Use HealthKit to enable your iOS and watchOS apps to work with the Apple Health app.

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HKObserverQuery stops delivering updates in background on watchOS 26
Hello, I’m building a health-related app for both watchOS and iOS, which needs to monitor certain health data (e.g., heart rate, active energy). Before updating to watchOS 26, the queries worked reliably without any issues. However, after adapting to watchOS 26, some users have reported that health data updates stop being delivered. What I’ve observed: HKObserverQuery with enableBackgroundDelivery is set up normally. On WatchOS 26, the query sometimes stops delivering updates entirely after a certain point, and once an update is missed, it may stop delivering further updates completely. Restarting the Apple Watch temporarily restores delivery, but the problem reoccurs after some time. This makes background health data monitoring unreliable for my app. Here’s a simplified version of the code we are using: guard let heartType = HKObjectType.quantityType(forIdentifier: .heartRate) else { return } let query = HKObserverQuery(sampleType: heartType, predicate: nil) { query, completionHandler, error in if let error = error { logEvent("Observer error: \(error.localizedDescription)") return } logEvent("Heart rate changed") MyNotificationManager.shared.sendNotification() // Send a local notification completionHandler() } healthStore.execute(query) healthStore.enableBackgroundDelivery(for: heartType, frequency: .hourly) { success, error in if success { logEvent("Background heart rate delivery enabled") } else { logEvent("Failed to enable background heart rate delivery: \(error?.localizedDescription ?? "Unknown error")") } } Could you please clarify: Is this a known issue with HKObserverQuery and enableBackgroundDelivery on watchOS 26? Are there any recommended workarounds or best practices to ensure continuous background delivery of health data? Thank you in advance for your help.
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508
Oct ’25
What’s the expected frequency of HealthKit enableBackgroundDelivery: HKCategoryTypeIdentifier.sleepAnalysis
Hello, I have enabled HealthKit background delivery for sleep analysis samples: private func setupSleepDataBackgroundDelivery() { if let sleepType = HKObjectType.categoryType(forIdentifier: HKCategoryTypeIdentifier.sleepAnalysis) { healthStore.enableBackgroundDelivery(for: sleepType, frequency: .immediate) { (success, error) in } } } In general, this function works. But I would love to know what the limitations / expected delivery delay for frequency: .immediate is. The documentation is only very vague about this and specifies that some sample types such as steps are only delivered once per hour. But how about sleep data? Is this expected to be delivered immediately once available on iPhone? Thanks a lot for your help!
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235
Sep ’25
Evolution of HealthKit workout API on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 - HKLiveWorkoutDataSource and built-in Sensor Support
I am very happy to see that HealthKit with OS26 is bringing HKLiveWorkoutDataSource to iOS and iPadOS. I have been replicating a similar type for the last several years for users that only have an iPhone. I did notice that the data types that the different platform data sources collect automatically is different. That makes sense if you think exclusively about what the device can actually capture. Bluetooth HRM is the only Bluetooth SIG profile that is out-of-the-box supported for Apple Health on iOS and iPadOS (right?). Whereas watchOS 10 got all of the cycling sensors (woohoo!). It would be great if the types to collect were the same across platforms even if the device couldn't collect the data now, because then in the future when / if new sensor support is added, it will be transparent to developers. Fantastic. Easier life as an indie / third party developer. At least that is the idea. And yes, I know I can also write Core Bluetooth code and roll my own SIG implementation for the cycling profiles, but Apple already has this code in one os, 'just copy it, it will be easy'. I know that isn't the