Health Bridge

Health Bridge provides a unified interface to access and sync health data from users' devices using Apple HealthKit (iOS) and Google Health Connect (Android). The plugin enables you to fetch health metrics such as steps, heart rate, calories, and sleep data - allowing you to build powerful wellness and fitness features in your app.

Why use Health Bridge?

Health Bridge takes care of handling platform-specific details like permissions, data sources, and user consent, so you can focus on delivering value to your users. The plugin abstracts away the complexity of working with different health platforms while maintaining full access to rich health data.

Unified Interface: Single API that works seamlessly across iOS (Apple HealthKit) and Android (Google Health Connect)
Platform Handling: Automatically manages platform-specific permissions, data sources, and user consent flows
Wellness Features: Access comprehensive health metrics including steps, heart rate, calories, sleep, and more
Data Accessibility: Retrieve historical health data with flexible date ranges and grouping options

Use Cases

Health Bridge is essential for apps that need to:

Use Case	Example
Daily Activity Tracking	Displaying a user's daily or weekly step count
Progress Visualization	Creating activity rings or health streaks
Personalized Insights	Personalized fitness insights based on user data
Sleep & Recovery	Sleep or recovery tracking with historical trends

👍
Developer Demo
Display our demo page in your app to test during development https://median.dev/health-bridge/

Before You Start

Prerequisites

A Median.co app with JavaScript Bridge enabled
The plugin activated in your app

Key Concepts

The following concepts will help you implement Health Bridge:

Quick Reference: Health Bridge supports 6 main categories of health data to help you build comprehensive wellness features:

Activity - Track physical movement and exercise metrics (steps, distance, calories, exercise time)
Body Measurements - Monitor physical characteristics and body composition (height, weight, BMI, body fat, temperature)
Cycle Tracking - Access menstrual cycle data for reproductive health monitoring
Nutrition - Track dietary intake and hydration (calorie intake, water intake, nutrition data)
Sleep - Monitor sleep patterns and duration for recovery and wellness insights
Vitals - Access critical health indicators (heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, glucose)

Supported Data Types: Health Bridge supports a comprehensive set of health metrics organized by category, all returned in metric units only. Click the icons below to view the complete metric details:

Activity

Data Type	Description	Unit
`steps`	Number of steps taken	count
`distance`	Distance walked or run	meters (m)
`activeEnergy`	Active calories burned	kilocalories (kcal)
`totalCaloriesBurned`	Total Calories Burned	kilocalories (kcal)
`exerciseTime`	Time spent exercising	minutes (min)
`elevationGain`	Elevation Gain	meters (m)
`speed`	Speed	meters per second (m/s)

Body measurements

Data Type	Description	Unit
`height`	User's height	meters (m)
`weight`	User's weight	kilograms (kg)
`bmi`	Body Mass Index	unitless
`bodyFat`	Body Fat	percent (%)
`bodyTemperature`	Body Temperature	degree celsius (C)

Cycle tracking

Data Type	Description	Unit
`menstruation`	Menstruation

Nutrition

Data Type	Description	Unit
`calorieIntake`	Dietary calorie intake	kilocalories (kcal)
`waterIntake`	Water consumed	milliliters (ml)
`nutrition`	Nutrition

Sleep

Data Type	Description	Unit
`sleep`	Sleep duration	minutes (min)

Vitals

Data Type	Description	Unit
`heartRate`	Heart Rate	beats per minute (bpm)
`restingHeartRate`	Resting Heart Rate	beats per minute (bpm)
`heartRateVariability`	Heart Rate Variability	milliseconds (ms)
`bloodPressure`	Blood Pressure	millimetres of mercury (mmHg)
`bloodGlucose`	Blood Glucose	millimoles per litre (mmol/L)
`oxygenSaturation`	Oxygen Saturation	percent (%)
`bodyTemperature`	Body Temperature	degree celsius (C)
`respiratoryRate`	Respiratory Rate	breaths per minute
`vo2Max`	VO2 Max	milliliters per minute per kilogram (ml/kg/min)

Platform Permissions Model: Permissions work differently on each platform:

Android: Returns a list of granted and declined data types when requesting permissions
iOS: Does not return any information about permission status. The OS will prompt the user when data is first requested, and you won't get confirmation about which permissions were granted

Important Considerations

All health data values are returned in metric units only
Our team can add support for additional data types if required
Some data types (like sleep) may only be available for recent timeframes
Date range limitations vary by platform and data type

Integration Guide

Follow the steps below to navigate the App Configuration and JavaScript Bridge Functions.

