What Garmin shares with Apple Health
Garmin lists twelve kinds of data that Garmin Connect can send to Apple Health, after each sync with your device. HealthAPI syncs every one of them:
| Garmin Connect sends | The AI reads it as |
|---|---|
| Activities | Workouts: type, start, minutes, distance, active energy. No GPS tracks: Garmin doesn't send them. |
| Steps, walking and running distance, flights climbed | stepCount, distanceWalkingRunning, flightsClimbed: daily totals |
| Active energy, resting energy | activeEnergyBurned, basalEnergyBurned: daily totals |
| Heart rate | heartRate: daily average, low and high. During activities Garmin sends only the high and the low. |
| Sleep | Sleep per night: time asleep, bedtime and wake time |
| Weight, body mass index, body fat | bodyMass, bodyMassIndex, bodyFatPercentage |
| Water | dietaryWater: daily total |
Workout types HealthAPI names include running, walking, cycling, swimming, hiking, strength training, HIIT and rowing. Anything else, such as a tennis match or a ski day, comes through as other, with its time and energy intact. The full list is on the metrics page.
What stays in Garmin Connect
Garmin's list doesn't include Body Battery, stress, HRV, Training Readiness, VO2 max, resting heart rate, Pulse Ox or respiration. Garmin doesn't send them to Apple Health, so the AI can't see them, and you shouldn't ask it to rebuild a Body Battery score from heart rate: it would be a guess. What it does have is the raw material of training: every activity, its length and energy, and your sleep and daily heart rate around it.
Set it up
Share from Garmin Connect
In the Garmin Connect app, tap More, Settings, Connected Apps, then Apple Health and Connect with Apple Health. Choose what Connect can share and tap Allow.Check it in the Health app
In Health, tap your profile picture, then Apps, then Connect (Garmin's app), and check that the categories you want are on.Ask about your training
Start with “What did I do this week?”, then try the prompts below.
Prompts for training
“How did my training this month compare with last month?”
Up. You logged 14 activities for 16.5 h, against 11 for 12 h. Running made up most of the increase, and your longest run was 18.2 km on the 12th.
Training volume
- “How many hours did I train each week over the last 12 weeks, split by activity type?”
- “What was my longest run this year, and my running distance by month?”
- “How many days this month did I train, and what was my longest gap between sessions?”
Training and recovery
- “Do I sleep longer the night after a ride over 2 hours?”
- “Compare my active energy on training days and rest days over the last 30 days.”
- “What is my lowest heart rate each day for the last 90 days, by week?”
Body and habits
- “How has my weight changed since June, next to my weekly training hours?”
- “How much water did I log each day this week?”
One lookup covers up to a year and lists up to 100 workouts, so a busy year takes a few lookups. For readiness questions, see training readiness and HRV; for your scale, weight trends with AI.
Four things to know
- History starts when you turn sharing on. Apple Health takes up to two weeks of past Garmin data, so older activities stay in Garmin Connect only.
- Open Garmin Connect to send new data. Garmin says Connect must be open in the foreground to send data to Apple Health. If your latest run is missing, open Connect, let it sync, then open HealthAPI.
- Your iPhone counts steps too. Apple Health counts the source higher in its list, and your iPhone ranks above apps by default. Garmin suggests changing the order: Health, Browse, Activity, Steps, Data Sources & Access, Edit, then drag Connect up. HealthAPI's daily totals follow the same order.
- A night two devices track counts once. If your Garmin and an Apple Watch or ring both record a night, HealthAPI keeps the fuller record instead of adding them. To get every night from the Watch, turn off Sleep for Garmin Connect in Health, under your profile picture, Apps; to get every night from the Garmin, take the Watch off at night.
If only an Edge cycling computer is registered to your Garmin account, Connect doesn't appear in the Health app at all, according to Garmin.
Garmin Connect+ or Claude?
Garmin's own AI is part of Garmin Connect+, its subscription: Garmin describes Active Intelligence as AI insights about your data and activities, including nutrition. It works from your Garmin Connect data, which is where Body Battery and the training metrics that never reach Apple Health live.
HealthAPI works the other way round. It can't see those Garmin-only numbers, but it lets you ask open questions in Claude, ChatGPT or Mistral Vibe about everything in Apple Health: your Garmin activities next to a smart scale, a blood pressure cuff or a glucose sensor, over a year at a time. If you want both, they don't get in each other's way.
HealthAPI and the AI apps aren't medical devices. Use the answers to plan your own training, and talk to a doctor about symptoms or anything that worries you.
Questions
Can ChatGPT or Claude read my Garmin data?
Yes, through Apple Health. Garmin Connect shares your activities, steps, sleep, heart rate and weight with Apple Health, HealthAPI syncs Apple Health to your own account, and Claude (every plan) or ChatGPT (Plus and higher) read it from there, read only.
Can the AI see my Body Battery, HRV status or Training Readiness?
No. They aren't on Garmin's list of what it shares with Apple Health, and neither are VO2 max, stress, Pulse Ox or resting heart rate. They stay in Garmin Connect.
Why does the AI only see two weeks of my Garmin history?
Because Apple Health only takes up to two weeks of past Garmin data when you turn sharing on. Older history stays in Garmin Connect, so your Garmin data in Apple Health, and in HealthAPI, starts there.
Why are my steps different from Garmin Connect?
When your iPhone and your Garmin both count the same walk, Apple Health counts the source higher in its list, and your iPhone ranks above apps by default. Drag Connect to the top of Steps' Data Sources & Access in the Health app to use Garmin's count.
Will Garmin Connect see my Apple Health data?
No. Garmin says the connection is one way: Connect pushes data to Apple Health and doesn't read from it. HealthAPI is read only too and never writes anything back.
Does it use my daily requests?
Yes: each lookup the AI makes is one request. A training question usually takes one to three, and syncing from your iPhone never counts.
