Is Google Health Coach private? What Fitbit's Gemini coach reads and keeps

The Morse teamPublished November 10, 202611 min read

Google Health Coach keeps your health data out of Google Ads and, unless you opt in, out of AI training, but it isn't private from Google. As of November 2026, the Gemini-built coach in the Google Health app (called Fitbit until May 19, 2026) can read every kind of health data in your account once you switch it on, from sleep stages and cycle predictions to synced medical records. Google keeps your coach conversations until you delete them, and no setting deletes them on a schedule.

This isn't medical advice. We read Google's Health Coach privacy page, its Google Health privacy FAQ (last updated May 19, 2026), its help pages on the coach, Premium, medical records, and data controls, its May 7, 2026 launch post, its October 12, 2026 Flo Health post, its Gemini Apps privacy hub, its privacy policy (effective October 16, 2026), and the European Commission's December 17, 2020 decision on the Fitbit deal, all on November 10, 2026. Google deserves credit for two things. Its rules on human review are narrower than the Gemini app's, and it says plainly that medical records you sync lose HIPAA protection.

Google Health Coach privacy at a glance

Each row comes from Google's own pages, read November 10, 2026.

What health data does Google Health Coach read?

All of it, once the coach is on. Google's coach privacy page lists activity and exercise (steps, heart rate, and cardio load), sleep stages, and body metrics such as heart rate variability, skin temperature, and SpO2. The same list includes "your reproductive and sexual health information, including logged or predicted cycles, symptoms, and related algorithmic insights," data from linked third-party apps, your manual logs, and "synced medical record data from a healthcare provider" (Google).

Turning on Google Health Coach is the consent that opens the rest. Google says some data types, such as medical records, need their own consent before Google Health collects them, but "once collected, that data will be accessible to the Coach whenever it is enabled." Cycle health is a separate optional feature, and a coach that's switched on reads whatever cycle data your account already holds.

More cycle data is on the way. On October 12, 2026, Google announced a partnership with Flo Health. Google says that from early 2027 you'll be able to sync the Flo app with Google Health, Flo data "will integrate with your Google Health Coach," and Google Health data "will be made available to Flo" (Google). Google says nothing moves between the apps without permission "given separately for each type of data and each purpose," and that Flo data shared with Google Health "will never be used for advertising, never be sold."

Medical records reach Google Health from US providers, through a portal login, a CLEAR identity check, or Android's Health Connect, or from NHS records in England through Patients Know Best (Google). Google says the app "doesn't share data back to that provider," and that synced records are stored on Google Health's servers.

With location permission on, Google Health collects coarse location "even when you aren't actively using the Google Health Coach," to check local weather, and deletes it after 30 days (Google). That 30-day limit is for location only. The same page sets no deletion date for coach conversations.

Does Google Health Coach train AI on your data?

Not by default. Google's Health privacy FAQ says "your personal interactions with AI in the Google Health app are not used for training the underlying generative models, unless you specifically opt in under a separate agreement" (Google). That agreement is the research consent.

With research consent on, Google uses your coach chats to train the model. The FAQ says research data can also include sensor data, cycle and reproductive health data, journal entries, and imported medical records, with your name, email, and other direct identifiers removed. Google adds that findings from research data may appear in science journals or be released as open source. You can withdraw research consent at any time in your Google Account settings, but Google's pages don't say how long it keeps de-identified research data.

Do humans read your Google Health Coach chats?

Only in two cases, Google says: when you send feedback from the app, and when you separately opt into research. Outside those, Google says coach conversations "are not accessed by human reviewers" (Google). Automated systems still scan every chat for safety risks and terms violations.

Feedback exposes more than the one chat. Google says reviewers may also see "associated Google Health health and wellness data, activity logs related to that interaction and basic app information." Google's coach pages give no retention period for a conversation sent as feedback. In the Gemini app, by contrast, a subset of chats is reviewed whenever Keep Activity is on, and reviewed chats are kept for up to three years (Google). Our guide to who reviews AI chats compares the major chatbots.

Is Google Health Coach the same as Gemini?

No. Gemini models power the coach, but Google's Premium help page says the coach and other Premium tools "operate independently of other Gemini applications" (Google), so your Gemini app settings don't reach it.

The two also keep chats for different lengths of time. The Gemini app auto-deletes activity after 18 months unless you change it (Google). Google's Health FAQ puts coach conversations with your step and sleep history, kept "until you choose to delete the data or leave Google Health" (Google). None of the Google Health pages we read offers an auto-delete setting for coach chats.

The coach still leans on the rest of Google. The FAQ says it relies "on other Google services and infrastructure," and some answers are "grounded on Search results." If you share Google Health data with another Google service, that service's own privacy and review rules apply to it there. The Gemini app's rules are in is Gemini private.

Does Google use Fitbit data for ads?

Google says no. Its data controls page says "your Google Health and wellness data won't be used for Google Ads and is kept separate from Google Ads data" (Google), and the May 7 launch post says Google will keep that commitment now that the Fitbit app is Google Health (Google).

