Samsung Health API Alternatives: Health Connect and More (2026)

Samsung's own route to Samsung Health data is the Samsung Health Data SDK, covered in how to integrate Samsung Health. This page is for when that route does not fit, as of October 27, 2026.

Why teams look for a Samsung Health API alternative#

• Partnership before release. Samsung asks you to "submit partner request before your app distribution"; without approval, an app using the Data SDK works only with developer mode turned on. Samsung calls the partnership "an exclusive service for the Samsung Health Data SDK".
• Android, on the phone. The Data SDK reads the Samsung Health app on the user's Android phone. Terra's documentation lists Samsung Health with Apple Health and Health Connect as mobile-based integrations that "require a mobile app with a Mobile SDK integration on the user's device".
• Brokers hit the same gate. Validic lists Samsung under vendors not accepting new applications, saying approval "requires direct relationship with Samsung Health".

The alternatives#

Google Health Connect. Samsung's own Health Connect FAQ answers the question directly: Samsung Health "synchronizes data with Health Connect since version 6.22.5 (October 2022) and later". Samsung lists activity data such as steps and exercise, heart rate and sleep as synchronized, and says Galaxy Watch data is transferred to Samsung Health on the phone and synchronized to Health Connect. Reading or writing it needs the user's Health Connect data permission. Two limits: the Health Connect app runs on Android phones and does not support Wear OS devices, and Samsung lists those data types, not everything Samsung Health holds. See integrating Health Connect.

On the watch: the Samsung Health Sensor SDK and Health Services. For an app that runs on the wrist, Samsung's Sensor SDK is compatible with Galaxy Watch4 and later and provides both raw signals from the BioActive Sensor and processed data, in a watch app running on Wear OS powered by Samsung. Google's Health Services is the platform-wide equivalent: Google says Wear OS 3 and higher includes it. The Wear OS data types reference lists what Health Services exposes.

Aggregators with mobile SDKs. These read Samsung Health or Health Connect inside your app and deliver the data to your backend with other sources:

• Terra lists Samsung as event-driven with credentials "Required", and its docs send Samsung Health to the Terra Mobile SDK.
• Rook lists Samsung Health as an SDK source and says that to integrate with it, "clients are required to create their own developer accounts", which "can take several weeks".
• Thryve lists Samsung Health as a native source read through its SDK.
• Open Wearables lists Samsung Health via its Android, Flutter and React Native SDK.
• Spike lists Samsung Health on its integrations page, and Sahha says Samsung Health is among the Android apps that write to Health Connect, which its SDK reads.

The point to check before you buy: an aggregator's direct Samsung Health route can still need your own Samsung relationship, as Rook says outright. Health data aggregator APIs compares them.

Which should you pick?#

• Your Android app needs everyday activity, heart rate and sleep. Health Connect, which Samsung itself points to, without a Samsung partnership.
• You need data types Samsung does not sync to Health Connect, or you write data back. The Data SDK with a partnership request; writing needs Samsung's access code.
• You are building for the watch. The Sensor SDK for Galaxy-specific signals, Health Services for anything that runs on Wear OS.
• You also need iPhone users and cloud wearables. An aggregator, accepting that Samsung access may still go through your own developer account.

For the comparable Apple platform, see HealthKit alternatives; for Galaxy Ring data specifically, smart ring APIs.

Is switching easy?#

Moving from the Data SDK to Health Connect is mostly a change of client library on the same phone: Health Connect records instead of Samsung's data types, and a Health Connect permission prompt instead of Samsung Health's. Moving to an aggregator adds a vendor and a backend pipeline but makes iOS and cloud devices connect-flow options rather than new projects.