Lab Result Import in Health3: Upload Any Lab PDF

What you can upload

The import flow is intentionally permissive. If you can open a file on your phone, you can almost certainly send it into Health3. The accepted inputs are:

• PDF lab reports. Multi-page PDFs up to 100 MB total file size. That covers everything from a single-panel result to a long hospital workup with embedded images, and it does not matter whether the PDF was generated by your lab's patient portal or assembled from individual pages.
• Photos of paper reports. If your lab handed you a printout, take a clear photo with your phone and upload it as a JPG, JPEG, or PNG. Reasonable lighting and a flat surface produce the best results, but the parser tolerates moderate angle and shadow.
• Image scans. JPG, JPEG, and PNG image files exported from a scanner or saved from another app are read the same way as photos.
• Manual entry. If you have a value but no file — for example a result your doctor read out over the phone — you can type it in directly. Manual entries live on the same timeline as imported values.

Crucially, there is no supported-provider list. Health3 does not maintain a curated catalogue of "compatible" labs because the import flow does not need one: it reads the file you upload, regardless of which laboratory produced it. Native PDFs from large national chains, regional hospital labs, specialty clinics, private practices, and small standalone test centres all use the same upload path.

One important honest note: Health3 does not have direct API integrations with any clinical lab provider. The app does not log into your patient portal on your behalf and it does not pull results in the background. Every result enters your account because you uploaded the file or typed the value. That keeps you in control of which data is in the app and removes a long list of moving parts that could otherwise break silently.

What happens when you upload a lab report

From your point of view the import flow is short. You tap the upload button on the home screen, pick a PDF or image from your device, and wait a few seconds. The app reads the report, extracts the biomarker values, units, and reference ranges, and presents them for review. You can correct anything that does not look right before saving, and once you confirm, the values land on the trend timeline for each biomarker.

Behind the scenes the app does the work of finding the values on the page, ignoring the bits that are not biomarkers (logos, demographic blocks, footers, page numbers, the laboratory's address) and matching what it sees to Health3's internal library of around 180 biomarkers. That library covers cardiometabolic, hormonal, haematological, inflammation, vitamin and mineral, and kidney and liver categories, with each biomarker linked to a corresponding entry in the biomarker reference guide.

The result is a single continuous record per biomarker, regardless of how many different labs you have tested with over the years. A glucose value from a hospital draw five years ago, a glucose value from your annual physical last spring, and a glucose value from a private check this month all sit on the same chart. The biomarker trends feature then plots them over time so you can see what is moving rather than re-reading individual reports.

You do not need to link a lab account, install a separate app, or wait for an integration to be approved. The PDF or photo on your device is enough.

Multilingual lab report support

Health3 is available in 25 languages, and the import flow works with lab reports in those languages too. If you have ever tested in another country, this is usually the first thing you notice: the app does not require an English report, and it does not silently lose information when the report is in another language.

Tested examples include Swedish, German, Polish, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Greek, Finnish, Danish, and Norwegian, alongside English. Reports written in any of these languages run through the same upload path as English reports. Biomarker names that look different on the page — Hémoglobine in French, Hämoglobin in German, Emoglobina in Italian, Hemoglobina in Spanish — are matched to the same single internal entry, so a French result and an English result for the same biomarker share one trend line.

Units are normalised in the same way. Glucose results expressed in mg/dL and mmol/L end up comparable on the same chart, and so do vitamin D, cholesterol, and other markers where unit conventions vary by region. If something looks ambiguous, the app flags it for review rather than guessing silently.

The broader feature is documented on the multi-language support page. The day-to-day experience for people who test across borders is covered in the expats use case, which describes how a continuous record looks when test events span several countries.

When the parser doesn't recognise a format

Most uploads succeed quietly on the first try. A small number do not, and Health3 is honest about which situations are likely to need a hand:

• Heavily degraded scans. A photograph taken in low light at a steep angle, or a faxed copy of a faxed copy of an old printout, can leave the parser unable to read values confidently.
• Reports with embedded handwriting. Some clinics annotate printouts by hand. Printed values still come through, but handwritten ranges or notes may not.
• Specialty panels with rare biomarkers. Health3's biomarker library spans 180 markers. Unusual specialty markers outside that library are still extracted as text, but they do not yet have a dedicated entry to attach to.
• Files larger than 100 MB. Split the file using your device's built-in PDF tools, or download separate panels from your lab portal, and upload them as smaller files.

In any of these cases manual entry is the fallback. Inside the import flow you can switch to manual entry at any point, type the value, unit, and reference range from your report, and save. The manually entered point lives on the same per-biomarker timeline as imported values, which means your trend chart fills out the same way regardless of how a value got into the app. People who track paper lab reports day to day often rely on this path as their primary one. If a value's unit does not match what you expect, the free blood test unit converter is a handy sanity check before you save.

Privacy and how your data is handled

Lab data is sensitive, so the description here aims to be clear rather than reassuring. When you upload a PDF, photo, or image, the file is transmitted from your device over an encrypted connection so it can be read and turned into structured biomarker values. The extracted values, units, and reference ranges are saved to your Health3 account. The original file is processed for the purpose of extraction; it is not sold, shared with advertisers, or used to train external models on your behalf.

Health3 is GDPR-compliant. Your account is protected by email and password sign-in, with Apple Sign-In and Google Sign-In available as alternatives, so you can choose the option that fits your habits. Health3 is a personal tracking and educational tool rather than a clinical record system, and it does not claim to be HIPAA-covered: if you need a clinically certified record of care, ask your healthcare provider for that copy alongside whatever you store in the app.

Data minimisation is built into the flow. Header rows, demographic blocks, footers, and the laboratory's own branding are filtered out during extraction rather than stored as biomarker entries, and you confirm each extracted result before saving. If you prefer not to upload a file at all, the manual entry path lets you type values directly — nothing leaves your device beyond the typed text needed to save the record. A free tier is available so you can try the import flow on a real report before deciding whether to subscribe.

Combining with Apple Health Clinical Records

If you are on iPhone and your healthcare provider is connected to Apple Health Clinical Records, you may already have lab results inside the Health app from US electronic health records. Health3 does not replace that connection — it complements it. Use Apple Health for the records your US provider syndicates automatically, and use the Health3 PDF import flow for everything else: international lab tests, private clinics, paper printouts, and any provider that does not appear inside Apple Health. Both sets of values can sit on the same per-biomarker timeline so you only need to look in one place to see how a marker is moving.

Frequently asked questions

Import your lab results into Health3

Upload a PDF, snap a photo of a paper report, or enter values manually. Health3 turns the file into biomarker values on a continuous timeline, so you can spend your time reading trends instead of re-typing numbers.