Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android 15 will introduce a “Backup and restore” feature for Health Connect, allowing users to back up their data to the cloud with options for daily, weekly, or monthly intervals.
- This feature might only be available on devices running Android 15 or higher and won’t allow local storage backups, requiring a cloud provider for data restoration.
- Backer-up Health Connect data will be encrypted for security, but it’s unclear if this will involve a Google account password or device PIN/password.
Google plans to give users more control over their Health Connect data with the upcoming Android 15 update. Specifically, a new option in Health Connect settings will finally allow users to back up and restore this data.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Android Authority contributor Assemble Debug has found code evidence of Health Connect’s new “Backup and restore” feature. It’s part of Android 15’s Health Connect module, not the Health Connect app you can download from the Google Play Store. That means when the feature goes live, it may not be available on devices with older Android versions.
For context, Health Connect is part of the Android system in Android 14. You can access it by going to Settings > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Health Connect. On lower versions of Android that support Health Connect, including Android 13, Health Connect is a publicly available app that you can download from the Google Play Store.
Code strings related to the new “Backup and restore” feature suggest that users will be able to back up their Health Connect data Daily, weekly, or monthly. Google will also let users choose their preferred cloud storage provider for storing the backed-up data. Currently, it doesn’t look like there will be an option to save the data locally on the device. A string in the source code says if you select a backup file from local storage, it will give you an invalid error and ask you to choose a cloud provider app from which you can restore the data.
Code
<string name="import_invalid_storage" description="Message shown to the user when they pick a
local storage app instead of a cloud storage app to import their data from. [CHAR_LIMIT=NONE]">Please
choose a storage app to import your data</string>The exported Health Connect data is also encrypted with a password, restricting any unauthorized access. It’s unclear if this would require a Google account password or the device’s PIN/password.
Assemble Debug also found further evidence of the feature’s existence in the latest beta version of Google Play Services. We’ll keep an eye out for it when Android 15 rolls out and let you know once the option becomes available.
