Partner Sync: What is it?

Partner Sync is a feature of the app with a few details that aren’t obvious, so I want to walk through them.

What is it?

Partner Sync lets one app user share their medical information with another user. When we started, the idea was simple: a spouse could update their information on their own phone and sync it to their husband or wife, so neither of them had to type it in twice. It also works if you’re caring for an elderly parent. They can update their information and share it with you and your spouse.

Then we heard about a bigger use. A lady we know cares for her elderly mother, who goes back and forth between her house and a sibling’s. Both families have Senior Health Companion, and both have the mother as a profile. They can sync her information between the two households, so everyone has the same up-to-date records.

Why it matters

If there’s an emergency and you can’t speak for yourself, your spouse or caregiver can give a first responder or an emergency room team your current information. That matters more than people expect. If you were unconscious and they wanted to do an MRI, they’d need to know whether you have an artificial joint, a spinal stimulator, or another implant. The more accurate the information is, the better the care team can make decisions.

An example

My wife and daughter are shopping about an hour from home, and I’m not close by. If my wife passed out, my daughter couldn’t get my wife’s information off her phone. But she could call me. I’d open my wife’s profile in my app and export it to my daughter by email or text. She could then show it to the paramedics or the ER team. That works best when we’ve kept our copies up to date by syncing after each change. Like any export, it can be read by whoever receives it, so send it only to someone you trust.

How it works

When you use Partner Sync, you’re choosing to share your medical data with another person. Here’s what happens:

1. Choose the profile you want to share. You can pick any of them or all of them, but most people will pick one.
2. Choose to send. The app shows a message that you’re sharing medical information with someone, and that you can’t control what they do with it once they have it.
3. The app gives you an 8-digit code. Give that code to the person you’re sharing with.
4. On their phone, they choose to receive and enter the code. The profile on their phone must have exactly the same name as the profile you sent. If the names don’t match, nothing is imported.
5. Their profile updates. If both of you have different information, the app asks which version to keep.

The code works once. If the other person doesn’t receive the data within 24 hours, it’s deleted automatically from our relay server. The data is encrypted before it leaves your phone, and the last four digits of the code are never sent to our server.

A few things to know

Partner Sync is a very good feature, and you don’t have to use it. It’s one of the few times your data leaves your phone, so we made it something you have to start yourself, on purpose.