How to Launch a HIPAA Compliant Healthcare App Using Bubble

Bubble might be great for building MVPs, but when it comes to HIPAA compliance, it’s like using a toy knife in a surgical suite. If you’re building a healthcare app and think you can “make it work” with Bubble, stop and read this first.

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This guide strips away the guesswork and lays out exactly why Bubble falls short for regulated healthtech — and how some founders are duct-taping workarounds to get by. We’ll also show you the one strategy that kinda works (with caveats), and why platforms like Specode are leaving Bubble behind when it comes to launching real, scalable, compliant apps.

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Key Takeaways

• Bubble does not sign BAAs and cannot be made HIPAA-compliant — period.
• The only viable use of Bubble in healthcare is as a frontend-only shell, with all PHI handled externally.
• Specode offers a purpose-built, HIPAA-compliant alternative that’s 10x faster to deploy — without legal gymnastics.

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The Elephant in the Waiting Room: Is Bubble Even HIPAA-Compliant?

Let’s get this out of the way upfront — Bubble is not HIPAA-compliant. It doesn’t sign Business Associate Agreements (BAAs). It never has. And according to their own team, it’s not even on the roadmap.

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If your app needs to touch Protected Health Information (PHI) — and I mean even breathe near it — Bubble, out of the box, is a non-starter.

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“We do not recommend using Bubble for apps that require HIPAA compliance.”

— Bubble’s own docs, 2025

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That’s not a soft warning. That’s a full stop.

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Why That BAA Matters (and Why You Can’t Work Around It)

Under HIPAA, any vendor that “creates, receives, maintains, or transmits” PHI on behalf of a covered entity must sign a BAA. No BAA = no go. Bubble refuses to sign one, so even if it accidentally logs PHI, you’re out of compliance. That includes:

• Data stored in Bubble’s native database
• API responses that flow through Bubble’s backend
• PHI appearing in logs (yes, Bubble logs things behind the scenes)
• PHI displayed on the frontend if Bubble support can “Run as” and view it

All of these are HIPAA risks — not hypotheticals, not edge cases.

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The “But What If…” Fallacy

Some founders (especially first-timers in healthcare) ask: “Can we just encrypt the PHI? What if it’s anonymized? What if we keep it minimal?”

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Let me be clear: there’s no such thing as “light” HIPAA compliance. It’s binary. Either the platform is compliant and governed by a signed BAA, or it isn’t. And Bubble isn’t.

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This isn’t just a missing checkbox. It’s a structural limitation of how Bubble is built — multi-tenant, opaque backend, extensive logging, no PHI segregation tools, and an openly stated refusal to meet HIPAA’s bar.

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So if you’re building a healthcare app and wondering if you can just “make Bubble HIPAA-compliant” — stop. That path doesn’t exist. The only viable route (as we’ll get into later) involves keeping Bubble entirely out of the PHI chain.

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Welcome to the hard truth most no-code blogs skip. We won’t. Let’s keep going.

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The Platform Under the Microscope: Bubble’s Security Features

Let’s be fair — for a no-code tool, Bubble has some solid security fundamentals. Encryption? Check. Privacy rules? Yep. DDoS protection, 2FA, even SSO for enterprise setups? All there. But here’s the rub: HIPAA isn’t impressed by surface-level security.

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Security checklists don’t get you across the compliance line. It’s not about whether a platform has features — it’s about whether you can control and audit them end-to-end, especially around PHI. And that’s where Bubble starts cracking under scrutiny.

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What Bubble Does Offer

If you’re using Bubble for a non-regulated MVP or internal tool, these features will feel reassuring:

• HTTPS encryption in transit – Data between browser and Bubble is protected from interception.
• Privacy Rules – Lets you define who can access what data in the Bubble database.
• Authentication options – Supports login, password, 2FA, and external identity providers (via plugins or custom code).
• API access control – Secure your data APIs with token or key-based authentication.
• DDoS protection & security add-ons – Cloudflare in the mix, plus integration with monitoring tools like Flusk.

All of these make Bubble a reasonably secure no-code environment — if you’re building, say, a social app or internal dashboard. But regulated healthcare? That’s a whole different beast.

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Where the Gaps Turn into Landmines

Once PHI enters the picture, Bubble’s architectural decisions start working against you:

• Uncontrolled server logs
  Bubble logs everything. You don’t get granular control, visibility, or assurances that PHI isn’t getting captured in the background.
  
  
• No PHI segregation tools
  There’s no native way to isolate sensitive data with separate encryption keys or audit trails — it’s all blended in the same general-purpose DB.
  
