How to export Apple Health headache data for your doctor

What "Export All Health Data" gives you

1. Open the Health app and tap Summary.
2. Tap your picture or initials in the upper corner.
3. Tap Export All Health Data, then choose how to share or save the file.

Apple says this exports all of your health and fitness data in XML format, "a common format for sharing data between apps" (Apple Support: Share your data in Health). That is the key limitation: you get everything — heart, sleep, cycle, workouts — not just headaches, in a file meant for software rather than people.

PDF and CSV: what Health does and doesn't offer

Apple's documentation describes the XML export for Health data. It doesn't describe a PDF or CSV export of symptoms such as headaches. Two things do help:

• Medications list. In Health, the Medications screen has Export PDF, which saves or shares a list of your current medications (Apple Support: medications). It lists medicines, not headache days.
• Your own view. Open Headache, tap Show All Data, and you see every entry with its date and severity. A screenshot of that list or the chart is crude, but readable.

If you want a real report or a spreadsheet, use an app that reads headache entries from Health with your permission and produces the summary itself.

Share with your doctor directly (United States)

In the US, the Health app can share chosen categories with participating healthcare organizations. Apple describes it for iOS 15 and later: you pick the organization and the data, sign in with your patient-portal credentials, and the data is encrypted end-to-end with that organization, so Apple can't read it. New data uploads about once a day, and if you stop sharing, the shared copy is deleted (Apple: Share with Provider FAQ).

In the Sharing tab you can also share chosen topics with family or a carer, review what you share, and stop at any time (Apple Support).

What a useful headache summary contains

Neurologists rarely want every entry. They want a few numbers over the last one to three months:

• headache days per month, and how many were migraine days;
• acute medication days per month — the basis for medication-overuse headache;
• typical severity and duration;
• how much attacks affect daily life, for example a MIDAS score.

Our doctor report guide explains why these numbers matter. If you keep paper notes, the printable migraine diary gives the same structure.

Privacy checklist before you send anything

• An export is a copy that leaves Health's protections. Store it somewhere encrypted and delete copies you no longer need.
• Send health data through your clinic's patient portal or another secure channel rather than ordinary email when you can.
• Check which apps can read your headache data: Summary → your picture → Apps (Apple Support).
• Health data stored in iCloud is end-to-end encrypted when two-factor authentication is on (Apple Support).

How Dim builds the report

Disclosure: Dim is our app. Dim Pro creates a two-page PDF on your iPhone: headache days, medication days checked against ICHD-3 overuse thresholds, a MIDAS score, a calendar and the attack list. It can also export a CSV. Headache entries already in Apple Health can be included once you allow Dim to read them. See a sample report.