Fitbit Could Offer Better Medical Insights On Android 16 (APK Teardown)
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Medical records support is being introduced to the Health Connect app in Android 16.
- Fitbit may soon be able to work with Health Connect’s new medical records feature.
- Users will be able to store data such as allergy intolerances, vaccinations, laboratory results, pregnancy details, and more.
Google’s Health Connect app is set to get a big upgrade when Android 16 is ready for action. This upgrade will introduce support for new medical records, allowing that information to be stored and accessed as needed. It’s looking like when that feature arrives, Fitbit may be one of the platforms you’ll be able to use to access that data.
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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.
If you’re unfamiliar with Health Connect, it’s a service that acts as a central hub for your various health and fitness apps to communicate. It not only stores all of your health and fitness information across apps, but also makes it easier for these apps to share their data with one another. For example, say that you use a certain app to track your sleep patterns, but you want to switch to a different app. The first app may store your data in a way that the second app may have trouble handling. Health Connect simplifies communication between apps by making it so developers only have to account for a single set of APIs, allowing that data from the first app to be easily translated over to the second app.
There are various platforms that support Health Connect including Fitbit, Oura, Pelaton, and Meta Quest. These have access to whatever health or fitness data you give them, such as blood glucose, body fat, blood pressure, and more. Medical records will soon be included in that list and Fitbit may be one of the first platforms you’ll be able to access that information on.
While looking into the Fitbit app (4.36.fitbit-mobile-110210932-718500254), we found strings of code suggesting that Fitbit is preparing for the Android 16 feature. Although the strings mention medical records, it doesn’t appear there is any code for UI or activity.
Code
Add records You can now keep your medical records in the Fitbit app with your other health information Not now Add your medical records to Fitbit Upon further investigation, we also came across a list of permissions related to Health Connect. These permissions reveal what type of data you’ll be able to store. They include:
- Allergy intolerances
- Conditions
- Laboratory results
- Medications
- Personal details
- Pregnancy details
- Procedures
- Social history
- Vaccinations
- Doctor visits
- Vital signs
- Practitioner details
Since we haven’t spotted any changes to the interface in the app related to these record types, preparation for their support could still be in the very early stages. We’ll be keeping an eye on Fibit to see if we can spot any further progress.
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