  
• “Run as” feature
  Support staff can impersonate users and access app data. Helpful for debugging. A HIPAA nightmare without a BAA in place.
  
  
• Lack of audit trails
  HIPAA wants detailed, timestamped records of who touched what and when. Bubble gives you general logs — not the forensic-level trails compliance requires.
  
  
• No encryption at rest with keys under your control
  You can’t manage key rotation, control access at the storage layer, or verify where the data lives. That’s a hard no for storing PHI.

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Bubble’s security toolkit is decent — for general-purpose SaaS. But HIPAA isn’t about what’s “secure enough.” It’s about provable, enforceable controls. That means having full visibility into how data is handled at the platform level, which Bubble (by design) does not allow.

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So if you’re thinking, “But they offer privacy rules and encryption!” — that’s like saying your restaurant has a working fridge but no food safety license. Doesn’t mean you’re cleared to serve sushi.

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In the next section, we’ll talk about why — despite all this — developers still try to make Bubble work for healthcare. Spoiler: It’s not because they enjoy suffering.

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Why Developers Still Try: The Allure of Bubble in Healthcare

Let’s be honest — by now, you’re probably thinking: Why is anyone still trying to use Bubble for HIPAA apps? No BAA, opaque backend, risk of PHI exposure with a single misconfigured API call. Should be a hard no, right?

And yet, here we are. Founders keep poking at it. Freelancers post Upwork gigs for “HIPAA-compliant Bubble apps.” Why?

Because the benefits — for the right parts of a healthcare app — are still hard to beat.

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What Makes Bubble So Tempting?

Speed and flexibility. That’s it. But in healthcare, those two levers are powerful when you’re:

• Validating a product concept fast
  Bubble’s drag-and-drop UI and logic editor let you test workflows with real users in weeks, not quarters.
  
  
• Prototyping UX for investor decks or clinical partners
  You can build polished, interactive frontends — complete with fake data — to get buy-in before burning money on backend infrastructure.
  
  
• Building out non-clinical components
  For things like scheduling, education modules, or non-PHI-facing intake flows, Bubble is fast, cheap, and good enough.
  
  
• Iterating without DevOps overhead
  No CI/CD pipelines to wrangle. No infrastructure to manage. Founders with modest technical chops can ship features without waiting on engineering cycles.

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Who’s Actually Using It?

The “Bubble-as-frontend-only” crowd. Developers who treat Bubble like a no-code React clone — where all PHI handling is offloaded to an external backend (think Xano or AWS). In that model, Bubble doesn’t touch PHI; it just renders the UI and sends requests from the browser.

It’s a tightrope walk. But when pulled off correctly, this hybrid architecture lets you:

• Keep Bubble’s frontend productivity
• Offload HIPAA risk to vendors that actually sign BAAs
• Avoid replatforming too early while still building something real

The catch? One backend call in the wrong place — server-side instead of client-side — and your compliance story collapses.

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A Warning Label, Not a Red Flag

Think of Bubble like a Ferrari with no seatbelts. It’s fast, flashy, and gets you moving — but you better know exactly what you’re doing and where the crash zones are.

If your team understands how to architect around Bubble’s blind spots, the tool can save you serious time and budget in the right scenarios.

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But if you’re building anything where PHI and business logic intertwine, you’ll want to hit the brakes — and fast.

Ready for the one Bubble setup that actually works in regulated healthcare? That’s next. Let’s dissect it.

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The Only Play That Works: Using Bubble as a Frontend Only

Let’s not sugarcoat it — there’s only one defensible way to involve Bubble in a HIPAA-sensitive app: treat it like a UI shell. Period.

No PHI in Bubble’s database.

No PHI in its backend workflows.

No PHI anywhere near its logs.

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This isn’t just a preference. It’s the only way to thread the compliance needle without incurring legal risk or waking up to a letter from the OCR.

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What This Actually Means in Practice

The “frontend-only” model boils down to this: Bubble handles the look and feel. Everything else — PHI collection, storage, processing, transmission — happens outside Bubble, through verifiably HIPAA-compliant services.

Here’s the rulebook:

• All PHI-handling API calls must happen client-side.
  That means JavaScript in the browser talks directly to your compliant backend (Xano, AWS API Gateway, etc.). Not via Bubble’s server-side workflows, ever.
  
  
• Bubble’s backend workflows become off-limits.
  They’re tempting for handling logic, but once PHI touches that infrastructure, you’re in violation. Bubble doesn’t sign BAAs. End of story.
  
