Key Takeaways
"Health Connect" is a service from Google that syncs data between health and fitness Android apps that otherwise would not be able to communicate with each other.
Smartphones and wearables have made it easy for anyone to track their health and fitness. The problem is there are so many apps to choose from, and they don't work together. That's where "Health Connect by Android" comes in.
What Is "Health Connect by Android"?
Health Connect was announced at Google IO in May 2022. Following Google and Samsung's collaboration on Wear OS 3 for the Galaxy Watch 4, the two companies teamed up to work on Health Connect as well.
The idea behind Health Connect is to make it easier to sync health and fitness data between Android apps. Multiple apps can be hooked up to Health Connect, and then they can share your health data (with your permission) between each other.
As of November 2022, Health Connect by Android is available in the Play Store in "Early Access." Supported apps include Google Fit, Fitbit, Samsung Health, MyFitnessPal, Leap Fitness, and Withings. Any Android app can take advantage of the Health Connect API.
Here is some of the data that can be synced with Health Connect:
- Activities: Running, walking, swimming, etc.
- Body Measurements: Weight, height, BMI, etc.
- Cycle Tracking: Menstrual cycles and ovulation tests.
- Nutrition: Food and water intake.
- Sleep: Duration, time awake, sleep cycles, etc.
- Vitals: Heart rate, blood glucose, temperature, blood oxygen levels, etc.
Health Connect clearly displays which apps have access to your personal data, and you can very easily revoke access whenever you want. On top of that, your data is encrypted on your device for extra protection.
Should You Use Health Connect?
Health Connect is aimed at people who have their health and fitness data spread out on multiple apps. It can be very annoying to maintain some of the same information on separate services.
Let's say you use MyFitnessPal to record your daily food and water intake, you track activities with Samsung Health on your Galaxy Watch 5, and you have a Withings Smart Scale. With Health Connect, those apps are able to talk to each other. So now your nutrition information is available to Samsung Health, and your weight is available to MyFitnessPal and Samsung Health.
What the apps do with this information will vary, but it can enable some powerful things. If Samsung Health can get daily weight measurements from Withings, that data can be used to more accurately calculate how many calories you burn in a workout. And if MyFitnessPal knows how many calories you burn, it can more accurately suggest how many calories you should be eating.
In short, if you're using multiple fitness apps on your Android phone and fitness tracker, it might be worth giving Health Connect a try. You already have a bunch of health data out there, so why not let it work together?