Posted by Chris Wilk – Senior Product Manager, Android Health
At Google, we're committed to empowering developers to create health and fitness experiences on Android. Over the past few years, we've invested heavily in establishing the Android Health platform, making significant improvements to build a more integrated, secure, and user-friendly health ecosystem. Our goal is to provide developers with a powerful integrated health platform that reduces fragmentation and streamlines the development process.
What is changing?
As a result of these developments, we're excited to announce that Google's fitness tracker services will move to become an integral part of the Android Health platform. This change will allow us to better serve developers and users, providing a seamless experience on the platform.
As part of this transition, the Google Fit APIs, REST APIs, will be available until June 30, 2025, giving developers enough time to transition to Android Health. Starting today, new registrations for Google Fitness APIs will no longer be accepted as we focus on improving the Android Health platform.
What does this mean for developers?
Developers using Google Fit APIs for Android
If you're a developer using Google Fitness APIs for Android, we recommend that you transition to Android Health products now to ensure uninterrupted service for your users. The Android Health APIs offer several advantages over the Google Fitness APIs for Android, including:
- Recording of steps, distance and calories: In the near future, Android Health will offer the recording API on mobile, which does not require a Google user account or the need to access API limits. And it's more battery efficient than using Android SensorManager (ASM). The recording API will launch in stages, and will soon support distance and calories.
- Accessing Recorded Data: The Mobile Recorder API allows developers to access up to 10 days of recorded data.
- Store and share data between apps: By integrating with Health Connect, your Android app can access data from a growing ecosystem of apps from just one connection. Additionally, data is stored on the device, ensuring the user has full control over their data.
To help you get started with the migration process, we've created a comprehensive migration guide. This guide walks you through the steps needed to migrate your app from Google Fitness APIs to Android Health products, primarily Health Connect, to ensure a comfortable experience for you and your users.
Developers using Google Fitness REST APIs
Our Android Health API offerings have moved to a device model, so there will be no alternative to the Fitness REST API. If possible, we encourage users of the Fitness REST API to migrate to the Android Health APIs.
In addition to Fitbit supporting Health Connect today, partners like Winging, Cynos, Aura, Peloton, and Lifesom are building new experiences for Android health products. As more developers adopt this powerful set of APIs, we expect a thriving ecosystem of connected health and fitness apps that empower users to take control of their health.
We are committed to supporting you during this transition and can't wait to see the new solutions you create. If you encounter problems, have suggestions for features you'd like to see, or have any feedback, please submit them here.
We'll be sharing more details about what's next for Android Health at Google I/O on May 14, 2024. Stay tuned for updates and announcements during the event.