It can be quite a pain to collate workout and health-related data manually from apps tracking only a few parameters or exercises at a time. The lack of standardization in data storage methods doesn’t help matters, but Google thinks its new Health Connect app could be the solution everyone needs. Beta testing for the app began in mid-November, but we haven’t seen the download count skyrocket. That could change if Google bundles Health Connect with Android 14, and the likelihood is looking high.

Without Health Connect, fitness app developers would have to build integrations for every other app individually. The utility serves as an on-device, encrypted, and offline intermediary for your health data gathered by different apps. With Health Connect, you could, for instance, use your cycling app to see SpO2 and heart rate data collected by the companion app for your wearable. Google already has over a dozen health and fitness apps supporting Health Connect, but that isn’t sufficient to make it mainstream — the app’s beta hasn’t even racked up a million downloads yet.

The recently released Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 for Pixel phones includes a Health Connect stub package, suggesting Google will uphold its promise of making the app a system component when Android 14 drops. Esper senior technical editor Mishaal Rahman theorizes Google will develop a Project Mainline module for Health Connect, so it can keep its data offline, while it receives updates through Google Play System updates instead of Android system OTAs.

A concrete timeline for Health Connect coming preloaded on Pixel phones cannot be ascertained for now, because of the lack of publicly available source code or Mainline repository with telltale indicators. However, Rahman says code changes recorded on the AOSP Gerrit suggest Health Connect will become an Android 14 system service, allowing it to become a pre-installed app on more than just Pixel phones. The implementation’s workings could differ from the current beta, and the app could sport a different package name too, but Google’s intentions seem to be clear, and we aren’t complaining.