says. It doesn't diagnose.
- Is there a way to export my Apple Health data?
- Yes. Export All Health Data in the Health app gives you an XML archive of everything, and the medication list exports on its own as a PDF. Our guide to exporting Apple Health data walks through the steps and what's inside the archive.
- Is KeptWell HIPAA-compliant?
- KeptWell does not currently offer a Business Associate Agreement or claim HIPAA compliance. Chat is encrypted at rest, there are no ads, KeptWell never sells your data, and it does not train AI models on your records. You can export the whole circle as a ZIP at any time.
Put your parent's records in front of everyone, whatever phone they carry
Start a care circle, install KeptWell on your parent's iPhone, and have them turn on what they want to share. Everyone in the circle reads it in plain English. Free today.
Get started
We'll email you a secure sign-in link. It works whether you're new here or already have an account.
Caring for an aging parent instead? Start there → · Tracking a kid's health? Start there → · Tracking your own health? Start there →