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Folder & Vault

The app uses vault as a generic name for your selected folder, even if you do not use Obsidian. If you use Obsidian, select your Obsidian vault root. Otherwise, select any folder, such as iCloud Drive's Documents/Health or an On My iPhone folder.

Tapping the vault row opens iOS's standard document picker (UIDocumentPickerViewController). When you pick a folder, iOS returns a security-scoped URL, a long-lived handle that lets the app keep accessing the folder across launches without re-prompting. The app stores this as a bookmark in UserDefaults.

After picking the vault, you are prompted to name the subfolder where exports go. The default is Health. Whatever you choose becomes the prefix for every exported file's path:

{vault}/ └─ {subfolder}/ ← what you name in Health.md    ├─ 2026-04-28-tuesday.md    ├─ 2026-04-27-monday.json    └─ _healthmd_data_dictionary.json

You can change the subfolder later from Settings → Obsidian Vault. Existing files are not moved.

Obsidian

Pick the Obsidian vault root. Set the subfolder to e.g. Health so exports show up as a folder in your vault tree.

iCloud Drive

Pick a folder under iCloud Drive. Files sync to all your Apple devices automatically.

On My iPhone

Select a folder that you created in Files → On My iPhone. This folder is local and does not sync.

Third-party providers

Dropbox, Google Drive, Working Copy, etc., anything that exposes a Files-app provider works the same way.

iOS quirk.

If iOS revokes the security-scoped bookmark (rare, usually only if the underlying folder is deleted or moved), exports will start to fail. The fix is to re-pick the vault from Settings.

Replacing or moving a selected folder safely

Section titled “Replacing or moving a selected folder safely”

When a saved bookmark resolves at a changed path, Health.md rebinds automatically if persistent identity proves it is the same folder. It can also accept a successfully resolved security-scoped bookmark when neither the saved nor resolved folder exposes persistent identity, which is common for cloud providers. It never treats a nearby path alone as proof. Export history still shows the privacy-safe destination label used by each run.

Select the folder again if it was deleted or access was revoked. Also select it again if persistent identities conflict or Health.md cannot verify a move. Health.md fails closed instead of writing to an ambiguous destination. Each export profile owns its destination. Verify or select the affected folder again for each profile.