Health Connect explained: what it can and can’t do

What is Health Connect?

Health Connect is a platform from Android that stores supported health and fitness records on the device and lets apps request access with your explicit permission. Read the official overview at Android Developers.

What can it do?

• Let a companion app write data such as steps, sleep, heart rate and workouts, where supported.
• Let another app read that data after you grant permission.
• Let you review and revoke permissions per app and per data type.

What can’t it do?

• It does not guarantee that your watch’s every metric is written to it.
• It does not unify methods: HRV or sleep staging from two sources can still differ.
• It does not tell you how a proprietary score was calculated.

The list of supported record types is on the data types page.

How do you check what an app can see?

1. Open Health Connect on your phone and review the data and access screens.
2. Confirm your companion app is writing the data types you need.
3. Confirm the reading app has permission for those types.
4. Look at the last-synced time in the reading app.

How do permissions work?

Each app asks for access by data type, for example sleep or heart rate, and for read, write or both. You can grant or deny each one, and change your mind later in Android settings. Reading access to history may be a separate permission from reading new data, so a newly installed app may only see data from its install date forward unless you grant more.

What do you do when data is missing?

1. Open your wearable’s own app and confirm it has synced recently.
2. In that app, confirm that sharing to Health Connect is switched on for the data type.
3. In Health Connect, check that the data appears under that data type.
4. In the reading app, confirm permission is granted and refresh or reopen.
5. If a type never appears, the source may not write it. Check its documentation.

Where does Bodhara fit?

Bodhara is designed to read Health Connect data with your permission and keep the records on your phone. Bodhara is being designed as an Android-first, local-first app: your health records stay on your phone, every number shows where it came from, and missing data is shown as missing rather than as zero. It is in development, so specific device support and launch timing are not final. We will publish verified details before calling any connection supported.

Frequently asked questions

Is Health Connect only for Android?

Yes, it is an Android platform feature. Other platforms have their own systems.

Does Health Connect upload my data to the cloud?

Health Connect stores data on your device under your control. What each app does with data it reads depends on that app’s own policy.

Why is a metric missing from my insights app?

The source app may not write it to Health Connect, or the reading app may lack permission.