Exist

Results of the data sharing survey

Back in August 2025 we ran a survey of our users asking about data sharing. We wanted to understand more about ways in which folks had previously shared, and wanted in future to share data in from their accounts with other people such as health care professionals. Here's a recap of those results.

In total, we received 100 responses. A nice round number representing just under 10% of our paid users. Thank you to everyone who responded.

Past sharing

In total, 61% said they'd shared data from their Exist account with someone else before. When asked who this was with, partner was the highest answer with 62.3%, then doctor with 54.1% and friends or family at 50.8%. Psychologist/psychiatrist/counsellor was next at 44.3%, and the other answers were all much lower.

When asked how they shared this data, verbally explaining it was 72.1%, showing Exist on their phone was 49.2%, and sharing screenshots was 42.6%. The other options were a lot lower, and fortunately nobody answered that they were sharing their login credentials.

These results seem like common sense to me, given we don't have any easier way for sharing data currently, and the people closest to you are the ones you're more likely to discuss your data with. However, I was surprised that so many people had already needed to share their data, and over half of those were doing so with a doctor or psych health professional. This is not something we've had a lot of feedback on, so our intuitive sense was that while people would benefit from better data sharing features, not so many people were already trying to do so. I guess you really can't know how people are using your service until you ask them!

Future desires

For people who hadn't already shared their data in some form, we asked folks about what they haven't done but think they would like to do. (This is often different to what people end up actually doing, but it's still broadly useful.)

When asked who they want to share data with, doctor was highest with 82.5%, psychologist/psychiatrist/counsellor next with 67.5%, then partner at 60%, and friends or family was 45%. The other answers were a fair bit lower.

It makes sense that those who haven't shared data yet are more interested in sharing with professionals. You're more likely to need formal data sharing tools to make a health report to show your doctor; making a report to show your spouse is a little weirder.

Next we asked respondents what their focus or main reason was for sharing this data. We saw quite a number of equal categories here, rather than a few clear winners. Managing mental health was highest with 68.8%, then general well-being at 58.8%. Improving sleep was 53.8%, managing medications was 50%, managing fitness 48.8%, and managing chronic health symptoms was 47.5%.

We had a feeling that there's a lot of Exist users who are interested in managing their mental health, so it's nice to see that backed up by data. We thought chronic health might be a bit higher, but there is some overlap with managing medications. As an aside, do you know about Hello Meds? It's a free, privacy-respecting medication tracker for iOS made by our own Belle, with a focus on tracking regularly-recurring medication combinations. Good job, Belle.

When asked what types of data they wanted to share, numeric data synced from other sources was 82.5%, manually entered numeric data was 67.5%, mood ratings were 58.8%, and daily tags were 57.5%, with the rest of the answers much lower.

It makes sense that data collected from your other trackers — sleep and activity trackers, smart scales, and so on — is the most useful, but it's heartening to see that manual entry is so high too. It means that the ability to manually enter data into Exist has let folks collect genuinely useful data that's worth sharing with a health professional. And although it's a bit of a coarse measurement, rating your mood seems to have some value too.

The actual export

Next we asked about the ways users wanted the data presented in the export. People had a real range of preferences here, and one "other" answer submitted was "not exactly sure" which I think sums up the vibe. A graph of a single attribute for a selected period was highest at 68.8%, then a correlation graph comparing two attributes at 61.3%, and then all the other options were around 40-50%, things like "raw numeric data for an attribute for a period", "graphs of the rolling average over time for an attribute", and "statistics about highest and lowest values, streaks, etc".

It's nice that, despite correlations sometimes feeling like more of a gimmick than a useful data point, respondents felt they were valuable enough to share. Remember though: correlation is not causation!

We then asked what format folks would like the export in, and a PDF for sharing digitally was the highest at 78.8%. Next was a spreadsheet export at 57.5%, then a public webpage showing select data from your account at 36.3%, PDF for printing was 31.3%, and a private webpage showing select data from your account was 21.3%.

I'm curious about why a private webpage (that is, requiring a specific login) is less popular than a public one. I guess folks have specific use cases in mind where they want to share some data and they don't care who sees it. Or is it just less hassle? Also, I'm not surprised that spreadsheet is a popular response, but I think it shows respondents are a little confused about what they want, given the spreadsheet option would just be a raw table of numbers and doesn't make any sense if you want the graphs that were the most popular option in the previous question. However, it may be that the 50% of users who chose "raw numeric data" in that question are the same ones who picked "spreadsheet export" here.

And in case you don't know, you can export every attribute's raw data to CSV already from your account page :) It's not as fine-grained as what we're proposing, but you do have access to that data already.

Timing

Finally we asked how often people would see themselves needing to export a report. Irregularly, but at least a few times was the clear winner at 48%, then on a regular schedule every few months or less often at 17.5%, then on a regular schedule monthly or more often at 11%. There were other options about regular schedules that were much lower.

I think these results show that while quite a number of respondents think they'd benefit from this, the majority haven't felt a strong need for it because the opportunity is irregular and infrequent. Maybe that's why we haven't heard many requests? Still, there is a smaller cohort who would benefit more regularly, so overall, it seems like something that folks would find valuable at least occasionally.

Thoughts

Our user base and thus income from Exist has been struggling for some time, and we hoped that our redesign would turn things around by making the mobile apps feel fresh and modern, as well as being faster and more informative. So far that hasn't happened, so we're still looking for other ways to make Exist valuable and thus sustainable. (If you value it, please tell your friends! Mentioning Exist to someone who doesn't know of it is one of the best things you can do to help us, we appreciate it.)

Anyway, it seems to us that building a way for you to generate custom PDFs with graphs and tables, and potentially a way to generate custom spreadsheets, is a good use of our time that will benefit our users. We don't just want to blindly focus on getting more data in to Exist, we're always thinking about how to make that data useful, and making it easier for you to make a report that you can take to your doctor or therapist, or even email to your mum, seems like a good way to do that.