A small change that could help boost Health Connect’s adoption
Back at I/O 2022, Google announced Health Connect as a hub to manage all your health data from various sources. It lets you manage which apps have read/write access to your health data and other metrics. The app is currently in beta and can be downloaded on any Android 9+ device from the Play Store. Despite its usefulness, Health Connect has seen limited adoption, likely because it is not a pre-installed system app. The company seemingly plans to address the issue in Android 14 by making Health Connect a part of the OS.
XDA reports that Google is shipping a new Health Connect APEX file, signaling the app could be bundled as a Project Mainline module with the OS. This will also enable the company to update the hub’s components through Google Play System updates. Since Health Connect is already available on the Play Store, Google uses a different package name for the hub’s version bundled in Android 14 DP1. This is because Android does not allow the installation of an app with the same package name.
Screenshots: XDA
To address this issue, Google will seemingly offer an option to migrate the Health Connect data from the Play Store release to the system app once Android 14 launches in stable. The change will also affect developers and apps with Health Connect integration, but Google could work around the problem by updating the Health Connect support library.
Another benefit of Health Connect becoming a Project Mainline module is that its source code will be pushed to AOSP with Android 14’s public release. That is if Google sticks to its plans of making Health Connect a Project Mainline component and integrating it directly into the OS.
None of the above changes will affect how Health Connect works, though. They will only help improve its adoption. If you have not already, check out how to use Health Connect to sync data from Samsung Health or other compatible apps to Google Fit.
