Andy Walker / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has announced Health Connect, its bid to improve health data sharing between apps on Android.
- Health Connect will let users store their private fitness details and allow approved services to access this data.
- This could be a major breakthrough for those juggling data from multiple trackers and health apps.
Health and fitness tracking gets tricky if you jump between platforms and apps, but it seems Google is aware of this issue and might already have a solution well in the works. At I/O 2022, Google unveiled Health Connect, an app, service, and API that’ll allow consumers more control of their health data.
See also: Everything we know about the Pixel Watch
Health Connect: How does it work?
Developed alongside Samsung and launched on the Play Store this week, Health Connect supports Samsung Health, Fitbit, and Google Fit, although none are active on the app at the time of writing.
The service acts as a middleman, allowing users of supported platforms to sync data to Health Connect. It’ll then enable other apps and services access to that data as the user desires. In theory, this means that if you own a Samsung Galaxy Watch but want to use Fitbit’s app for tracking and analysis, you could do just that.
Some data streams initially supported by Health Connect will include daily activities and nutrition, body measurements, menstrual cycle tracking, and sleep. It also supports more specialized data fields, including body temperature and blood oxygen levels.
Naturally, there’ll likely be some limitations. For instance, while the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has a body composition monitor built-in, the Fitbit app has no way to display those metrics. We imagine users would have to stick with their hardware maker’s dedicated app in these instances. Still, Health Connect could seemingly solve the problem of some trackers not supporting health apps, and vice versa.
Those questioning Google’s data practices might not feel comfortable with keeping their health and fitness data in a central hub. However, according to Google, the data is stored offline and guarded by a set of new permissions to for sensitive data.
It’s unclear which hardware makers will adopt Health Connect, but the likes of Withings and platforms like MyFitnessPal could implement the service at some point in the future.
For now, if you want to give a sparse early access version of Health Connect a go, grab it using the download button below.
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