Apple Health: export health data automatically

Question

I am trying to export the health data from my iPhone/Apple Watch automatically. I know it is possible to export the data manually by opening the Health app on your iPhone > clicking the user icon > "Export Health Data". However, I would like to do this automatically and periodically to analyze the data (heart rate, steps, etc.) externally in Python. Is this possible at all?

Answer 1

To access any of your health data stored in Apple Health, you need to add the HealthKit framework to your iOS app by enabling HealthKit capabilities in Xcode. By using certain methods you can request permission from your iPhone to read and write data with your app.

To actually get the data you need to access it by using direct method calls, queries, or long-running queries – depending on how you want to retrieve the data and how background retrieval might work.

There is an "Apple Native way" to do that, This link has a comprehensive step-by-step guide (mainly but not exclusively for iOS developers). The drawback is that you can only integrate HealthKit into iOS applications and need to use iOS SDK 8 or higher.