ExerciseSessionRecord: Health Connect exercise data

What Google says ExerciseSessionRecord is

Captures any exercise a user does. This can be common fitness exercise like running or different sports.

Each record needs a start time and end time. Records don't need to be back-to-back or directly after each other, there can be gaps in between.

Example code demonstrate how to read exercise session:

Google’s example is reproduced under Read ExerciseSessionRecord in Kotlin.

Quoted from Google’s ExerciseSessionRecord Jetpack reference, last updated 2026-08-26, read 2026-10-03.

Class

androidx.health.connect.client.records.ExerciseSessionRecord

Google's category

Activity

Record type

Interval

Unit class

none named in Google's table

Mandatory fields

exerciseTypeendTimelapsmetadatasegmentsstartTime

Added in (Jetpack)

1.1.0

Permissions

The exact strings Google’s data-types table declares for ExerciseSessionRecord. Google’s page: “Before requesting any permissions, your app must declare them in the manifest.”

• READ_EXERCISE and WRITE_EXERCISE are also declared for CyclingPedalingCadenceRecord in Google’s table.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.health.READ_EXERCISE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.health.READ_EXERCISE_ROUTE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.health.WRITE_EXERCISE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.health.WRITE_EXERCISE_ROUTE" />

import androidx.health.connect.client.permission.HealthPermission
import androidx.health.connect.client.records.ExerciseSessionRecord

val permissions = setOf(
    HealthPermission.getReadPermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class),
    HealthPermission.getWritePermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class),
)

The 13 fields of ExerciseSessionRecord

Types and descriptions as Google’s reference prints them. The range column quotes Google’s own range annotation or sentence; a dash means Google states none, which is not the same as no validation.

Aggregate metrics

The AggregateMetric constants Google defines on ExerciseSessionRecord. The value type is the T in Google’s AggregateMetric<T> signature. Every aggregate metric across all records.

Google’s read-data guide: “For cumulative types like StepsRecord, use aggregate() instead of readRecords() to avoid double counting from multiple sources and improve accuracy.” and “The aggregation API also contains logic to handle duplicate records, and lessens the chances of rate limiting.”

Constants

The 61 const val values Google’s reference lists on ExerciseSessionRecord, with the integer each maps to.

Read ExerciseSessionRecord in Kotlin

The shape of Google’s own read example, with ExerciseSessionRecord and its names filled in. Get the client with HealthConnectClient.getOrCreate(context) after checking getSdkStatus.

import androidx.health.connect.client.HealthConnectClient
import androidx.health.connect.client.records.ExerciseSessionRecord
import androidx.health.connect.client.request.ReadRecordsRequest
import androidx.health.connect.client.time.TimeRangeFilter
import java.time.Instant

suspend fun readExerciseSession(
    client: HealthConnectClient,
    startTime: Instant,
    endTime: Instant,
): List<ExerciseSessionRecord> {
    val response = client.readRecords(
        ReadRecordsRequest(
            ExerciseSessionRecord::class,
            timeRangeFilter = TimeRangeFilter.between(startTime, endTime),
        )
    )
    // One page of up to pageSize records (default 1000); follow
    // response.pageToken for the rest.
    return response.records
}

import androidx.health.connect.client.HealthConnectClient
import androidx.health.connect.client.records.ExerciseSessionRecord
import androidx.health.connect.client.request.AggregateRequest
import androidx.health.connect.client.time.TimeRangeFilter
import java.time.Instant
import java.time.Duration

suspend fun aggregateExerciseSession(
    client: HealthConnectClient,
    startTime: Instant,
    endTime: Instant,
): Duration? {
    val response = client.aggregate(
        AggregateRequest(
            metrics = setOf(ExerciseSessionRecord.EXERCISE_DURATION_TOTAL),
            timeRangeFilter = TimeRangeFilter.between(startTime, endTime),
        )
    )
    // get() is declared as returning a nullable value.
    return response[ExerciseSessionRecord.EXERCISE_DURATION_TOTAL]
}

import androidx.health.connect.client.readRecord
import androidx.health.connect.client.records.ExerciseSessionRecord
import androidx.health.connect.client.records.HeartRateRecord
import androidx.health.connect.client.request.ReadRecordsRequest
import androidx.health.connect.client.time.TimeRangeFilter

val response =
    healthConnectClient.readRecords(
        ReadRecordsRequest<ExerciseSessionRecord>(
            timeRangeFilter = TimeRangeFilter.between(startTime, endTime)
        )
    )
for (exerciseRecord in response.records) {
    // Process each exercise record
    // Optionally pull in with other data sources of the same time range.
    val heartRateRecords =
        healthConnectClient
            .readRecords(
                ReadRecordsRequest<HeartRateRecord>(
                    timeRangeFilter =
                        TimeRangeFilter.between(
                            exerciseRecord.startTime,
                            exerciseRecord.endTime,
                        )
                )
            )
            .records
}

Setting up the client, the permission flow and Play Console declaration: integrating Health Connect step by step.

HealthKit counterpart

Questions

What permission does ExerciseSessionRecord need?

Google's Health Connect data-types table (read 2026-10-03) declares android.permission.health.READ_EXERCISE and android.permission.health.READ_EXERCISE_ROUTE for reading ExerciseSessionRecord and android.permission.health.WRITE_EXERCISE and android.permission.health.WRITE_EXERCISE_ROUTE for writing it, and says apps must declare permissions in the manifest before requesting them. READ_EXERCISE and WRITE_EXERCISE are also declared for CyclingPedalingCadenceRecord. Note that READ_EXERCISE_ROUTE is not defined by the HealthPermissions reference, which defines READ_EXERCISE_ROUTES instead.

Which aggregate metrics does ExerciseSessionRecord support?

Google's Jetpack reference defines 1 on ExerciseSessionRecord: EXERCISE_DURATION_TOTAL (AggregateMetric<Duration>). Pass it in the metrics set of an AggregateRequest and read it back from the AggregationResult.

What values does ExerciseSessionRecord.rateOfPerceivedExertion accept?

Google's reference types rateOfPerceivedExertion as Float?, annotated @FloatRange(from = 0.0, to = 10.0). Its description reads: "Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) for the session. Must be between 0 and 10. See ExerciseSegment.rateOfPerceivedExertion"

Is ExerciseSessionRecord an interval, instantaneous or series record?

Google's data-types table lists ExerciseSessionRecord as Interval, and defines that column as indicating "whether the data is recorded at an instant in time or over an interval". Its mandatory fields are exerciseType, endTime, laps, metadata, segments and startTime.