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Why isn't a client's health data or workouts syncing?

Diagnose stalled health syncs — the wearable's own app, reset permissions, background limits — and tell the client exactly what to check.

Jeremy

Written by Jeremy

Health data reaches Fitsly through the client's phone, never directly from the wearable. The wearable's app shares with Apple Health or Health Connect, and the client app reads from there. That means you can't trigger a sync from your dashboard — every fix runs through the client's phone.

Check the Integrations tab on the client's profile first. A platform that hasn't sent data in 7 days shows as Not syncing.

Have the client open their app

The single most effective step. Opening the client app always syncs within seconds on any phone. The app also syncs when it starts, each time it returns to the foreground, and every 5 minutes while it's open.

To force one: Profile → App Integrations, then Sync now on the Apple Health or Health Connect card.

Check the wearable's own app has synced

The client app can only see what the wearable has already shared with the phone's health platform. If a Garmin, Oura, WHOOP, Polar or COROS hasn't synced to its own app, nothing downstream will have it either.

  1. Open the wearable's app and wait for its sync to finish.
  2. Open Apple Health or Health Connect and confirm the data is actually there.
  3. If it is, tap Sync now on the Apple Health or Health Connect card in the client app.

Samsung Health and Pixel Watch share with Health Connect only, so they work on Android phones.

Check whether permissions were reset

Health Connect access can reset after an Android update, an app update, or a Health Connect update. The client app notices the next time the client opens their Integrations screen: the Health Connect card shows Needs attention with a Reconnect Health Connect button, and the permissions screen shows a switch per data type. All seven must be on — if any is off, the client app treats access as not granted.

On iPhone the app can't tell whether Health access was granted or revoked, so both sides keep showing Connected for up to 7 days after permissions are turned off. After 7 days without data, your view changes to Not syncing and the client's card shows Needs attention with a Reconnect Apple Health button.

If the client tapped Don't Allow on the iOS Health sheet, nothing can sync and the card stays at Not connected. iOS only shows that sheet once. The fix is Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → the app, turn on the data to share, then Sync now.

Check the phone's background sync limits

PhoneBackground syncing
iPhoneSyncs in the background when Apple Health records new data
Android 14 or laterAbout every 15 minutes, only if background access was allowed when connecting
Android 13 or earlierNo background sync — data moves only while the app is running

Android background sync is best-effort: it needs network and a battery that isn't low, and some phone makers pause background work for apps that were swiped away.

Check Health Connect is installed and available

On Android 9–13, Health Connect is a separate app from Google Play. If it isn't installed or is out of date, Connect Health Connect shows "Health Connect needs setting up" with a Get Health Connect button. Phones older than Android 9 can't run Health Connect at all and show "Health Connect isn't available on this phone" instead of a Connect button.

Things to watch out for

  • Nothing is ever lost. Each sync resumes from where the last successful one finished, so the next sync catches up.
  • The workouts list only shows the 12 most recent workouts on the selected platform, and the first sync uploads only those 12.
  • Android backfills 30 days unless the client allowed access to data older than 30 days when connecting; iPhone backfills up to 3 months.
  • Steps only auto-log into a habit measured in steps, and sleep only into a habit measured in hours whose name contains "sleep" or "slept". Without a matching habit, the data still shows on the charts but never reaches habits.
  • A metric with no synced entries shows 0 with a flat chart rather than a "no data" state. Open the card's detail panel to see "No entries yet".
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