- Soma
- Apple Health
How to add lab results to Apple Health
Apple Health doesn’t read lab reports itself: lab results arrive there from a healthcare provider connected to the Health app. Soma works the other way round: it reads your lab reports on the phone and can show Apple Health data next to them, but it doesn’t write anything to Apple Health.
Health Records: lab results from your provider
Supporting healthcare organizations can download your records (labs, medications, allergies, conditions, vaccinations and more) to the Health app automatically. Apple’s iPhone User Guide describes the setup:
- Open the Health app on your iPhone.
- Tap Summary, then tap your picture or initials.
- Tap Health Records, then tap Get Started (or Add Account for another organization).
- Find your clinic, hospital or other organization in the list, or search by its name or by a city, state or province.
- Tap the organization, then Connect Account, and sign in with the user name and password of its patient portal.
Health Records isn’t available in all countries or regions, and not every organization supports it. Once connected, new records arrive in Health as the organization makes them available. A healthcare provider or authority can also give you a QR code or a link to download a single test result record.
What about a PDF or a paper report?
Apple’s guide describes these two routes only: a connected organization, or a QR code or link from a provider. It doesn’t describe importing a lab report PDF or a photo as lab results, so if your lab isn’t connected, its PDF stays a file. Soma is for that file: it reads the PDF, scan or photo on your phone and keeps every value in Soma, charted against the range your lab printed.
What Soma does with Apple Health
On iPhone, Soma can read from Apple Health, with your permission, to show these next to your lab results:
- Heart rate, its variability and breathing rate.
- Sleep.
- Steps, active calories, exercise minutes and workouts.
- Weight and body fat.
- Blood pressure and blood oxygen.
- Blood glucose.
- Wrist temperature during sleep.
- Date of birth, sex and blood type, for your profile.
Soma doesn’t write anything to Apple Health: not your lab results, and nothing else. It doesn’t ask for your Health Records either. What it reads stays on the phone, like your reports: Soma keeps no copy on a server. You can change what Soma may read at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Health.
Questions
Can Soma add my lab results to Apple Health?
No. Soma doesn’t write anything to Apple Health. Your lab results stay in Soma, on your phone, and you can export them as a PDF for your doctor or as a CSV or Excel table.
Does Soma read the lab results in my Health Records?
No. Soma doesn’t ask for access to Health Records. It reads the lab reports you share to it: a PDF, a scan or a photo.
Is Health Records available everywhere?
No. Apple says it isn’t available in all countries or regions, and only organizations that support it appear in the list.
Do I need Apple Health to use Soma?
No. Soma reads lab reports without it. Allowing access only adds your Health data to the charts next to your results.
Have your lab reports as PDFs?
Share them to Soma: it reads every row on your phone, with no account and no upload, and charts each marker against the range your lab printed.
Sources
- Download health records on iPhone — iPhone User Guide, Apple Support.
- View health records in Health on iPhone — iPhone User Guide, Apple Support.
- What Soma reads and writes: the Soma app’s own Health permissions (it asks to read the data above and writes nothing). See also the privacy policy.
Apple and Apple Health are trademarks of Apple Inc. Menu names can differ between iOS versions. Mention of a source doesn’t mean it endorses Soma.