Apple has said that apps using its new HealthKit tools will not be allowed to store personal data on its iCloud servers. Any apps which do so will be rejected by the Cupertino company.
The news comes less than a day after Apple said there had not been a full-scale breach of its iCloud service in relation to the leaking of personal images from celebrity accounts. The company claimed targeted attacks were to blame.
The move to limit HealthKit data storage will be welcomed by privacy campaigners, who had been concerned about what Apple would do with such information. Tim Cook and co have previously said that HealthKit apps will not be able to use data to target ads to users for anything other than health or wellbeing products.
As revealed in a leak last week, such apps will also have to provide a privacy policy to users and data will not be shared with third parties without the consent of users.
Concerns about HealthKit were raised recently after it was revealed that Apple was in talks with major U.S. health insurance companies about utilising its tools to help lower premiums and improve employee health. Some felt that such data could lead to users being denied treatment if they didn’t meet fitness targets set by companies via HealthKit.
HealthKit forms a key part of Apple’s forthcoming iOS 8 software. The platform is due to rollout to devices next week in the days after the iPhone 6’s launch.
Read more: What is HealthKit?
Via Apple
