One edition of Google I / O after another, the link between Google and Samsung is becoming increasingly close: while in 2021 the collaboration – with the involvement of Fitbit as well – is decisive for the renewal of Wear OS, in 2022 two giants of the technology sector have teamed up again with Health Connect (in Italian Health Connection), the new Big G app that synchronizes data from multiple Android applications dedicated to fitness, including Fitbit and Samsung Health.
On the other hand, in this edition of Google’s annual conference for developers, there was talk of an Android operating system increasingly understood as the center of a multi-device system and wearables also played a leading role, with obvious reference to the Google Pixel Watch, the first smartwatch of the Mountain View giant shown in the preview and arriving in the coming months which represents the first important result of the acquisition of Fitbit.
In a device of this type, hardware alone is not enough, it is necessary for the user to have a well-finished and complete software that allows him to make the most of it and in this context the importance of synchronizing the data collected with those of other devices and related apps that may be used by the user.
Google Health Connection: a new app waiting to be discovered
This is where the new Health Connection application comes into play (on the Google Play Store it is identified as Health Connect by Android ) developed by Google in collaboration with Samsung and jointly announced at Google I / O 2022.
As you surely know, on Android there are dozens of applications dedicated to fitness that users can use in order to keep track of steps, goals achieved, a physical exercise carried out throughout the day and so on. Well, if you usually use more than one app for different functions, you clearly need to keep the data collected by each of them in order by synchronizing them with each other. Google’s Salure Connection does just that: it promises to sync fitness and health data from a variety of Android apps, such as Fitbit, Samsung Health, and others.
In addition to the service in question, an API has also been announced to allow Android developers to make the data collected by individual apps easier to synchronize. Put simply, the various fitness apps will be updated to support Health Connection, which will thus become a sort of hub with all fitness and health data synchronized and accessible from a single app.
Furthermore, once saved in Health Connection, even the individual fitness apps will gain the advantage of being able to read the synchronized data and show the user a more complete “photograph” of the activity carried out. Let’s take the example that you have a Samsung smartphone, and therefore Health, but a Fitbit fitness tracker: in theory, Fitbit data will soon flow into Health Connection and Samsung Health will be able to access it and save it among those of the user’s day.
In addition to its own Google Fit and Fitbit, Google has already announced the compatibility of other popular apps such as Samsung Health, Leap Fitness, MyFitnessPal, and Withings, but the hope is that many others will follow suit.
Health connection on the Google Play Store
The new Google Health Connection app is already present on the Google Play Store with early access, this means that it is not perfectly stable, as it is still under development.
In the screenshots below you can see the functions that the app currently offers. At the first start, you are greeted by a “Get to know Health Connection” screen which explains the purpose of the app, followed by the explanation on ” Sharing data between your apps “, provided that this has been expressly authorized, and by clarification on the possibility of managing the data stored in Health Connection.
The main screen of the app consists of only two sections: Linked apps and Data and access. The first shows the list of installed apps compatible with the service, while the second lists the accessible data and allows you to delete them all. The items included are:
- Activities
- Body measurements
- Sleep
- Vital parameters
- Cycle monitoring
- Diet.