App configuration

Enable the Plugin

Navigate to Plugins: In your Median dashboard, go to the plugins section
Enable Health Bridge: Toggle the Health Bridge plugin to enabled status
Configure Settings: No additional configuration is required in the dashboard

JavaScript Bridge functions

Follow these steps to start using the Health Bridge plugin in your app:

Step 1: Request Permissions

Although not required, we recommend calling requestPermissions() upfront as it improves user transparency and experience. This prompts users to grant access to the specific health data types your app will use.

await median.healthBridge.requestPermissions([
  'steps',
  'sleep',
  'calorieIntake',
]);

This method accepts an array of data types and returns an object indicating which permissions were granted or declined.

🚧
Platform Caveats

Android: Returns a list of granted and declined data types.

iOS: Does not return any information about permission status. The OS will prompt the user when data is first requested, and you won't get confirmation about which permissions were granted.

You can optionally skip requestPermissions() and directly call getData() (next step) and the OS will handle permissions automatically.

Step 2: Fetch Health Data

After permissions are granted (or requested implicitly), use the getData() method to retrieve health data. You can define the following parameters:

The specific dataTypes to fetch (from the supported list)
A startDate and endDate in ISO 8601 format
An optional bucket to group data (e.g., by day or hour)

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`dataTypes`	`Array<string>`	Yes	The specific data types to fetch (from the supported list)
`startDate`	`string`	Yes	Start date in ISO 8601 format
`endDate`	`string`	Yes	End date in ISO 8601 format
`bucket`	`string`	No	Optional grouping for data (default: 'raw')

Bucket Options:

Bucket	Description
`raw`	Raw, ungrouped data points
`minute`	Data grouped per minute
`hour`	Data grouped per hour
`day`	Data grouped per day (recommended)

const result = await median.healthBridge.getData({
  dataTypes: granted, // list of granted permissions from previous step
  startDate: '2025-05-01T00:00:00Z',
  endDate:   '2025-05-08T00:00:00Z',
  bucket:    'day'
});

console.log(result.data.steps);
// [
//   { timestamp: '2025-05-01T00:00:00Z', value: 8123 },
//   { timestamp: '2025-05-02T00:00:00Z', value: 7890 },
//   ...
// ]

Want to show a daily step chart for the past week? Just fetch steps with bucket: 'day' and map the values to your chart component.

💡Tip: Make sure your date range doesn't exceed platform limitations - some data types (like sleep) may only be available for recent timeframes.

Example response

{
    "data": {
        "height": [
            {
                "start": "2025-12-03T15:30:00.000Z",
                "end": "2025-12-03T15:30:00.000Z",
                "value": 1.87
            }
        ],
        "weight": [],
        "steps": [
            {
                "start": "2025-12-03T15:30:00.000Z",
                "end": "2025-12-03T15:30:00.000Z",
                "value": 5000
            },
            {
                "end": "2025-12-02T15:30:00.000Z",
                "start": "2025-12-02T15:30:00.000Z",
                "value": 4500
            }
        ]
    }
}

Integration testing

🚧
Testing requirements
Due to callouts to Apple services, the Health Bridge integration cannot be tested in the App Studio virtual simulator. Instead, any integration tests must be run on a physical device or on Xcode or Android Studio simulators.

Testing on iOS

Step 1 - Install your App

Based on your test setup, you can install the app on a physical device via TestFlight or iOS Binary. If you install the app using TestFlight or iOS Binary the app will come fully built including the necessary capabilities.

Build locally with Xcode

If you want to build and test the app locally on a MacOS system, follow the steps below to build your iOS app from source and add the Health Kit capability.

You can reference the following to confirm that the capability has been added as expected:

Step 2 - Add Test Data

Follow the steps below to add test data to your iOS simulator using the Health app:

Step 1	Step 2	Step 3

Suspend the app and find the 'Health' app on your home screen.	Select a metric and manually add test data using the '+' button	Confirm that your test data has been added in the Health app

Step 3 - Access your data

After adding test data to your account, follow the steps below to access the data through the Health Bridge:

Step 1	Step 2	Step 3

Select the data points, bucket and date range for the request	Confirm the access	Access the returned data in the JSON object