runningGroundContactTime: HealthKit quantity type
HKQuantityTypeIdentifierRunningGroundContactTime · read from Apple’s documentation on 2026-10-02
HKQuantityTypeIdentifier.runningGroundContactTime (Objective-C HKQuantityTypeIdentifierRunningGroundContactTime) is a HealthKit quantity type in Apple's "Activity" group. Apple's abstract: “A quantity sample type that measures the amount of time the runner’s foot is in contact with the ground while running.” Apple's discussion says its samples use time units and measure discrete values, so in HKStatisticsQuery it takes .discreteAverage, .discreteMin or .discreteMax. It is available from iOS 16.0 and watchOS 9.0.
What Apple says runningGroundContactTime is
A quantity sample type that measures the amount of time the runner’s foot is in contact with the ground while running.
Apple’s abstract, quoted from its runningGroundContactTime reference page, read 2026-10-02. Apple’s discussion of the type runs 49 words.
- Swift
HKQuantityTypeIdentifier.runningGroundContactTime- Objective-C
HKQuantityTypeIdentifierRunningGroundContactTime- Family
HKQuantityTypeIdentifier- Apple's topic group
- Activity
- Group page
- Activity
- Apple's reference
- runningGroundContactTime on developer.apple.com
Availability
The versions Apple’s documentation data gives for runningGroundContactTime, platform by platform, as read on 2026-10-02.
| Platform | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---|---|---|
| iOS | 16.0 | — |
| iPadOS | 16.0 | — |
| Mac Catalyst | 16.0 | — |
| macOS | 13.0 | — |
| visionOS | 1.0 | — |
| watchOS | 9.0 | — |
The rest of that release: HealthKit Types Introduced in iOS 16.
Sum or average, and in which units
Apple states both of these in the prose of the type’s discussion, not as properties, so they are derived from Apple’s sentence and the sentence is shown with each.
Aggregation style
discrete — in an HKStatisticsQuery, use .discreteAverage, .discreteMin or .discreteMax. Apple’s sentence:
These samples use time units (described in ) and measure discrete values (described in ).
Unit family
time — every type in this family is on the HKUnit reference.
Apple states it in the same sentence as the aggregation style, quoted above.
Empty parentheses and a dangling “described in” mark links in Apple’s sentence to other documentation pages: the generator keeps the sentence’s text, not its links, and the quote is left as stored rather than repaired.
Can apps write runningGroundContactTime?
Apple’s documentation for runningGroundContactTime does not state that its samples are read-only. Apple states read-only status only in prose, and its silence is not a statement either way, so this page makes no claim that apps can save it.
On Android Health Connect
No verified Health Connect counterpart. The cross-platform matrix pairs only metrics checked against both Apple’s and Google’s documentation, and runningGroundContactTime is not among them. A similarly named Health Connect record may exist, but a name match is not a verified mapping.
Questions
- Should I sum or average runningGroundContactTime in HealthKit?
- Average it, or take its minimum or maximum — do not sum it. Apple's documentation for runningGroundContactTime describes it as measuring discrete values, so an HKStatisticsQuery over it takes .discreteAverage, .discreteMin or .discreteMax. Apple's sentence, as read on 2026-10-02: "These samples use time units (described in ) and measure discrete values (described in )."
- Which unit family does Apple give runningGroundContactTime?
- Time. Apple's discussion of runningGroundContactTime says its samples use time units: "These samples use time units (described in ) and measure discrete values (described in )."
- Which iOS version added runningGroundContactTime?
- iOS 16.0. Apple's availability data for runningGroundContactTime lists iOS 16.0, iPadOS 16.0, Mac Catalyst 16.0, macOS 13.0, visionOS 1.0 and watchOS 9.0.
Sources checked
- Apple — HKQuantityTypeIdentifier.runningGroundContactTime · read 2026-10-02
- Apple — HKQuantityTypeIdentifier · read 2026-10-02
Apple’s abstract and sentences are quoted for identification; the page layout, the capsule and the cross-platform pairing are AIFitnessAPI’s. Generated from Apple’s documentation by scripts/fetch-healthkit-identifiers.mjs, not typed by hand — the same data as the full identifier table.