reality especially against the new ASK framework, but one can hope and dream right? Imagine how many more apps would contribute that data if it was supported out of the box. An alternative, GitHub is a great place for Apple to share their Core Bluetooth implementation of the SIG profiles :). Just another thought. Here are some feedbacks related to this: FB17931751 - HealthKit: Add built-in support for cycling sensors on iOS and iPadOS - copy paste the code from watchOS. It will be easy they said (June 2025) FB12323089 - CoreBluetooth / Health / Bluetooth Settings: Add support for cycling sensors announced in watchOS 10 to iOS and iPadOS 17 (June 2023) FB14311218 - HealthKit: Expected outdoor cycling to include .cyclingSpeed quantity type as a default HKLiveWorkoutDataSource type to collect (July 2024) FB14978701 - Bluetooth / HealthKit / Fitness: Expose information about the user specified for Apple Watch paired Cycing Speed Sensor like isConnected and wheelCircumference values (August 2024) FB18402258 - HealthKit: HKLiveWorkoutDataSource should collect same types on iOS and watchOS even if device cannot produce data today (June 2025) FB14236080 - Developer Documentation / HealthKit: Update documentation for HKLiveWorkoutDataSource typesToCollect for which sample types are automatically collected by watchOS 10 and 11 (July 2024) Tangentially related: FB10281304 - HealthKit: Add HKActivityTypes canoeBikeRun and kayakBikeRun (June 2022) FB10281349 - HealthKit: Add HKActivityType walkCanoeWalk and walkKayakWalk (June 2022) FB7807993 - Add HKQuantityTypeIdentifier.paddleDistance for canoeing, kayaking, etc type workouts (June 2020) FB12508654 - HealthKit / Settings / Bluetooth / Workouts: Cycling sensor support doesn't allow for 'bike selection' in use case of multiple bikes and multiple sensors (borrow a bike to ride together) - production usability issue (July 2023)
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140
Jun ’25
Adding workoutEffortScore to HKWorkout
I'm trying to hook into the new workoutEffort score supported in iOS 18, I am collecting this information from users when they submit their workout and trying to add a sample to the HKWorkout in the same manner as I've been adding other samples like bodyweight, calories burned, etc. I'm receiving the error: HKWorkout: Sample of type HKQuantityTypeIdentifierWorkoutEffortScore must be related to a workout I tried adding the samples using HKWorkoutBuilder.add([samples]) as which has been working perfectly for calories burned & bodyweight, but I am receiving the above error for workoutEffortScore As a second approach, I tried adding the sample after I called finishWorkout on the HKWorkoutBuilder and received back the HKWorkout object using HKHealthStore.add([samples], to: HKWorkout) and am still receiving the same error! I don't know otherwise how to relate a sample to a workout, I thought those were the APIs to do so? I'm using Xcode 16.0 RC (16A242) and testing on an iOS 16 Pro simulator
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1.4k
Jul ’25
Stands not detected
I have FB12696743 open since July 21, 2023 and this happened again today. I get home at approx 10 mins after the hour, walk appox 50 ft across my yard, up 5 steps into my house, let the dog out and pace on my deck watching the dog, go back in the house walk around the kitchen while preparing dinner. A total of about 200 ft. I sit down about 35 past the hour and start to eat and at 10 mins to the next our and I get the reminder to stand. On the other side I wake up at 5 mins to hour. Walk 8 steps to the bathroom and successfully achieve the stand for that hour. WHY!?!?!? 😁🤣
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521
Jun ’25
Deprecated: HKCategoryValueMenstrualFlow
We currently use the HKCategoryValueMenstrualFlow enum to determine the type of menstrual flow: light, medium, etc. a user is having. We also use this enum in determining if it's an actual period day. The Problem I see HKCategoryValueMenstrualFlow was recently deprecated but has not been replaced by another data type. Are there plans to replace/update it with another data type? When or at what point in the future will this deprecation cause a problem in my code?
