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Delays in Syncing Data

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Intro

Google Fit via Cloud can have a significant delay in data availability, more specifically between Google’s Google Fit apps & Google’s cloud data store - neither of which Junction has any control over. This is unlike using the Google Fit Android SDK directly, which can serve the latest local data immediately from the Google Fit data store, regardless of whether said local data have been uploaded to the Cloud already. Junction isn’t certain how/when Google Fit decides to upload new local data to the cloud, and also whether or not there is additional delay caused by Google’s internal data ingestion pipelines in the cloud. But one thing is for sure: it cannot be forced, and it seems to be managed by Android’s standard WorkManager framework. This means connectivity, battery usage, Doze mode and App Standby will all dynamically affect the actual upload frequency. In the worst case, this can mean uploads only happen when one is sleeping (the typical favorable time for the OS to run background work — the phone is on a charger, has been idle extensively, and probably on WiFi).

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Why not use Google Fit Android SDK directly?

One way to avoid data delay is to use the Google Fit native SDK directly. However, the Google Fit Android API has been deprecated by Google since May 2022 and Google will shut down Google Fit sometime in 2026. For this reason, we advise using its successor: Health Connect. You can find our docs here. Keep in mind that Health Connect has its own set of quirks. The most notable one is that Google decided to ban any data access when apps are in background. So it is unlikely to have the same smooth background monitoring experience as Apple HealthKit out of the box.