You never downloaded Samsung Health. It came on your phone. It's counting your steps right now. On a billion Galaxy phones worldwide, Samsung is passively collecting health data from people who never asked for a fitness app. Your step count, your activity level, your sleep patterns — collected by default, shareable with partners, integrated with Samsung's ad platform. Samsung's "Customisation Service" is an ad targeting system enabled by default on your phone. Your Samsung Health data — how active you are, how well you sleep — feeds into the same profile used to serve you ads. The Italian DPA fined Samsung €2 million for deceptive consent. Your health data and your ad profile share a database. Samsung calls it customisation.
Police can demand location data for everyone near a crime scene
Spying
0/4 N/A
Is someone spying on me?
Data Sharing
2/4 MODERATE
Who gets my data?
Security
0/4 N/A
Is it actually secure?
Honesty
2/4 MODERATE
Can I trust what they say?
ACCEPTABLEModerate concerns. Standard privacy hygiene applies.
2Contradictions
0Critical
2High
0Medium
2Sources
Findings by concern
Data Sharing2/4 MODERATE2 findings
⚡ highprivacy policy vs third party research
You never downloaded Samsung Health. It came on your phone. It's counting your steps right now. On a billion Galaxy phones worldwide, Samsung is passively collecting health data from people who never asked for a fitness app. Your step count, your activity level, your sleep patterns — collected by default, shareable with partners, integrated with Samsung's ad platform.
What they claim: Samsung Health privacy policy describes health data as protected with enhanced security measures
What we found: Samsung Health is pre-installed on every Galaxy phone — over 1 billion devices. Users who never actively chose a health app have one collecting step count, activity, and (with Galaxy Watch) heart rate, sleep, and body composition data. Samsung's privacy policy allows sharing health data with third-party partners for "service improvement." The app integrates with Samsung's advertising platform.
⚡ highmarketing vs regulatory
Samsung's "Customisation Service" is an ad targeting system enabled by default on your phone. Your Samsung Health data — how active you are, how well you sleep — feeds into the same profile used to serve you ads. The Italian DPA fined Samsung €2 million for deceptive consent. Your health data and your ad profile share a database. Samsung calls it customisation.
What they claim: Samsung describes health data as separate from advertising data
What we found: Samsung's Customisation Service — enabled by default on Galaxy phones — collects app usage, browsing, and purchase data for ad targeting. Privacy researchers found Samsung Health data (activity levels, sleep patterns) feeds into the same Customisation Service profile used for advertising. Samsung was fined €2 million by the Italian DPA for deceptive ad consent practices on Galaxy devices.
What happened to real people
Documented incidents involving Samsung products and user data.
Lapsus$ stole 190GB of Samsung source code including biometric unlock algorithms and bootloader source. Potentially compromises security of every Galaxy device. [source]
What your data is worth to governments
Jurisdiction: KR (Korean National Intelligence Service Act).
Documented: Lapsus$ stole 190GB of Samsung source code including biometric unlock algorithms and bootloader source. Potentially compromises security of every Galaxy device.