Hi all, I'm developing fitness app and I use healthkit to track user's "STEPS" count and "Heart Rate" 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. How I tried to Resolve the Issue I have modified my app: adding user permission prompt, adding healthkit notification, adding healthkit indicator in the UI **1. Added a "Permission Primer" Screen (Pre-Alert) ** When a user taps "Connect Apple Health," they are now shown a dedicated explanation screen before the system permission prompt appears. This screen clearly states: "[App] integrates with HealthKit to read your Heart Rate and Steps... to calculate physical exertion." (Please see the "Connect" flow in the Session Detail view). **2. Added Explicit Source Attribution ** I have added a permanent text label reading "Health data sourced from Apple Health" directly below the heart rate and steps statistics on the Session Detail dashboard. This ensures that users always identify the source of the displayed metrics. 3. Deployment Target Correction I identified a configuration error where the Deployment Target was set to a future OS version. I have corrected this to the currently shipping iOS 18 to ensure full compliance with software requirements. 4. App Description Update I have updated the App Store description to explicitly mention the HealthKit integration and its specific purpose (tracking match intensity). However doing the above, I still continue to receive the same review 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!

Hello Apple Developer Community, I'm developing a cross-platform app using Flutter and the flutter_beacon library to handle iBeacon detection on iOS. My goal is to wake up the app in the background when it's in a killed/terminated state upon entering/exiting beacon regions, allowing for BLE communication (e.g., ranging or connecting to beacons). I've configured the necessary Info.plist keys for always location access and background location modes, and it works partially for single regions, but I have some specific questions/issues regarding reliability and limitations: Background Execution Time After Wake-Up: When the app is woken in the background by a region monitoring event (enter/exit) from a killed state, approximately how much time (in seconds) does iOS allocate for the app to run before suspending it again? Is this sufficient for performing BLE operations like ranging beacons or establishing a short connection, or are there stricter limits in terminated wake-ups compared to standard background modes? Monitoring Multiple iBeacons with Unique Identifiers: I need to monitor multiple iBeacon devices, each with potentially different UUIDs, majors, and minors. Can I add and monitor up to 20 regions simultaneously, each with a unique string identifier? If multiple beacons (from different regions) enter their respective ranges at around the same time, will the app receive separate callbacks for each region/identifier, or is there coalescing/prioritization that might cause only the last-added identifier to trigger notifications/events? Reliability in Killed State: In a fully killed state (e.g., force-quit via app switcher), does iOS reliably relaunch the app in the background for region monitoring events? Are there any known caveats, such as requiring specific hardware (e.g., iPhone models with certain Bluetooth chips) or iOS versions (targeting iOS 14+), and how does this interact with Flutter's background execution handling via the flutter_beacon library?

We recently ran into an issue where our submission was rejected due to references to an API that we are not using but that was present in the code. Guideline 2.5.1 - Performance - Software Requirements Issue Description The app uses the Clinical Health Records API but the app does not appear to include any primary features that require the Clinical Health Records API. Next Steps To resolve this issue, please remove the Clinical Health Records API from the app, as well as any references to this app’s interactivity with Clinical Health Records from the app or its metadata. And as it turns out, we actually did have references to that API that we had missed and did have to remove them. Usually, I would recommend to just resubmit the new build and see if it gets accepted, then hold it until the powers that be approve it for publication. For this client, though, their QA team forces us into more of a waterfall-ish approach, where we are not allowed to submit production builds ahead of time (i.e. until after all manual testing has concluded, test evidence has been filed and the required documents have been updated and approved). And if after resubmission we find something else that needs to be fixed, we get to restart the process all over again. That's ... slower. We do have a workaround in place where we submit a development build for review and check whether that would get accepted, then retract that version and submit the production build once we are allowed to. But that means more work for Apple (the App has to be reviewed twice) and more risk for us (if the submission team accidentally publishes a development build, the consequences would be severe). Is there a tool that allows us to check for guideline violations without having to submit a build to the App Store Connect? I'm not looking for a "yes, this will get approved" kind of guarantee, just a "well, the review team may find something else to question / reject, but as far as automated checks go, this looks ready for submission".

My current app is a smoking cessation app and it is desgined to help people quit smoking for good. Currently users of the app are expected to set a quit date and then remain quit from cigarettes for 12 weeks. The app helps with this by using badges, notifications and even live chats to stop smoking professionals (depending on your area). The app "frequently" mentions smoking and tobacco, but it never promotes it. It does the opposite. By mentioning the harms of smoking and the benefits of stopping. The app also mentions (and can provide, depending on your area, medical history and a professionals final opinion) about nicotine replacement therapy, which users who are quitting smoking may be interested in. Currently the app is rated 18+ as I have to tick "frequent" mention of drugs/tobacco/alcohol in the age rating questionnaire. Though it does not mention recreational drugs or alcohol. We will soon be adding a large update to the app to add vaping support. The app will change largely in the fact smoking content and vaping content will be siloed from each other. So a user can either be on a smoking support journey (and see stop smoking content), or a vape support journey (and only see vaping content). We need the app to be 13+ on the store and we will enforce age restrictions using the declared age range API as part of the account creation process. If the user is aged 13 - 17, they will only see vape related content, if they are 18+ they can see vaping OR smoking. How negotiable is the age rating certificate, can we change it to 13+ if we implement age restrictions in the app and protect stop smoking related content behind it?