  
• Store only non-sensitive metadata in Bubble.
  Things like UI state, flags, or app settings? Fine. User email or names? Encrypt externally, or don’t store at all — those count as PHI if tied to care.
  
  
• Use iFrames or secure plugins for PHI entry.
  Tools like Strac inject secure iFrames so PHI never hits Bubble’s DOM or database. The iFrame captures it, tokenizes it, and you store a harmless token in Bubble.

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What Could Still Blow Up Compliance

Even with a clean “frontend-only” plan, teams still mess this up — and often.

Watch for these tripwires:

• Backend API calls that accidentally include PHI.
• “Run as” access exposing PHI in the UI.
• PII stored casually in Bubble’s DB.
• URL parameters with sensitive data.

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When It Works, It Actually Works

Architected right, this model gives you the best of both worlds:

• A fast, polished frontend that non-dev teams can iterate on
• A hardened backend that meets compliance requirements
• A decoupled setup that can evolve with your product roadmap

Is it simple? No.

Is it scalable? Absolutely — if you know what you’re doing.

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This isn’t a silver bullet — it’s a loophole with a lot of wiring behind the walls. But it’s the only way to safely include Bubble in a HIPAA-aware architecture.

Next up, we’ll look at what services you can trust to do the heavy lifting for PHI — and how to stitch them into this frontend-only setup.

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Stacking the Backend: HIPAA-Compliant Services You Can Trust

If Bubble’s only safe role is the UI layer, then the real engine of your app — where PHI lives, moves, and gets audited — has to sit elsewhere. That means picking backend services that:

• Sign BAAs (non-negotiable)
• Provide proper encryption, access controls, and audit trails
• Actually scale without melting down under a few thousand users

Here’s what’s actually being used in the wild — by healthcare startups, consultants, and Bubble-savvy devs who’ve survived HIPAA audits.

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Xano: The Go-To Backend-as-a-Service

Xano is the de facto backend for Bubble-HIPAA hybrids. It:

• Signs BAAs on its HIPAA plan
• Offers encrypted storage, fine-grained user access, and API endpoint logic
• Lets you build backend workflows visually (for those not fluent in Lambda)

Why devs love it:

• Easy REST API generation
• Managed DB with PHI segregation controls
• Less DevOps headache than AWS

Caveat: HIPAA plan starts at ~$500/month. If you’re bootstrapping, it stings. But you’re paying for peace of mind and fewer lawsuits.

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AWS / Firebase: For the Control Freaks

If you’ve got cloud chops, AWS and Firebase (specifically Firestore with a BAA) are rock-solid.

• AWS: Full control, full audit logs, full stress
  
  • Go this route if you’ve got an infra team or need custom logic at scale
  • Use S3 for storage, RDS for data, API Gateway + Lambda for logic
• Firebase (Firestore): Lightweight, reactive, and BAA-ready
  
  • Avoid Firebase Realtime DB — it’s historically HIPAA-shady
  • Needs strict IAM rules and usage discipline

The upside? Enterprise-grade tooling and total architectural freedom.

The downside? You’ll need someone fluent in IAM policies, VPCs, and logging configurations — or risk shooting yourself in the foot.

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Strac: The Tokenization Power Move

Strac offers a Bubble plugin with iFrame-based PHI collection. Here’s how it works:

• User enters PHI into a secure iFrame embedded in your Bubble app
• The data goes straight to Strac’s HIPAA-compliant vault
• Bubble only stores a token, which can be safely used in-app

When you need to display PHI (e.g., in a clinician dashboard), Strac detokenizes it via client-side API call — Bubble itself never sees raw PHI.

Heads-up: You’ll want to vet Strac’s audit controls, test token latency, and verify the iFrame sandboxing. But it’s one of the cleanest solutions to make Bubble behave like it has HIPAA training wheels.

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Key Rules for Backend Integration

Regardless of what stack you pick, don’t skip these fundamentals:

• Client-side only for PHI: Backend API calls that touch PHI must happen in the user’s browser — not through Bubble’s server.
• BAAs must be signed and stored: No exceptions. No “but they’re secure.” No handshake deals.
• Map every data flow: Know exactly where PHI is born, lives, moves, and dies. HIPAA doesn’t care about your intentions — just your diagrams and logs.
• Encrypt PII too: Even names and emails can be PHI in context. Don’t leave them hanging in Bubble’s DB unprotected.

If Bubble is your pretty frontend, these services are your armored backend. The hard part isn’t finding tools — it’s stitching them together without letting a single byte of PHI slip through the cracks.