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967
Dec ’24
Adding segments/splits into workout
Hello, I am building a workout app that has an option to add segments to differentiate different stages of the training session. Segments are added the following way: func saveSegment(eventType: HKWorkoutEventType, startDate: Date, endDate: Date, inSeg: Int) async throws { let dateInterval = DateInterval(start: startDate, end: endDate) let event = HKWorkoutEvent(type: eventType, dateInterval: dateInterval, metadata: metadata) try await builder?.addWorkoutEvents([event]) } Inside Health -> Workouts -> Show All Data, the segments appear, but in Fitness app there are no segments. The workout is .paddleSports. I thought that maybe the workout type was the problem, but when I start the sessions from the native workout app, segments are added and shown in the Fitness app: In other posts I saw suggested to add an event as .marker instead of .segment, but the result is the same, it does not appear. Is there something I am doing wrong? How can I show the segments into the Fitness app? Another question, I would like to add stroke rate and stroke count to my paddling session, is there a way to add it? Paddle Sports workout was recently introduced and it would be great to have the option to add those values. Thank you in advance. Inaki
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764
Jan ’25
Support for cycling power & cadence sensors in HKWorkoutSession on iOS?
Hi everyone, while testing HKWorkoutSession with HKLiveWorkoutBuilder on iOS 26 Beta (cycling workout), I noticed the following behavior: – Starting a cycling HKWorkoutSession automatically connects to my Bluetooth heart rate monitor and records HR into HealthKit ✅ – However, my Bluetooth cycling power meter and cadence sensor (standard BLE Cycling Power & CSC services) are not connected automatically, and no data is recorded into HealthKit ❌ On Apple Watch, when starting a cycling workout, these sensors do connect automatically and their data is written to HealthKit — which is exactly what I would expect on iOS as well. Question: Is this by design, or is support for power and cadence sensors planned for iOS in the same way as on watchOS? Or do we, as developers, need to implement the BLE Cycling Power and CSC profiles ourselves (via CoreBluetooth) if we want these metrics? Environment: – iOS 26 Beta – HKWorkoutSession & HKLiveWorkoutBuilder (cycling) – Bluetooth HRM connects automatically – BLE power & cadence sensors do not This feature would make it much easier to develop cycling apps with full HealthKit integration, and also create a more consistent user experience compared to watchOS. Thanks for any insights!
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141
Jul ’25
Sleep Score API access
New in iOS 26 and WatchOS 26 is a Sleep Score calculation for users based on Duration, Bedtime and Interruptions. Unfortunately I can't find any APIs for developers to tap into this metric. Yes, in theory it's all created off the same Sleep Analysis data already available with HealthKit but that makes it very hard to recreate in our apps. If the numbers don't match up exactly, users will understandably complain. Can anyone confirm that this is the case and I've not missed a Sleep Score API? I'll then file feedback. Hopefully this doesn't go the way of Heart Rate Zones where the Apple Watch iPhone app has generated them for years and provided no way for third party apps to access these values (yes many feedbacks provided previously).
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228
Sep ’25
Rejected using Healthkit
Hi all, I'm developing fitness app and I use healthkit to track user's "STEPS" count from their iphone devices. I have been receiving this rejection and can't seem to get past this: Guideline 2.5.1 - Performance - Software Requirements The app uses the HealthKit or CareKit APIs but does not clearly identify the HealthKit and CareKit functionality in the app's user interface. Apps using these APIs should be clearly indicated to provide transparency and valuable information to users. Next Steps To resolve this issue, it would appropriate to clearly identify the HealthKit and CareKit functionality in the app's user interface. Resources Learn more about software requirements in guideline 2.5.1. I have modified my app: adding user permission prompt, adding healthkit notification, adding healthkit indicator in the UI, adding healthkit information in the onboarding process. I keep getting the same message. When I asked the reviewer what else could be done to satisfy the requirement, I only get boiler plate message above. Anyone know what they really looking for? Any insights is appreciated. Thanks!
