Google Fit shutting down: alternatives and how to switch to Health Connect

Google Fit has been the reference point for health data on Android for years. Many third-party apps used it as a channel to read and write steps, heart rate, and workouts. But in 2026 its APIs are officially deprecated: Google has asked all developers to migrate to Health Connect, the new standard for health data on Android. If you haven't heard about this change yet, this article explains what it means concretely for you.

What is happening with Google Fit

Google has announced the deprecation of the Google Fit REST APIs for 2026. This means apps that use those APIs to access your activity data will stop working correctly, unless their developers have already migrated to Health Connect. The Google Fit app continues to exist but hasn't received new features for a while, and the official roadmap positions it as legacy.

What is Health Connect and why it's different from Google Fit

Health Connect is not Google Fit with a new name. It's a completely different architecture. Google Fit was primarily a cloud service: your data was sent to Google's servers and apps read from there. Health Connect is on-device: data stays on your phone in a local database, and every app must explicitly ask your permission to access each individual data type.

• •Stronger privacy: data doesn't leave the device via Health Connect itself. The risk comes from individual apps that read from HC and might sync to their own cloud.
• •Granular permissions: you can authorize an app to read steps without giving it access to sleep or heart rate.
• •More brands supported: Samsung Health, Fitbit, Polar, and other companion apps write to Health Connect, so a single third-party app can read data from all of them.
• •No mandatory cloud: unlike Google Fit, you don't need an active Google account for Health Connect to work.

How to migrate your data from Google Fit

Migration is not automatic: historical data in Google Fit doesn't flow to Health Connect on its own. Here's what you can do concretely.

1. Export your data with Google Takeout: go to takeout.google.com, select only 'Fit', download the archive. You'll get JSON and TCX files with your entire history.
2. Install Health Connect: on Android 14 and later it's preinstalled as a system app. On Android 12-13 search for it on the Play Store.
3. Configure permissions: open Health Connect → App permissions and authorize your apps (Samsung Health, Fitbit, etc.) to write the data types you care about.
4. Verify your wearable writes to Health Connect: most major companion apps (Samsung Health, Fitbit, Wear OS) already support Health Connect. Check in the companion app settings that sync with Health Connect is enabled.
5. Consider an aggregation app: if you have multiple wearables or want to see everything in one place, an app like FitMesh Sync reads from Health Connect and shows all data in a unified panel.

What changes for people using multiple wearables

If you use a Galaxy Watch, a smart ring, and maybe an old Fitbit in parallel, one of the classic problems was having data scattered across different apps without a unified view. Google Fit tried to solve this by aggregating data, but with Health Connect the situation is different: the database is local and it will be up to third-party apps to do the aggregation.

The main risk with multiple wearables is double counting: if both the Galaxy Watch and the ring send steps to Health Connect for the same hour, an app that sums them both will give you an inflated total. A well-made aggregation app must recognize this problem and show deduplicated data, indicating for each metric which device the reading comes from.

How FitMesh Sync helps in this transition

FitMesh Sync was built exactly for this scenario: multiple wearables, fragmented data, no dashboard that puts it all together cleanly. The app reads from Health Connect and shows your data in a web panel accessible from browser, solving the most common problems for people using multiple devices.

• •No duplicates: when multiple devices record the same metric in the same time window, FitMesh Sync deduplicates the data and shows the most reliable value, with source indication.
• •Data source visible: for each metric you can see which device the reading came from (Galaxy Watch, Colmi ring, Fitbit, etc.).
• •Data on European servers: synced data stays on European infrastructure, consistent with GDPR requirements.
• •Android available, iPhone coming: FitMesh Sync for Android is on Google Play. iPhone support (with Apple Health instead of Health Connect) is in development.

What about iPhone? The situation is different

The Google Fit deprecation only affects the Android ecosystem. On iPhone the reference system for health data is Apple Health (based on HealthKit), which is not involved in this change. If you use an Apple Watch or other iOS wearables, your data continues to flow to Apple Health as always.

FitMesh Sync is currently available for Android and uses Health Connect as the data source. iPhone support, with Apple Health as the source, is in development. If you're on iPhone and want to be notified when it arrives, you can sign up for the beta list from the dedicated page.

In summary: what to do now

• •Export historical data from Google Fit via Google Takeout before the service becomes less accessible.
• •Verify that the apps you use have already migrated to Health Connect (most active apps have done so).
• •Check in Health Connect → App permissions that your companion apps (Samsung Health, Fitbit, etc.) are authorized to write the data types you care about.
• •If you use multiple wearables, consider an aggregation app that handles duplicates and shows the data source for each metric.
• •If you're on Android and want to start right away, FitMesh Sync is on Google Play with open beta access.