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Making It Work: Best Practices from HIPAA-Curious Bubble Builders

Let’s be honest — launching anything healthcare-related with Bubble requires some serious mental gymnastics. But some teams do make it work (or at least, not break it). They survive not because Bubble is HIPAA-friendly, but because they treat it like a barely trusted guest: seen, used, but never let near the PHI.

This section is your cheat sheet — the distilled wisdom from devs who’ve walked the compliance tightrope and lived to share their audit logs.

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Tokenization Is the Name of the Game

The gold standard? Never let PHI touch Bubble. Ever. Tools like Strac are built for this.

• Use secure iFrames to collect PHI.
• Send that data directly to a HIPAA-compliant vault (e.g., Strac).
• Receive back a token — a meaningless string Bubble can safely store.
• Want to display PHI later? Send the token client-side to detokenize it.

This lets you build usable UI components while treating PHI like radioactive material — wrapped in lead, never handled directly.

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Make Client-Side API Calls the Default (Not the Exception)

One rookie mistake that keeps happening: sending PHI through Bubble’s backend workflows.

Don’t. Just don’t.

• All PHI-related calls should happen in the browser, directly from the user’s device to your HIPAA-compliant backend (e.g., Xano, AWS API Gateway).
• This avoids Bubble’s servers entirely — no logs, no middleman risk, no BAA violation.

Bubble’s server-side logic might be tempting, but one misrouted API call, and you’re the next OCR headline.

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Sanitize Bubble’s Role Like It’s Under Infection Control

Think of Bubble as an untrained intern: helpful for front-desk tasks, but not allowed near patient records.

What this means in practice:

• Store only non-sensitive metadata (e.g., UI state, flags) in Bubble’s DB.
• Never include names, emails, diagnoses, or anything that could be interpreted as PHI.
• If you absolutely must track user identity (e.g., for login), encrypt that data externally and store ciphertext in Bubble. Your compliant backend should manage the keys.

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Use Strict Privacy Rules (Even for “Safe” Data)

Yes, the data shouldn’t be sensitive — but treat it like it is anyway. Why?

• Misconfiguration happens.
• Bubble’s “Run as” feature lets support staff view any user’s data.
• HIPAA doesn’t care about intent — only exposure.

Lock everything down with privacy rules. Assume the worst, architect for containment.

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Audit Everything You Think You Don’t Need To

Even if you’re not storing PHI, you need to prove you’re not storing PHI.

That means:

• Audit your workflows — are any API calls or logs catching PHI accidentally?
• Double-check your API connector configs — are any responses exposing sensitive fields?
• Review plugin usage — some plugins cache data or log behavior under the hood.

Do it quarterly. Or better yet, after every major change. Think like an auditor with trust issues.

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Bonus Tips from the Field

• Don’t pass PHI in URL params. Ever. (Yes, someone did. It got logged.)
• Disable Bubble logs if you can (you usually can’t, which is the problem).
• Use Bubble only for UI logic, never for security or data governance.
• Educate your product managers: HIPAA compliance isn’t just a dev concern.

This isn’t about brute-forcing Bubble into compliance — it’s about engineering a firewall around its weaknesses. The teams who get this right aren’t naïve. They’re paranoid, rigorous, and usually backed by solid legal review.

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Final Diagnosis: Stop Fighting Bubble — Start Building with Specode

By now, it’s clear: Bubble isn’t a HIPAA-compliant platform, and trying to force it into that role is like dressing up a go-kart for highway use. Sure, you might get it moving — but it’s risky, exhausting, and one wrong turn from disaster.

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Yes, you can isolate PHI.

Yes, you can use tokenization.

Yes, you can duct-tape a frontend-only architecture to a compliant backend.

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But you’re still spending your time working around Bubble — not building your product.

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There’s a Better Way: Specode

Specode was built for exactly this moment — when you need to move fast without compromising on compliance, scalability, or ownership.

Here’s what you get with Specode out of the box:

• Prebuilt, HIPAA-compliant components — No BAA games. We’re compliant from day one.
• Real backend flexibility — Full support for eRx, labs, biometric data, and EHR integrations (not just “eventually”).
• Customizable UI and full code ownership — No lock-in. You scale it how you want, when you want.
• 10x faster delivery — Go from idea to deployment in weeks, not months.

Whether you’re building virtual care, wellness tracking, care coordination, or a full-stack telehealth platform — Specode doesn’t just speed things up. It makes the entire build trustworthy.

So if you’re tired of playing regulatory whack-a-mole just to get a decent UI, let’s talk.

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👉 Get a tailored estimate and stop compromising between fast and compliant.