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212
Oct ’25
Medication data insert from third party app
I want to insert the medication data which is available from ios 26 from my app to apple health kit. I have tried to get the permission to read and write data but app got crashed while I tried to request that permission. Does apple allow to insert the medication data to apple health kit likewise we are able to add other health and fitness data or not? let healthStore = HKHealthStore() @available(iOS 26.0, *) @objc func requestAuthorization(_ resolve: @escaping RCTPromiseResolveBlock, rejecter reject: @escaping RCTPromiseRejectBlock) { guard HKHealthStore.isHealthDataAvailable() else { print("not available ") return } let doseType = HKObjectType.medicationDoseEventType() let medType = HKObjectType.userAnnotatedMedicationType() healthStore.requestAuthorization(toShare: [doseType], read: [doseType]) { success, error in if let err = error { reject("auth_error", err.localizedDescription, err); return } self.healthStore.requestPerObjectReadAuthorization(for: medType, predicate: nil) { s, e in if let err2 = e { reject("per_obj_auth", err2.localizedDescription, err2); return } resolve(["ok": success && s]) } } }
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865
Oct ’25
AirPods Pro 3 HRV Data Access Through HealthKit?
Hey everyone I'm working on a health app that's heavily focused on HRV tracking and analysis, and I'm trying to figure out what's actually possible with AirPods Pro 3 from a developer standpoint. The hardware clearly has a much better heart rate sensor than the previous generation, but I'm hitting some walls when it comes to actually accessing the data I need. So here's the situation I'm dealing with: When I query HealthKit for HRV samples, I'm not seeing anything coming from AirPods Pro 3. The device is obviously capable of tracking heart rate continuously during workouts and listening sessions, and from what I've read about the hardware, it should theoretically be able to capture the inter-beat intervals needed for HRV calculation. But either that data isn't being processed on-device, or it's just not being made available through the standard HealthKit data types that third-party apps can access. What I'm really after is either direct HRV metrics (like SDNN, which Apple Watch already provides through HKQuantityTypeIdentifierHeartRateVariabilitySDNN) or even better, access to the raw R-R interval data. With R-R intervals, I could calculate RMSSD, pNN50, and other time-domain and frequency-domain HRV metrics that are super valuable for tracking recovery, autonomic nervous system balance, and stress levels. This would be especially useful since a lot of users wear AirPods during activities when they're not wearing their Apple Watch. Has anyone managed to find a way to pull this data from AirPods Pro 3? Are there any private frameworks or entitlements I should be looking into? Or is this just fundamentally not exposed to developers at the OS level right now? I've gone through the HealthKit documentation pretty thoroughly and haven't found anything that specifically addresses this, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something or if there are any known workarounds. I'm also curious if anyone has heard anything from Apple about future plans to expose this data. It seems like a missed opportunity given how capable the hardware is and how much value developers could provide with access to this physiological data. Would love to hear if anyone else is working on similar features or has insights into the technical limitations here.
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616
Oct ’25
Icon Composer - Icon not visible in Fitness App
Hi everyone, we’re developing an app that lets users export selected bike rides to the HealthKit ecosystem. We created our app icon using the Apple Icon Composer and referenced the composer file in Xcode. Everything works fine, except that the logo doesn’t appear correctly in the Fitness app. Has anyone experienced this issue or knows how to fix it?
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123
Nov ’25
Change displayed metric in Fitness app
Good afternoon, I am working on a workout tracking app. So far everything is working as expected. However, I note that when my workout saves and is visible within the Fitness App, the workout duration is displayed rather than the kCal burned. What changes are required to be made in order for this to display the kCal in the list of workouts in Fitness rather than duration? For reference https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2021/10009 this was my reference source for workout functionality.
