Apple Health Sync

Sync Apple Health data into your Obsidian Daily Notes — as frontmatter properties you can query with Dataview.

Mobile-friendly. This plugin works on iOS/iPadOS through the Obsidian URL scheme. An iOS Shortcut (generated via the included Python script) reads from HealthKit and hands the data off to the plugin.

Status: v0.1.0-beta.1 — Shortcut-based MVP feature-complete. A native iOS app replacing the Shortcut is planned.

Features

• 17 daily metrics — steps, resting HR, HRV, SpO2, active/resting calories, distance, floors, weight, VO2 max, wrist temperature and more
• Sleep stages — Deep / Core / REM / Awake aggregated per wake-up day, format 7h 32min
• Workouts — Hiking, Strength Training, Running etc. written as hiking: 4.8 km · 63min · 190 kcal, compatible with the Garmin Health Sync plugin's key naming
• Multi-day payload — one shortcut run covers up to 7 days of history; plugin writes each day's Daily Note separately
• Dirty-check — identical values are not re-written (avoids LiveSync churn)
• Today is excluded — partial days are never written
• Smart detection — auto-detects Daily Notes path & format from Periodic Notes or Obsidian's core plugin
• Language auto-detection — UI language set from Obsidian (EN, DE)

Architecture

┌──────────────────┐   HealthKit    ┌─────────────────────┐     URL    ┌──────────────────┐
│ iOS Shortcut     │ ─────────────> │ obsidian://apple-   │ ─────────> │ Obsidian Plugin  │
│ (generated via   │                │  health-sync?data=  │            │ (writes to Daily │
│ generate-        │                │  <json>&v=2         │            │  Note frontmatter│
│ shortcut.py)     │                │                     │            │ via LiveSync)    │
└──────────────────┘                └─────────────────────┘            └──────────────────┘
                                             ▲
                                             │
                                 (future: native iOS app
                                  with direct HealthKit API)

The protocol between data source and plugin is documented in docs/PLUGIN_PROTOCOL.md. A native iOS app replacing the Shortcut is planned in a separate repo.

Frontmatter Output (typical day)

---
steps: 10143
resting_hr: 67
hrv: 41
calories_active: 445
intensity_min: 76
distance_km: 8.1
sleep_duration: 7h 12min
sleep_deep: 1h 35min
sleep_light: 4h 20min
sleep_rem: 1h 17min
sleep_awake: 28min
hiking: 4.8 km · 63min · 190 kcal
---

Setup

1. Install the plugin via BRAT: fcandi/Apple-Health-Sync
2. Install the Toolbox Pro for Shortcuts app on your iPhone (required for workout data — Apple Shortcuts has no native workout query)
3. Generate the shortcut:

   python3 generate-shortcut.py --days 7 --cooldown 0 -o Apple-Health-Sync.unsigned.shortcut
   shortcuts sign --mode anyone --input Apple-Health-Sync.unsigned.shortcut --output Apple-Health-Sync.shortcut

4. Transfer Apple-Health-Sync.shortcut to the iPhone (AirDrop or iCloud) and run it daily

Known limitations (Shortcut-based MVP)

• Manual trigger only — Automations via "Open App" triggers are unreliable due to HealthKit lock-state and app-switching quirks
• No workout heart rate — Toolbox Pro's GetWorkoutsIntent doesn't expose average HR
• No Sleep Score — Apple exposes the score only in the Health UI, not via HealthKit API
• HealthKit-blocked when iPhone locked — time-based automations fail during the night
• Requires Toolbox Pro — iOS Shortcuts has no native workout query; Toolbox fills the gap

A native iOS app (planned for v0.2.0+) will solve most of these by using HealthKit directly.

Roadmap

• Native iOS app — replaces the Shortcut, solves the limitations above (separate repo)
• Backfill UI in the plugin (bulk-sync date ranges)
• Workout location (reverse-geocoded, like Garmin Health Sync has)

Related

• Garmin Health Sync — sister plugin for Garmin Connect, same frontmatter key naming

License

MIT