Which wearable API should you use?
Which wearable API you should use depends less on the API than on eight facts about your product: where it runs, what your users wear, how detailed the data has to be, whether it must reach your backend by webhook, how you pay, which rules apply, who builds it and when it has to work. This quiz asks those eight questions and lands on one of eight approaches: Apple HealthKit, Health Connect, both platform stores, the device makers' own APIs, a health-data aggregator, Bluetooth sensors read directly, a research data platform or camera pose tracking. Each result page lists the products of that approach alphabetically with what this site's pages source about them; no product is ranked.
Question 1 of 8
Where does your product run?
Building something other than a wearable-data integration (exercise content, nutrition, motion)? The three-question fitness API picker covers every category and routes you to the roundup to read.
The eight results
Each result is an approach, not a product. Its page lists the products of that approach alphabetically, with what this site’s pages source about each.
- Apple HealthKit →Your answers point to Apple HealthKit: an iPhone app reading the user's health store on the device.
- Google Health Connect →Your answers point to Health Connect: an Android app reading the on-device health store.
- HealthKit and Health Connect →Your answers point to the two platform health stores, one per app: HealthKit on iPhone and Health Connect on Android.
- The device makers' own APIs →Your answers point to integrating each device maker's own cloud API, one OAuth integration per brand.
- A health-data aggregator →Your answers point to a health-data aggregator: one integration that connects many wearable brands for you.
- Bluetooth sensors, read directly →Your answers point to reading the sensors themselves over Bluetooth Low Energy, using the Bluetooth SIG's standard GATT profiles.
- A wearable research platform →Your answers point to a research data platform: tools built for studies, with participant management and exports.
- Camera pose tracking →Your answers point to camera-based pose tracking: reps, form and joint angles come from the camera, not a wearable.
How the quiz decides
The rules are this site’s judgment, printed in full so you can disagree with a specific one. Three answers decide on their own, in this order: needing movement itself, or users with no wearable, gives camera pose tracking; a study under an IRB or ethics board gives a research platform; Bluetooth sensors or gym equipment give reading the sensors directly. Otherwise each answer adds or removes points for three approaches, the highest total wins and a tie goes to the platform stores, then direct APIs. The platform-store approach becomes HealthKit, Health Connect or both from your platform answer.
| Answer | Points |
|---|---|
| iPhone app | platform stores +1 |
| Android app | platform stores +1 |
| iPhone and Android apps | platform stores +1 |
| Web app or backend only, no mobile app | platform stores -10, aggregator +1, direct APIs +1 |
| Apple Watch or just an iPhone | platform stores +3 |
| Android phones, Wear OS or Samsung watches | platform stores +3 |
| Many brands: Garmin, Oura, WHOOP, Fitbit and others | aggregator +3 |
| One or two specific brands | direct APIs +3 |
| Daily summaries: steps, sleep, resting heart rate | aggregator +1, platform stores +1 |
| Detailed samples: heart rate over time, GPS tracks, intervals | direct APIs +2, platform stores +1 |
| On our backend, pushed to us as it arrives (webhooks) | aggregator +1, direct APIs +1 |
| On our backend; we can poll for it | aggregator +1, direct APIs +1 |
| In the app on the user's device is enough | platform stores +2 |
| No per-user fees | platform stores +2, direct APIs +2, aggregator -2 |
| A fee per connected user is fine | aggregator +2 |
| A negotiated contract is fine | aggregator +1 |
| HIPAA: we work with a covered entity | platform stores +1 |
| Just me | platform stores +1, aggregator +1, direct APIs -1 |
| A small team, no dedicated backend engineer | aggregator +1 |
| A team with backend engineers | direct APIs +2 |
| In a few weeks | aggregator +2, platform stores +1, direct APIs -1 |
| This quarter or later | direct APIs +1 |
Frequently asked questions
How is this quiz different from the fitness API picker?
The picker routes any fitness project (exercise content, nutrition, motion, wearables) to the roundup to read, from three questions. This quiz answers one narrower question, how your app should get wearable and health data, from eight, and lands on one of eight approaches with the products of that approach listed.
Does the quiz recommend a specific vendor?
No. Each result is an approach: the platform stores, the device makers' own APIs, an aggregator, Bluetooth sensors, a research platform or camera pose tracking. The products under it are listed alphabetically with the facts this site's pages source about them, and none is ranked.
How does the quiz decide between an aggregator and direct APIs?
Camera or movement answers, a research study and Bluetooth sensors each decide on their own. Otherwise every answer adds or removes points for three approaches (platform stores, direct APIs, an aggregator) and the highest total wins, ties going to the platform stores, then direct APIs. The result lists the answers that pushed it there, and the rules are printed on this page.
Are my quiz answers stored or sent anywhere?
No. The quiz runs in your browser. Your answers are kept only in the page address as an eight-digit code so a link reproduces the result; nothing is stored on a server. A click on a share button counts as a fixed event name, never with your answers.
Next step
Turning this into a choice of API:
A free tool from AIFitnessAPI. Nobody pays for placement here; the site is funded by KinesteX, which appears only among the camera results, disclosed. More at free tools for health-app builders.