Hi, I'm having the same issue described in https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/690974?page=2. When connected to Xcode or when the app is in the foreground, HKObserverQuery fires correctly and my app processes step updates. But once disconnected from Xcode, background delivery stops completely and the observer callback is never called. My setup: com.apple.developer.healthkit.background-delivery entitlement is present and in the provisioning profile enableBackgroundDelivery(for: .stepCount, frequency: .immediate) returns success = true HKObserverQuery is registered on every launch including background launches I also have CMPedometer.startEventUpdates running as a supplemental trigger Background Modes includes "Background fetch" and "Background processing" Device: iPhone, iOS 17.4+ App type: App uses Screen Time / Family Controls (ManagedSettings) to block apps until a step goal is met Has anyone found a reliable fix? Any feedback from Apple engineers would be appreciated.

In the last few weeks 5 users have reported my workout watch app being unable to read health data despite the permissions being enabled in the iPhone Settings app. This has been a common complaint over the years and is usually fixed by disabling the permissions; rebooting both devices; and then enabling them again. This usually nudges iOS into sending the permissions to watchOS. However that procedure doesn't work for these users, all of whom are using watchOS 10.6.2. They are using various versions of iOS 18 or 26 so it seems to be a problem with that version of watchOS, which users are usually limited to because their hardware won't support anything more up to date. It seems that unpairing and re-pairing the watch can fix the problem but not always. I looked around and it seems that other apps are having the same problem: https://www.reddit.com/r/runna/comments/1rhhs2n/runna_wont_start_an_outdoor_run_on_apple_watch/ Does anyone know a way to fix this? My current advice is to repeatedly unpair / re-pair until it works, which isn't really practical! Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I'm building a coaching app for runners on top of WorkoutKit and would like to confirm a missing API — or learn that I overlooked something. The gap IntervalStep transitions deliver a haptic at T0 of the next step. The available alerts (HeartRateRangeAlert, SpeedRangeAlert, PaceRangeAlert, PowerRangeAlert, CadenceRangeAlert) are reactive — they activate when the measured value leaves the target range, not ahead of a planned step. There is no API for a "pre-roll" haptic at, say, T-15s before a high- effort step. On watchOS today, the only signal arrives exactly at step start. What I checked The WorkoutAlert protocol and concrete types — all metric-driven, no scheduling primitive. IntervalStep initializer — (.work, step: WorkoutStep). No leadTime, warning, countdown, or prepareDuration parameter. CustomWorkout — no per-step pre-roll knob. WorkoutScheduler and the rest of the surface in iOS/watchOS 26.4 SDK. If I missed something obvious, please point me at it. Filed with Apple Feedback ID: FB22708659 Has anyone here found a cleaner workaround, or seen any signal from the WorkoutKit team about pre-roll cues being on the roadmap? Thanks!

For some reason since watchOS 26.5 my workout app can no longer receive action button presses during a workout unless the action button is configured to start a specified activity type. If the action button is configured to just open the app but not start an activity then at the start of a workout the app donates a StartWorkoutIntent. The result parameter is set to a 'NextButtonPress' intent so that the app is notified when the action button is pressed. This has been working fine since the action button first appeared back in 2022, but has suddenly stopped working with watchOS 26.5. Now when the app tries to donate the intent then it fails with the following error: The operation couldn’t be completed. (LNTranscriptErrorDomain error 1003.) Does anyone know what has changed and how I can get around it? Thanks.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for guidance from developers who have dealt with App Review for health-related apps. I have an app that presents users with a questionnaire using images and multiple-choice answers. Based on the responses, the app categorizes the user into a general diabetes risk category. A few important points about the app: The app does NOT provide a diagnosis. The app clearly states that it is informational/advisory only. We added disclaimers throughout the app. We included references to published research papers the methodology is based on. The app does not connect to medical devices or Apple Health. No treatment or medication recommendations are provided. However, the app keeps getting rejected during App Review. Apple is asking us to provide documentation/approval from health regulatory authorities for every country where the app will be distributed. This is where I’m confused: Is this actually required for apps like this? Are reviewers classifying this as a regulated medical device? How are similar diabetes risk / health risk apps on the App Store handling this? Is there a recommended way to position the app as wellness/educational instead of diagnostic? We’ve already tried: strengthening disclaimers, clarifying that it is not a diagnosis, removing strong medical claims, submitting from both personal and organization accounts. Still receiving the same type of rejection. Would really appreciate advice from anyone who has successfully navigated this type of review process. Thanks!

I created an app that connects to HealthKit and also to Clinical Health Records and in my review I am told to get the regulatory approval. I am not looking to get into that rabbit hole so was wondering how can I strip my app so that that I do not have to get the regulatory approvals. If anyone has any idea about that please let me know.