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938
Jan ’25
HealthKit permissions not honoring user selection
I'm dealing with a strange bug where I am requesting read access for 'appleExerciseTime' and 'activitySummaryType', and despite enabling both in the permission sheet, they are being set to 'sharingDenied'. I'm writing a Swift Test for making sure permissions are being granted. @Test func PermissionsGranted() { try await self.manager.getPermissions() for type in await manager.allHealthTypes { let status = await manager.healthStore.authorizationStatus(for: type) #expect(status == .sharingAuthorized, "\(type) authorization status is \(status)") } } let healthTypesToShare: Set<HKSampleType> = [ HKQuantityType(.bodyMass), HKQuantityType(.bodyFatPercentage), HKQuantityType(.leanBodyMass), HKQuantityType(.activeEnergyBurned), HKQuantityType(.basalEnergyBurned), HKObjectType.workoutType() ] let allHealthTypes: Set<HKObjectType> = [ HKQuantityType(.bodyMass), HKQuantityType(.bodyFatPercentage), HKQuantityType(.leanBodyMass), HKQuantityType(.activeEnergyBurned), HKQuantityType(.basalEnergyBurned), HKQuantityType(.appleExerciseTime), HKObjectType.activitySummaryType() ] let healthStore = HKHealthStore() func getPermissions() async throws { try await healthStore.requestAuthorization(toShare: self.healthTypesToShare, read: self.allHealthTypes) } After 'getPermissions' runs, the permission sheet shows up on the Simulator, and I accept all. I've double checked that the failing permissions show up on the sheet and are enabled. Then the test fails with: Expectation failed: (status → HKAuthorizationStatus(rawValue: 1)) == (.sharingAuthorized → HKAuthorizationStatus(rawValue: 2)) HKActivitySummaryTypeIdentifier authorization status is HKAuthorizationStatus(rawValue: 1) Expectation failed: (status → HKAuthorizationStatus(rawValue: 1)) == (.sharingAuthorized → HKAuthorizationStatus(rawValue: 2)) HKActivitySummaryTypeIdentifier authorization status is HKAuthorizationStatus(rawValue: 1) With the rawValue of '1' being 'sharingDenied'. All other permissions are granted. Is there a workaround here, or something I'm potentially doing wrong?
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977
Jan ’25
Read Workout Effort Scores
Is there documentation on how to read workout effort scores from a HealthKit workout? I'm interested in reading workoutEffortScore and estimatedWorkoutEffortScore. I have not been successful trying to read them using the same method that I do other workout HKQuantityTypes (heartRate, stepCount, etc). I'm using Swift and I do have authorization for those types requested and granted. I have found documentation on setting these values (https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/763539) but not reading them. Thank You
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936
Jan ’25
Can't properly check if Health Kit is authorized.
In my WatchOS app I've written the following code to check if my app has access to the user's health data: func isHealthKitAuthorized() -> Bool { let typesToRead: [HKObjectType] = [ HKObjectType.quantityType(forIdentifier: .heartRate)!, HKObjectType.quantityType(forIdentifier: .activeEnergyBurned)!, HKObjectType.quantityType(forIdentifier: .appleMoveTime)!, HKObjectType.quantityType(forIdentifier: .appleExerciseTime)!, HKObjectType.workoutType() ] let typesToShare: Set<HKSampleType> = [ HKObjectType.workoutType(), HKObjectType.quantityType(forIdentifier: .activeEnergyBurned)!, HKObjectType.quantityType(forIdentifier: .heartRate)! ] var isAuthorized = true for type in typesToRead { let status = healthStore.authorizationStatus(for: type) if status != .sharingAuthorized { print("Access denied to: \(type.identifier)") isAuthorized = false } } for type in typesToShare { let status = healthStore.authorizationStatus(for: type) if status != .sharingAuthorized { print("Access denied to: \(type.identifier)") isAuthorized = false } } return isAuthorized } However for the appleMoveTime and appleExerciseTime types their status is returning as 'sharingDenied' (checked by printing the status' rawValue) even though they are authorized on the Watch's settings. This happened both on the simulator and on the Watch itself. Am I doing something wrong?
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833
Jan ’25
Location of indoor workouts
In the fitness app under iOS 18, the location of all workouts is displayed on a small map. For workouts with routes, I can already successfully read out the route and thus also determine the starting point. So that works. For indoor workouts such as yoga or indoor rowing, the exact location is also displayed in the fitness app. I would now also like to read out this location for these indoor workouts in my app. Does anyone know how to do this?
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824
Apr ’25