Android 14 could help you collect all your fitness data in one place
It can be quite a pain to collate workout and health-related data manually from apps tracking only a few parameters or exercises at a time. The lack of standardization in data storage methods doesn’t help matters, but Google thinks its newHealth Connect appcould be the solution everyone needs.Beta testing for the appbegan in mid-November, but we haven’t seen the download count skyrocket. That could change if Google bundles Health Connect withAndroid 14, and the likelihood is looking high.
Without Health Connect, fitness app developers would have to build integrations for every other app individually. The utility serves as an on-device, encrypted, and offline intermediary for your health data gathered by different apps. With Health Connect, you could, for instance, use your cycling app to see SpO2 and heart rate data collected by the companion app for your wearable. Google already has over a dozen health and fitnessapps supporting Health Connect, but that isn’t sufficient to make it mainstream — the app’s beta hasn’t even racked up a million downloads yet.
The recently releasedAndroid 13 QPR2 Beta 1for Pixel phones includes a Health Connect stub package, suggesting Google willuphold its promiseof making the app a system component when Android 14 drops. Esper senior technical editorMishaal Rahman theorizesGoogle will develop aProject Mainlinemodule for Health Connect, so it can keep its data offline, while it receives updates through Google Play System updates instead of Android system OTAs.
A concrete timeline for Health Connect coming preloaded on Pixel phones cannot be ascertained for now, because of the lack of publicly available source code or Mainline repository with telltale indicators. However, Rahman says code changes recorded on theAOSP Gerritsuggest Health Connect will become an Android 14 system service, allowing it to become a pre-installed app on more than just Pixel phones. The implementation’s workings could differ from the current beta, and the app could sport a different package name too, but Google’s intentions seem to be clear, and we aren’t complaining.
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