I've noticed that the Fitness app on the iPhone can rapidly detect the presence of an Apple Watch or External Heart Rate Monitor (e.g., AirPods Pro 3) so that it can adjust the availability of certain exercise types. Is this done through an API that is public? Can third party fitness apps access similar functionality so users can be pre-alerted to the availability of workout types that require a heart rate sensor of some sort?

Hi, i'm trying to get the number of step counts a person has taken. I decided to pull the data from health kit and the number of steps are incorrect. Come to find out apple health recommends an app called pedometer++ for the number of steps counted and after testing I realized that they are getting the correct number of steps a person is taking. How can I pull the correct number of steps a person has taken? I want to be able to merge the data from watch and phone to make sure we are getting the correct number of steps but not double counting the steps either. any guidance on this would be appreciated! Here's the code snippet that i'm using right now: permissions: { read: [AppleHealthKit.Constants.Permissions.StepCount], write: [], }, }; AppleHealthKit.initHealthKit(permissions, error => { if (error) { console.log('Error initializing HealthKit: ', error); return; } else { dispatch(setAllowHealthKit(true)); getHealthKitData(); console.log('HealthKit initialized successfully'); } }); const getHealthKitData = async () => { try { const today = new Date(); const options = { startDate: new Date(today.setHours(0, 0, 0, 0)).toISOString(), endDate: new Date().toISOString(), }; const steps = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => { AppleHealthKit.getStepCount(options, (error, results) => { if (error) reject(error); resolve(results?.value); }); }); setStepsCount(steps); } catch (error) { console.error('Error fetching HealthKit data:', error); } };

When I set the distanceFilter = 5 (5 meters) in the GPS CLLocationManager I can't display the workout routes in the Apple Fitness app after writing the recorded GPS data to HealthKit via HKWorkoutRouteBuilder. The smaller distanceFilter, Fitness will displays the route. Should I consider setting up a small distanceFilter when developing a workout app on watchOS?

I was wondering which is the preferred way to send a lot of data from sensors of the apple watch to server. It is preferred to send small chucks to iphone and then to server or directly send bulk data to server from watch. How does it affect battery and resources from watch ? Are there any triggers that I can use to ensure best data stream. I need to send at least once a day. Can I do it in background or do I need the user to have my app in the foreground ? Thank you in advance

Has anyone seen the workout buddy options on watch OS yet? I am not able to get it on my watch. My setup is an iPhone 16 and Watch Ultra 1 with the 26 OS I am currently using beta 3. English US language on both and US as region. I am located in Germany though. I restarted both devices multiple times without any changes. Hopefully someone can help.

Are there any HealthKit related changes to be aware of in the new update that enables SPO2 / Blood Oxygen Saturation measurements on certain Apple Watch models within the US? I’m aware of processing happening on the phone…. But beyond that: Does this mean values are then saved to Apple Health? Do these models still take background SPO2 measurements in the same way as other models do? Are these values then visible in third party iOS apps as normal through HealthKit? Do these values sync back to the paired Apple Watch HealthKit store for third party apps to access on the Watch? For reference I have an iOS and WatchOS app that, amongst other features, provides the ability to see your SPO2 values in the Watch app, complications and in the iOS app.

According to the WWDC25 Presentation Track workouts with HealthKit on iOS and iPadOS, there is supposed to be a new property for restoring an active workout after a crash on iOS/iPadOS. The developer documentation also supports this. However, this property does not seem to exist in the latest Xcode 26 beta, even in projects targeting iOS 26.0 as the minimum version. Am I missing something? Has this property not been made available yet? It is actually looking like all of the new iOS 26.0 properties are missing UIScene.ConnectionOptions on my system.

Hello, everyone! I'm seeking some guidance on the App Store review process and technical best practices for a watchOS app. My goal is to create an app that uses HealthKit to continuously monitor a user's heart rate in the background for sessions lasting between 30 minutes and 3 hours. This app would not be a fitness or workout tracker. My primary question is about the best way to achieve this reliably while staying within the App Store Review Guidelines. Is it advisable to use the WorkoutKit framework to start a custom, non-fitness "session" for the purpose of continuous background monitoring? Are there any other recommended APIs or frameworks for this kind of background data collection on watchOS that I should be aware of? What are the key review considerations I should be mindful of, particularly regarding Guideline 4.1 (Design) and the intended use of APIs? My app's core functionality would require this kind of data for a beneficial purpose. I want to ensure my approach is technically sound and has the best chance of a successful review. Any insights or advice from developers who have experience with similar use cases would be incredibly helpful! Thank you!

Some users have switched to wearing smart rings instead of an Apple Watch, but they still want their rings to close throughout the day in Apple Fitness to keep their streaks going. I've noticed that the 3rd party smart ring apps do not affect the progress of the exercise and move rings unless the user puts on their Apple Watch and syncs with there iPhone throughout the day. Is there a way to make the progress rings update throughout the day without having to connect an Apple Watch periodically?

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