Interval of passive heart rate samples (in HealthKit)

Hi all,

We are a university research group developing a heart-rate-based physical activity score. We need heart rate at 20-second intervals or better, recorded passively (24/7, without the user starting a workout), and read via HealthKit.

Apple's support page says that Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 measure heart rate continuously, as often as every 5 seconds. Our questions:

  1. Are these continuous measurements stored as HKQuantitySamples (heartRate) in HealthKit, so a third-party app can read them at that resolution?
  2. On older models, what is the typical interval of passive heart rate samples in HealthKit?
  3. During a workout (HKWorkoutSession), what is the typical interval of stored heart rate samples?

Any experience or official guidance is very welcome. Thank you!