Disclosure. We make Paperlock, and it appears in the table below. For records your doctors already keep electronically, the best tool on this page is free, built into your iPhone, and not ours. We say so.
Your medical records are three different problems
"Where do I keep my family's medical records?" sounds like one question. It is three, and each has a different best answer:
- Records your providers hold electronically. Lab results, medication lists, immunizations, diagnoses. These already exist in a system somewhere; the job is getting them onto your phone and keeping them current.
- Paper you were handed. Discharge instructions, explanation-of-benefits letters, itemized bills, a child's vaccination card, the dog's rabies certificate, records from a clinic abroad or from a provider that isn't connected to anything. No portal has these. If you don't keep them, nobody does.
- Getting the right record to the right person. A parent's medication list for the sibling who drives them to appointments, a vaccination record for school, a report for a new specialist.
The options at a glance
| Apple Health (Health Records) | Patient portals (such as MyChart) | Files or Notes scans | Paperlock | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best at | Provider records, downloaded automatically | Messages, scheduling, bills from one health system | A clean copy of a paper page | Paper records you need to find and understand later |
| Where records come from | Supporting healthcare organizations you connect | That organization's own records | Your camera | Your camera, Files, email, and documents found in your photos |
| Paper from unconnected providers or abroad | No | No | Yes, as a file you name | Yes, read and filed by itself |
| Finding something later | Browse by category or search a type of data | Varies by portal | Search the file name or words on the page | Ask: "when was my last tetanus shot?" |
| Sharing | Share chosen data with people caring for you; export all data | Varies by portal | Send the file | Export as PDF; no sharing between users |
| Cost | Free, built in | Set by each health system | Free, built in | Free for 25 documents and 5 questions a month; Plus $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year |
Job one: records your providers already have
Use the Health app. It's on every iPhone and it does this job better than anything you could install.
Apple's Health Records feature lets supporting healthcare organizations download records of your allergies, medical conditions, medications, labs, vaccinations and more straight into Health. To set it up, open Health, tap Summary, tap your picture or initials, then Health Records and Get Started. Pick your clinic or hospital from the list (or search by name, city or state), tap Connect Account, and sign in with the username and password you already use for that organization's patient portal. After that, new records arrive on their own as they become available.
To read them, tap Browse and choose a category such as Allergies or Clinical Vitals, or tap the organization's name. You can pin lab results you check often to the top of the Lab Results screen. Apple also notes that when your iPhone is locked with Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode, Health data other than your Medical ID is encrypted.
Two honest limits, both from Apple's own pages: your provider might not appear in the list, and the feature isn't available in every country or region.
Patient portals fill in around it. Most health systems run one, and MyChart, made by Epic, is among the most widely used; its site lists viewing medications, test results and bills, scheduling care, connecting with your doctor virtually, and managing care for your family. Use the portal for what it's for: messages, appointments and paying bills with that one system. The catch is that each portal only knows its own organization, so a family with three health systems has three logins and three partial pictures.
Job two: the paper nobody else is keeping
This is the gap, and it's bigger than people expect. The hospital discharge packet. The explanation of benefits that shows what you actually owe after the deductible and co-pay. The vaccination card from a pharmacy, the records from a doctor in another country, the pet's vaccination history from a vet that will never connect to Apple Health. Portals don't hold them, and you can't count on the provider to keep a copy for as long as you'll want one; our page on how long hospitals keep medical records explains why.
The free way: scan each page with Notes or the Files app (both find the edges and straighten the page), and save the PDFs in one folder per family member with a name that includes the date and the provider. It works, as long as you keep naming and filing every single time. Our guide to organizing medical records lays out a folder scheme that holds up.
The reading way: this is where Paperlock fits. You scan the discharge papers or import the PDF the clinic emailed, and it reads the document: what it is, who it's from, the dates and amounts, and gives it a plain title. No folders, no naming. Later you ask in plain English, "when was my last tetanus shot?" or "what did the ER visit in March cost after insurance?", and the answer comes back with the document attached. If the record isn't in your vault, it says so instead of guessing, which matters more for a tetanus date than for a coffee receipt.
Medical documents are sensitive, so a few specifics. The app locks with Face ID or your passcode. Medical documents, like IDs and passports, show blurred thumbnails until you confirm with Face ID again, so scrolling past them on the bus shows nothing. Documents are stored encrypted on your phone. Reading and answering questions happen partly on Paperlock's servers over an encrypted connection; the document is processed just long enough to answer and is not kept there, which also means asking questions needs an internet connection. iCloud sync is part of Plus and is off by default.
For bills and EOBs specifically, see medical bills and explanations of benefits; for the vet paperwork, keeping pet records.
Job three: getting records to a caregiver or a doctor
From Apple Health: in Health, tap Sharing, then Share with Someone, pick a person from your contacts, and choose which topics to share. Apple describes this as sharing data such as health alerts and trends with friends, family and others caring for you, and the people you share with can also see certain health notifications you receive. You can review what you share or stop sharing at any time from the same screen. Removing someone from Contacts does not stop it, so use Stop Sharing. Health can also export all your health data as an XML file, which is meant for apps, not for reading.
From Paperlock: any document can be exported as a PDF and sent by email, Messages or AirDrop, which any office can open. What it does not do: there are no shared family vaults and no sharing between users, and it's iPhone only, with no Android or web version. If two caregivers need to see the same paper records on their own phones, a shared folder in a cloud drive is the honest answer.
Your right to get the records in the first place
Every tool above depends on having the records. In the US, the HIPAA Privacy Rule gives you, with few exceptions, the right to inspect, review and receive a copy of your medical and billing records from covered providers and health plans. According to HealthIT.gov, copies must be given to you in most cases within 30 days. A provider can't refuse because you haven't paid a bill, and can't charge for searching for or retrieving your records, though you may pay reasonable copying and mailing costs. If something in your record is wrong, you can ask for a correction. Rules differ by state and country, so check the official pages linked below for your situation. Nothing here is medical advice.
Which one to pick
- Your providers' electronic records: Apple Health's Health Records. Free, already installed, updates itself.
- Messages, appointments and bills with one health system: that system's patient portal.
- A clean copy of one paper page: Notes or Files.
- Years of paper records for a family, findable by asking: a reading vault. Paperlock is free for the first 25 documents.
- A caregiver who needs ongoing access: Health app sharing for health data, and PDFs for the paper.