Stage up your apps with the most recent options from Android Well being

Posted by Breana Tate – Developer Relations Engineer, Android Well being

Android Well being’s mission is to allow billions of Android customers to be more healthy by means of entry, storage, and management of their well being, health, and security information. To additional this mission, we provide two major APIs for builders, Well being Join and Well being Companies on Put on OS, that are each utilized by a rising variety of apps on Android and Put on OS.

AI capabilities unlock wonderful and distinctive use circumstances, however to be able to ship essentially the most worth to your customers on the proper time, you want a robust basis of information. Our updates this yr concentrate on serving to you construct up this information basis, with assist for extra information sorts, new methods to entry information, and extra strategies of getting well timed information updates if you want them.

Modifications to the Google Match APIs

We just lately shared that Google Match developer companies can be transitioning to grow to be a core a part of the Android Well being platform. As a part of this, the Google Match APIs, together with the REST API, will stay out there till June 30, 2025.

Well being Join is the advisable resolution for storing and sharing well being and health information on Android telephones. Starting with Android 14, it’s out there by default in Settings. On pre-Android 14 units, it’s out there for obtain from the Play Retailer. Well being Join lets your app join with a whole lot of apps utilizing a single API integration. Up to now, over 500 apps have built-in with Well being Join and have unlocked deeper insights for his or her customers. Try the featured record to see a number of the apps which have built-in.

We’re excited to proceed supporting the Google Match Android Recording API performance by means of the Recording API on cell, which permits builders to report steps, and shortly distance and energy, in a power-efficient method. In distinction to the Google Match Android Recording API, the Recording API on cell doesn’t retailer information within the cloud by default, and doesn’t require Google Signal-In. The API is designed to make migrating from the Match Recording API easy. Control d.android.com/health-and-fitness for upcoming documentation.

Upcoming capabilities from Well being Join

Well being Join will quickly add assist for background reads and historical past reads.

Background reads will allow builders to learn information from Well being Join whereas their app is within the background, that means that you may hold information up-to-date with out counting on the consumer to open your app. It is a departure from present conduct, the place apps can solely learn from Well being Join whereas the app is within the foreground or operating a foreground service.

Historical past reads will give customers the choice to grant apps entry to all historic information in Well being Join, not simply the previous 30 days.

With each background reads and historical past reads, customers are in management. Each capabilities require builders to declare the respective permissions, and customers should approve the permission requests earlier than builders could make use of the info protected by these permissions. Even after granting approval, customers have the choice of revoking entry at any time from inside Well being Join settings.

Each options can be launched later this yr, so keep tuned to learn to add assist to your apps!

Updates to Well being Companies on Put on OS

Well being Companies on Put on OS is a set of APIs that makes it easy to create power-efficient well being and health experiences on Put on OS.

In Put on OS 5, we’re introducing 2 new options:

• New information sorts for operating
• Assist for debounced targets

New Information Sorts for Operating

Beginning with Put on OS 5, Well being Companies will assist new information sorts for operating. These information sorts may also help present further insights on operating type and financial system.

The complete record of recent superior operating metrics is:

• Floor Contact Time
• Stride Size
• Vertical Oscillation
• Vertical Ratio

As with all information sorts supported by Well being Companies on Put on OS, you’ll want to verify train capabilities in order that your app solely makes use of metrics which are supported on the units operating your app, making a smoother expertise for customers. That is particularly vital for Put on OS, as there’s a robust ecosystem of units for shoppers to select from, and so they don’t all the time assist the identical metrics.

// Checking if the system helps the RUNNING train and confirming the 
// information sorts which are supported.
droop enjoyable getExerciseCapabilities(): ExerciseTypeCapabilities? {
   val capabilities = exerciseClient.getCapabilitiesAsync().await()
   return if (ExerciseType.RUNNING in capabilities.supportedExerciseTypes) {
       capabilities.getExerciseTypeCapabilities(ExerciseType.RUNNING)
   } else {
       null
   }
}


. . .


// Checking whether or not the info sorts that we need to use are supported by
// the RUNNING train on this system.
val dataTypes = setOf(
   DataType.HEART_RATE_BPM_STATS,
   DataType.CALORIES_TOTAL,
   DataType.DISTANCE_TOTAL,
   DataType.GROUND_CONTACT_TIME,
   DataType.VERTICAL_OSCILLATION
).intersect(capabilities.supportedDataTypes)

Checking train capabilities with Well being Companies on Put on OS

To make this straightforward, we’ve launched a sensor panel, out there beginning in Android Studio Koala Characteristic Drop, which is at the moment in Canary. You should use the panel to check your app throughout a wide range of system capabilities, experimenting with conditions the place metrics like coronary heart charge or distance aren’t out there.

Assist for debounced targets

Second, Well being Companies on Put on OS will quickly assist debounced targets for instantaneous metrics. These embrace metrics like coronary heart charge, distance, and velocity, for which customers need to preserve a specified threshold or vary all through an train.

Debounced targets forestall the identical occasion from being emitted a number of occasions—each time the situation is true—over a short while interval. As an alternative, occasions are emitted provided that the edge has been constantly exceeded for a (configurable) variety of seconds. You can too forestall occasions from being emitted instantly after purpose registration.

This assist comes from two new methods to raised time purpose alerts for instantaneous metrics: period at threshold and preliminary delay:

• Length at threshold is the quantity of uninterrupted time the consumer must cross the desired threshold earlier than Well being Companies sends an alert occasion.
• Preliminary delay is the period of time that should cross, since purpose registration, earlier than your app is notified.

Collectively, these options cut back the variety of false positives and repeated alerts surfaced to customers in case your app lets customers set health targets or targets.

A typical use case for debounced targets includes coronary heart charge zones. Coronary heart charge constantly fluctuates all through an train, particularly throughout cardio-intensive actions. With out assist for debouncing, an app may get many alerts in a brief time frame, akin to every time the consumer’s coronary heart charge dips above or beneath the goal vary.

By introducing an preliminary delay, you’ll be able to inform Well being Companies to ship a purpose alert solely after a specified time interval has handed–consider this like an adjustment interval. And by introducing a period at threshold, you’ll be able to take this customization additional, by specifying the period of time that should cross in (or out) of the desired threshold for the purpose to be activated. In apply, this is able to be like ready for the consumer to be out of their goal coronary heart charge vary for 15 seconds earlier than your app lets them know to extend or lower their depth.

Try the technical session, “Constructing Adaptable Experiences with Android Well being” to see this in motion!

Your app’s coaching companion

The Well being & Health Developer Heart is your one-stop-shop for constructing well being & health apps on Android! Go to the positioning for documentation, design inspiration, case research, and extra to learn to construct apps on cell and Put on OS.

We’re excited to see the Well being and Health experiences you proceed to construct on Android!