Apple Watch health - integration

podric

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Hello,

I want to wear my apple watch for many activities but when I am outdoors doing anything other that walking it comes off my wrist. I have a Garmin for that.

I have a Garmin device I was trying to bring data into Apple Health with; Garmin doesn't want to connect and even if it did it only sends over max/min heart rate data.

Then I thought I could use Strava as a middleman, by importing Garmin then exporting to Apple health. May 2022 Strava stopped allowing this stating they didn't want to send over duplicate information (clearly passive aggressive).

I am a programmer so I know how easy it is to transfer the data over so I am asking why is this happening.

Then I read Apple doesn't want to export health data either (heart/GPS stats), am I wrong on that?

No one wants to play nice in the Apple world sandbox. Does anyone have any insight other than these companies are fighting for market control and money? Any solutions?

thanks.
 

Just_Me_D

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Companies will always be reluctant to share with other companies. They are not in the business to help it’s competitors. In regard to health data, I’m sure HIPAA rules apply to some degree, but I’m only speculating.
 
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EdwinG

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Companies will always be reluctant to allow share with other companies. They are not in the business to help it’s competitors. In regard to health data, I’m sure HIPAA rules apply to some degree, but I’m only speculating.

Reading the GDPR article on data portability (article 20), which could apply in this case, it seems to me - as a regular person - it would be even mandatory to have that portability. I might be misinterpreting GDPR with health having special considerations (art. 9).

There's an argument to be made that PHI handling is a very difficult issue to tackle correctly, and I would prefer that data to be completely locked and lost instead of it being easily readable (i.e. in cleartext).
 

podric

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Here is a link from Apple Support on how to share your data.

thanks....that article is saying the opposite of what I have been reading from 2 other vendors....maybe they simply don't want to pull the data into their own applications. Garmin certainly doesn't. Strava cut the cord (somewhat) too.

Right now I am still treating this primarily as an Garmin to Apple issue and for that the article does not have a solution; seems to be a garmin thing.

Are there any apps that can provide as a bridge between platforms?
 

EdwinG

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Reading the GDPR article on data portability (article 20), which could apply in this case, it seems to me - as a regular person - it would be even mandatory to have that portability. I might be misinterpreting GDPR with health having special considerations (art. 9).

There's an argument to be made that PHI handling is a very difficult issue to tackle correctly, and I would prefer that data to be completely locked and lost instead of it being easily readable (i.e. in cleartext).

On this, I stand corrected by:
Here is a link from Apple Support on how to share your data.
 

Just_Me_D

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Reading the GDPR article on data portability (article 20), which could apply in this case, it seems to me - as a regular person - it would be even mandatory to have that portability. I might be misinterpreting GDPR with health having special considerations (art. 9).

There's an argument to be made that PHI handling is a very difficult issue to tackle correctly, and I would prefer that data to be completely locked and lost instead of it being easily readable (i.e. in cleartext).

I agree, however, per the GDPR, Apple as a controller, would have to provide the OP’s information to a different controller, but it didn’t state that it had to be in the manner the OP would like for it to be.

A controller, as defined by the GDPR, is the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.
 

Up_And_Away

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Hello,

I want to wear my apple watch for many activities but when I am outdoors doing anything other that walking it comes off my wrist. I have a Garmin for that.

I have a Garmin device I was trying to bring data into Apple Health with; Garmin doesn't want to connect and even if it did it only sends over max/min heart rate data.

Then I thought I could use Strava as a middleman, by importing Garmin then exporting to Apple health. May 2022 Strava stopped allowing this stating they didn't want to send over duplicate information (clearly passive aggressive).

I am a programmer so I know how easy it is to transfer the data over so I am asking why is this happening.

Then I read Apple doesn't want to export health data either (heart/GPS stats), am I wrong on that?

No one wants to play nice in the Apple world sandbox. Does anyone have any insight other than these companies are fighting for market control and money? Any solutions?

thanks.

