Huawei Health

Is Huawei Health safe?

Mostly, and safer than its parent company's reputation suggests. Huawei Health shows no ad tracking on Apple's privacy label, its privacy statement is unusually specific, and European users' health data stays on servers in Germany. We found no fine or data breach involving the app.

The risks are structural rather than about what the app does today. Huawei has been on the US Commerce Department's Entity List since May 2019, after the US government said there was "reasonable cause to believe" the company had acted against US national security or foreign policy interests. Huawei Health is not listed on Google Play. And outside Europe, your data may sit in Hong Kong.

We score Huawei Health 68/100, just behind Garmin Connect at 70 and ahead of Strava at 59.

Where does Huawei Health store your data?

Huawei runs the app through different companies in different regions, and the privacy statement changes with them.

In the EU, the provider is Aspiegel SE, a Huawei subsidiary in Dublin. Its September 2026 statement says health and fitness data is stored in the EU, names Germany as the server location, and says that IT vendors and Huawei affiliates that process your data are in the EU too. Complaints go to Ireland's Data Protection Commission.

In other markets, such as Malaysia, the provider is Huawei Services (Hong Kong). That statement says data is stored in data centres in Singapore and Hong Kong. Huawei may access it from the UAE, South Africa, Panama and Malaysia, and customer service centres in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Colombia and the Philippines may process it. Huawei says it will not use your health data for these purposes without your authorisation.

If where your data lives matters to you, read the statement inside the app for your own region before you sync anything.

What the app collects

Apple's label links health and fitness data, precise and coarse location, email address, phone number and photos to your identity, and lists nothing under data used to track you. The European statement adds that there are no third-party SDKs in the app that let outside companies reach your data.

On Android the app asks for a long list of permissions so your watch can show calls, texts and notifications: contacts, call logs, SMS and the microphone, which it uses to analyse sleep sounds. Huawei says information read through these permissions is not processed or stored on its servers. Routes are drawn by Petal Maps or Google Maps, depending on your phone.

Data shared with other apps, such as other fitness services, only flows after you authorise it, and that company's privacy policy then applies.

Features that share where you are

Two newer features deserve a look before you switch them on. Safety Check, described in Huawei's September 2026 statement, sends your location, heart rate, battery level and whether you are wearing the watch to chosen contacts, and Huawei keeps that data for 31 days.

In Groups, your steps and workout rankings are visible to other members, and during group events you can share your precise live location. Huawei's own statement warns that starting or stopping location sharing at home "may allow others to infer personal details, such as your residence or workout routine".

How to use Huawei Health safely

1. On Android, install the app only from Huawei's official channels, never from a third-party APK site.
2. Turn on account protection for your HUAWEI ID, so a new device needs a code as well as your password.
3. Use a nickname and a generic profile picture if you join Groups, and start location sharing away from home.
4. Set up a child HUAWEI ID for children, since the parental safeguards only work with those accounts.
5. If you stop using the app, choose Deactivate rather than Disable, because only Deactivate deletes your data from Huawei's cloud.

How we scored it

The regulatory record (86) is the strongest factor: we found no fine or order naming the app, but no large regulator has examined it. Transparency and control (74) comes next, thanks to clear retention periods and simple deletion. Security (62) and privacy (62) are the weakest: on most Android phones the app is installed from outside Google Play, and outside Europe data is stored in Hong Kong and Singapore. The parent company's place on the US Entity List is context, not a finding about the app.