Health Connect (Android)
The Android equivalent of Apple Health. Let an Android client share steps, sleep, heart rate and body metrics through Google's Health Connect. Connect once, then it keeps syncing.
Basic On Android, the health hub is Health Connect, Google’s central place where a phone, a watch (Wear OS, Fitbit, Samsung Health and others) and fitness apps pool their data. It’s what replaced Google Fit as the way to share health data, so if a client asks about “Google Fit,” Health Connect is the answer. This is the Android counterpart to Apple Health.
What syncs
The same daily numbers as on iPhone:
Daily summaries only: no live heart rate, no individual workout imports, and nothing is ever written back into Health Connect. Whatever apps and devices your client has feeding into Health Connect (their watch, Samsung Health, and so on) is what Protocol can then read.
Before they start: Health Connect needs to be available
Health Connect is built into Android 14 and newer. On older Android phones it’s a free app from the Play Store, so if a client doesn’t have it they install “Health Connect by Android” first and let their watch or fitness app sync into it. If the device can’t run Health Connect at all, your app shows “Health data is not available on this device.” and the card carries no Connect button.
How your client connects
- Open your app, go to Profile, then Health Data.
- Tap Connect on the Health Connect card.
- Health Connect’s permission screen opens. The client allows the data types they want to share and confirms. That screen is where the choice is made; there are no per-metric switches inside your app, and Protocol only requests read access.
- The card shows Connected and the first sync runs; it tops up while they have the app open.
When data arrives
Like Apple Health, Health Connect syncs while your app is open, no more often than once every 15 minutes, plus a Sync now button for an instant refresh. Data is as current as the client’s last app open. The first connection backfills about 30 days so charts aren’t empty.
Unlike on iPhone, Android tells the app which permissions were actually granted, so a Connected badge here is a more reliable sign that data is genuinely flowing. If a client still shows no numbers, it’s usually that nothing is feeding Health Connect yet (their watch or fitness app isn’t linked into it).
Turning it off
Disconnect from the Health Connect app itself: open Health Connect, then App permissions, then [your app], and remove access (or turn individual data types off). New data stops; existing data stays on the record.
Next: WHOOP →, or jump to Reviewing a client’s biometrics →.