The pledge began as a condition of the European Commission's approval of the Fitbit purchase on December 17, 2020. Google committed not to use "the health and wellness data collected from wrist-worn wearable devices and other Fitbit devices of users in the EEA" for Google Ads, to store it in a "data silo," and to let EEA users decide whether services like Search, Maps, and YouTube may use it (European Commission). The commitments run for ten years, and the Commission may extend the ads commitment by up to ten more.

The binding version is narrower than Google's promise. It covers advertising, it covers device data from EEA users, and it says nothing about training AI. The Commission said privacy concerns about health data were "not within the remit of merger control." Training on your coach chats is governed by Google's research consent, not by the 2020 decision.

What the coach reads, how long Google keeps it, and what it's used for

We built this table from Google's coach privacy page, its Health privacy FAQ, and its data control and medical record pages, all read November 10, 2026.

Sources: Google, coach data and personalization, Google, Health privacy FAQ, Google, control your data, Google, medical records.

How do you delete Google Health Coach data?

Delete the conversations themselves, because turning the coach off keeps them. Google says turning the coach off stops collection "moving forward," and that revoking consent for a feature or deleting a category of data "does not automatically remove that information from the conversation history" (Google). A lab value or a cycle symptom you discussed stays in the chat until you delete the chat.

• One conversation: in the Google Health app, tap Ask Coach, then History, find the chat, and tap More, then Delete.
• Every conversation: tap your profile picture, then Google Health settings, Manage data and privacy, Manage your data, Coach activity, Conversations, and Delete all conversations data.
• The coach itself: tap your profile picture, then Google Health settings, Coach, and Turn off.
• Medical records: tap Connections, then Medical records, Manage connections, the provider, and Disconnect, and tick the box to delete what was synced. Without the tick, Google says the synced records stay (Google).
• Everything: leave Google Health from its Data and Privacy settings, which Google says permanently deletes the data from your Google Account. Google Health data you already shared with other Google services has to be deleted there.

Old Fitbit accounts had a deadline. Google ended sign-in with Fitbit accounts on May 19, 2026, and said it would start processing deletions for accounts that hadn't moved to Google on July 15, 2026 (Google).

Is Google Health Coach covered by HIPAA?

No, not for the records you sync yourself. Google's Health privacy FAQ says that in the US, when you have records sent from your provider to Google Health or upload them, "they are no longer subject to the protections" of HIPAA (Google). Google's privacy policy governs them instead, and it lets Google disclose information "in response to legal process or enforceable government requests, including to law enforcement" (Google). We cover the HIPAA gap in HIPAA-compliant AI chatbots, and how stored chats end up in court in can AI chats be subpoenaed.

How Morse keeps your health questions out of a lasting record

Google Health Coach works by gathering your sensor data, cycle log, medical records, and every conversation about them in one Google account, where they stay until you find and delete each piece. On Morse, a chat's history lives in your browser, encrypted, and not on Morse's servers. The coach still needs your watch to plan a run. The questions you'd rather not add to that record can go to Morse.

• E2EE, for a lab result, a diagnosis, or a cycle question no one should read. Paste the lab values into the message. E2EE runs open-weight models only, without web search or image generation. Your browser checks the secure enclave's hardware attestation, then encrypts the message so only that enclave can open it. Morse's servers pass along ciphertext they can't read, and the reply is decrypted only in your browser. Third-party providers run the enclaves, not Morse, and the protection depends on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed. Each E2EE reply carries a lock you can open to see every check it passed.
• Private, the default, for everyday questions about training load, sleep, or a supplement. A new chat starts here, on open-weight models such as DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM, or on xAI's Grok. Morse has zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers, so they keep nothing, and where a provider confirms zero retention on each reply, Morse checks it and refuses a reply that doesn't.
• Anonymous, to ask Gemini itself without Google knowing it's you. Our proxy strips your account, email, and IP address and sends the question under Morse's own account. Google sees the question without knowing it's you, and may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy, so leave out names, birth dates, and record numbers.

There's no research consent to watch for, because Morse doesn't train AI on what you write, sell your data, or show ads. Your history sits in your browser, encrypted, and opening it takes one key that never leaves your device plus one our server hands over when you sign in. A file you attach goes out with that message and is never stored by Morse. Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities (privacy policy). Clearing your browser or deleting your account removes the chats for good, and Morse can't recover them, so copy out anything you want to bring to your next appointment.

So is Google Health Coach private enough for you?

• Ads: Google's pledge keeps your health data out of Google Ads, and the EU's binding version has covered EEA device data since 2020, for ten years. Morse shows no ads at all.
• Training: leave Google's research consent off. Morse doesn't train AI on your chats.
• Human reviewers: don't send feedback on a sensitive coach chat, since it opens your linked health data to reviewers too.
• Old conversations: delete them under Coach activity, since turning the coach off keeps them. On Morse, your history stays in your browser.
• A diagnosis or a medical record: ask in an E2EE chat on Morse rather than adding it to your Google Health account.

Try a chat from the Morse home page without an account, or start free with no card. End-to-end encrypted chats come with Pro, at $19 a month.