Apple is quite adamant “we don’t know your health data”. Their VP of that division, she is careful to mention it and mention it again “we don’t know your health data”. Yes, Apple does collect data but they anonymize it. Unknown person of X age range and Y general location and Z device type etc. fyi, you and anyone can get a free emailed copy of your data from Apple as well as Google etc to see for yourself.

This is in STARK contrast to almost all other tech companies and I do mean nearly all. Tech companies provide tech but most of them at their heart are data collection companies. They want to know as much about precisely you as possible. This is how so many of them make all (not some, all) their profit including numero uno Google, the owner of Garmin. They sell you devices and software at a loss because the data makes it profitable. But if Companies can’t get enough of your data then it isn’t sufficiently profitable for them. Apple is the monkey wrench in that data-profit model. Apple’s privacy approach is counter to these tech companies business models. Further, Apple will go out of their way to say to the tech companies ‘nope, not going to let your app get at that data. Rewrite it or it’s out’. Apple will make a user jump through hoops with ‘you sure? You absolutely 100% positively sure you want to give this app access to your health data?”

No offense intended but one of the reasons I sit very comfortable and happy in the Apple eco is because of the lack of data recording (though not the only reason). Personally I’m shocked that people wear health recording devices made my hugely prolific personal data recording companies. But no doubt these devices will play nice with other apps, no doubt. And If that isn’t a concern for you then you should go with a device that does better align with the more open approach to the code (other apps) and the data. But what you won’t get is a device at lower price, privacy emphasized, plays well with nearly any app. These are opposites in the tech world.
 
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FFR

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Well op I guess you are going to have to decide which is more important, using a garmin device or apple health integration.

Also of note: Garmin is selling less and less smartwatches every quarter, which would certainly have an impact on the viability of their smartwatch business going forward.

40092cc16db4792543e91f227056bcf0.jpg
 

imwjl

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My experience is if a something - app or device - exports to "health" it stays and will back up and transfer with an iPhone swap or restore. Using multiple devices and more than one Apple Watch has been a rocky road for me but I have not tried that for more than a year because my Series 4 and now Series 8 with native or Abvio Cyclometer takes care of all my needs.

It might not be the solution one is after, but Abvio does more sports than native apps, has "health" integration, and also Strava and others. Cyclometer runs stand alone in an Apple Watch but for endurance things or back country activities I use the watch as the remote and phone doing main recording.

I'm in an Apple Store a lot for work and one staff member who got Ultra watch gave me the impression her Ultra has enough extra battery life where the Abvio apps greater feature set have taken away her formerly seeking the battery life of a Garmin device.
 

Up_And_Away

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Well op I guess you are going to have to decide which is more important, using a garmin device or apple health integration.

Also of note: Garmin is selling less and less smartwatches every quarter, which would certainly have an impact on the viability of their smartwatch business going forward.

40092cc16db4792543e91f227056bcf0.jpg

Great info as usual FFR. Interesting stat regarding Apple's product categories among all price levels in very crowded markets,
- AppleWatch is #1, by far. About 31%.
- Airpods #1, by far. Nearly 1 out of 3 pairs(about 32%) sold are AirPods.
- Ipad is the most used tablet on the planet, by far. A bit more than 1 out of every 3 tablets sold are iPads in Q3 2022(36%).

Apple the brandname and quality can command market position between 20% and 30% (again including even the budget market that Apple doesn't doesn't compete in). By the nature of a market growing, Apple earns a smaller share even though it grows sales. I believe iPhone will grow into that 20-30 percent range. Mac will have a hard time but a better offering from HomePod can crack the 20% line.
 

EdwinG

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thanks....that article is saying the opposite of what I have been reading from 2 other vendors....maybe they simply don't want to pull the data into their own applications. Garmin certainly doesn't. Strava cut the cord (somewhat) too.

Right now I am still treating this primarily as an Garmin to Apple issue and for that the article does not have a solution; seems to be a garmin thing.

Are there any apps that can provide as a bridge between platforms?

It might not be automatic, but maybe this app might be interesting to do the bridging?

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/health-export-csv/id1477944755
 

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