How to connect Apple Health or Health Connect to BikeCare, and track rides without Strava

How it fits together

Apple Health and Health Connect are your phone’s health stores. Many watches and apps save their workouts there, and BikeCare reads only the rides. In practice: whatever already reaches Apple Health or Health Connect reaches BikeCare too. Which devices write there is covered further down.

On iPhone: connect BikeCare to Apple Health

1. In the BikeCare app, open More → Apple Health and tap “Connect Apple Health”.
2. Read the consent and tap “Consent & connect”. It says exactly what BikeCare reads: rides with date, start time, duration, distance and app, plus average and maximum heart rate.
3. In the Apple Health sheet, turn on read access for workouts, distance and heart rate. Since iOS 27, Apple then asks how far back BikeCare may read; for older rides, choose the full history.
4. In the “Rides from Apple Health” window, choose which rides go onto which bike, and bring them in.

If BikeCare finds no rides, access is usually missing; according to Apple, an app cannot even tell whether it may read, it simply gets no data. Check and change it in the Health app: “Summary” → your picture or initials → under “Privacy”, tap “Apps” → BikeCare.

On Android: connect BikeCare to Health Connect

Health Connect is available from Android 9. From Android 14 it is part of the system; up to Android 13 it is an app from Google Play.

1. In the BikeCare app, open More → Health Connect. If Health Connect is missing on your phone, BikeCare shows “Install Health Connect” there, which leads to Google Play.
2. Tap “Connect Health Connect”, read the consent and tap “Consent & connect”.
3. In Health Connect, grant the permissions for exercise, distance and heart rate, and “Access past data” if it is offered.
4. In the “Rides from Health Connect” window, choose bike and rides, and bring them in.

Without access to past data, Google says Health Connect only hands over data from the last 30 days, and BikeCare tells you so on the page. You can change the permissions in the Health Connect settings under “App permissions” → BikeCare; BikeCare has a “Health Connect settings” button for that. Where Health Connect sits in the Android settings differs by version, so the quickest way is the search in Settings.

Apple Watch

Whatever you record as a ride with Apple’s Workout app on the watch ends up in Apple Health, with nothing to set up. After the ride, open BikeCare, bring the new ride in, done.

Garmin Connect

On iPhone, Garmin says Garmin Connect writes your uploaded activities to Apple Health as workouts. Garmin describes two ways; the first runs through the Health app:

1. In the Health app, “Summary” → profile picture → “Apps and Services” under Privacy → Connect app, and toggle the categories on.
2. Or in the Garmin Connect app: “More” → “Settings” → “Connect Apps” → “Apple Health” → “Connect with Apple Health” → “Allow”.

Garmin names three things: Garmin Connect must be open in the foreground to send data; the GPS track does not come along (BikeCare does not need it for the wear); and if you only have an Edge cycling computer registered, Garmin Connect does not appear in Apple Health as an option at all. Then the route through Strava is the right one.

On Android, Garmin says Garmin Connect transfers activity data such as distance and heart rate to Health Connect from Android 14. Whether whole rides arrive there as workouts, which is what BikeCare reads, Garmin does not say. Check after your first ride; on Android the route through Strava is the safe one.

komoot

According to its help, komoot writes to Apple Health on the iPhone only, and only distance and duration, without the map or elevation profile. For the wear, that is enough.

1. In the komoot app, open “Profile” → “Settings” → “Apple Health”.
2. Turn on “Send komoot activities”, then allow “Workouts” and choose cycling.

komoot says the permissions reset after signing out or reinstalling, so turn them on again then. On Android, komoot names no route to Health Connect; there, the route through Strava helps.

Samsung Health (Android)

Samsung says Samsung Health passes activity data such as exercise and heart rate to Health Connect: in Samsung Health, go to “Settings” → “Health Connect” → “App permissions” → “Samsung Health” and allow the data. A Galaxy Watch syncs on its own schedule to save battery, Samsung adds, so a ride may arrive a little later.

Fitbit and Pixel Watch (Android)

Google says the Google Health app (formerly Fitbit) can write exercise and exercise routes to Health Connect:

1. In the app, “Connections” → “Partner apps” → “Sync your favorite health apps” → “Set up”.
2. Allow the data types for Health Connect.

Wahoo

With Wahoo the picture is unclear: one Wahoo help page lists Apple Health and Google Health Connect as apps you can authorise in the Wahoo app, another says the app does not share data with Apple Health, and Wahoo’s release notes call Health Connect temporarily unavailable. The reliable route for Wahoo is the one through Strava.

What happens next

• New rides when you open the app. At most every 15 minutes BikeCare checks and shows something like “3 new rides in Apple Health – Bring in”. One tap, pick the bike, done.
• The right bike. Apple Health and Health Connect know nothing about bikes. For each app, BikeCare suggests the bike you chose for it last time.
• Nothing twice. What has been brought in does not come again, and neither does a ride that already exists in BikeCare. If Strava is connected to BikeCare, rides from Strava stay out.
• Where a ride came from shows in the rides list, for example “via komoot”.
• In the service report, the kilometres from Apple Health or Health Connect appear as their own figure next to Strava and “entered by hand”.