The Recording API on mobile: steps without Health Connect

For an Android app that wants a week of steps without asking users to install or configure anything, and without reading raw sensors itself, this is Google's answer. Everything here is from Google's Recording API guide, read 2026-10-03. The LocalRecordingClient reference is hosted on developers.google.com, which our research environment could not reach, so claims below come from the guide only.

What it is, in Google's words#

"The Recording API on mobile allows your app to record fitness data from a mobile device in a battery-efficient way. For example, use this API to record steps, similar to a pedometer retrieving step count data. This API is accountless, meaning it does not require a Google Account to use the service, and data is stored on-device."

And its relationship to the old API: "The Recording API on mobile is a replacement for the Google Fit Android API, which is being deprecated." The page also carries a banner: "Google Fit APIs will be supported until the end of 2026." The wider shutdown is tracked on the Google Fit shutdown page.

The rules that shape your design#

Ten days is a rolling buffer, not storage. Google's advice: "To reduce the risk of losing data, you can use WorkManager to periodically collect the data in the background."

Subscribe, then read#

Google's guide shows the dependency as com.google.android.gms:play-services-fitness:21.2.0; check for a newer version when you add it. The flow, trimmed from Google's samples:

// 1. Play services must be new enough (Google's guide calls this unqualified).
val ok = isGooglePlayServicesAvailable(context, LocalRecordingClient.LOCAL_RECORDING_CLIENT_MIN_VERSION_CODE)
if (ok != ConnectionResult.SUCCESS) return  // prompt the user to update Google Play services

// 2. Subscribe once; recording continues in the background.
val client = FitnessLocal.getLocalRecordingClient(context)
client.subscribe(LocalDataType.TYPE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA)

// 3. Read daily totals for the past week.
val end = LocalDateTime.now().atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault())
val request = LocalDataReadRequest.Builder()
    .aggregate(LocalDataType.TYPE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA)
    .bucketByTime(1, TimeUnit.DAYS)
    .setTimeRange(end.minusWeeks(1).toEpochSecond(), end.toEpochSecond(), TimeUnit.SECONDS)
    .build()
client.readData(request).addOnSuccessListener { response ->
    for (dataSet in response.buckets.flatMap { it.dataSets }) {
        for (point in dataSet.dataPoints) { /* one bucket's steps */ }
    }
}

Two details from the guide. On an old Play services version, Google says "the system throws a ConnectionResult.SERVICE_VERSION_UPDATE_REQUIRED exception", which is how the guide words a status code, so check the result before calling anything else. And "The LocalRecordingClient continuously updates its collection of data. You can use readData to pull the latest numbers at any time."

Recording API or Health Connect#

This page does not answer that across the board; the step counting API page does. The Recording API guide's own position: "If your app needs to read other health and fitness data from various sources in addition to on-device steps, integrating with Health Connect is a better option. Health Connect also provides access to on-device steps natively on Android 14 (API level 34) and higher." Moving an existing Google Fit integration is covered in the Google Fit to Health Connect migration guide.

Pitfalls#

• Unsubscribing as cleanup. Google says collected data won't be accessible after you unsubscribe. Unsubscribe only when the feature is genuinely off.
• Reading once a fortnight. Data older than 10 days since the latest subscription is gone. Schedule periodic reads.
• Skipping the version check. Old Play services fail the calls.
• Forgetting the runtime permission. ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION is a dangerous permission on Android 10 and higher.
• Expecting server sync. The data is on-device and accountless. Your backend sees it only if your app uploads it.
• Expecting other metrics. The guide lists three data types. Heart rate and workouts are Health Connect's territory.

If you would rather own the counting yourself, the raw sensor is covered on Sensor.TYPE_STEP_COUNTER.