Open Radar

 
Area:
HealthKit (Health / Activity)

Summary:
Bluetooth health devices (ie. heart rate strap) do not show up in Apple Health when they are set up (connected, paired, etc) through a 3rd party app instead of iOS' Settings app.

At Pebble, we're working on adding the standard Bluetooth Heart Rate Service (HRS) to the Pebble watches.
The connection between a Pebble watch and iPhone needs to be set up through the Pebble iOS app for a variety of reasons. In our opinion, it's also a much better user experience to guide our users through the set up process inside our app vs. having to explain to the to go into iOS' Settings > Bluetooth etc.

It seems that Apple Health only registers Bluetooth health devices that are connected through iOS' Settings app. Therefore, a Pebble (with HRS-enabled firmware) that has been connected from the Pebble iOS app does not show up in Apple Health.
If the Pebble is connected (starting in the disconnected state) from iOS' Settings app, it *does* show up in Apple Health.

This same behavior/issue can also be reproduced using any off-the-shelve BLE HR chest strap. (See steps to reproduce)

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Download and open the LightBlue BLE test app from the App Store.
2. Take an BLE HR chest strap and turn it on.
3. Connect to the strap using the LightBlue app.
4. Go into the "Heart Rate Measurement" characteristic and subscribe to notifications.
5. Open Apple Health.
6. Observe that the HR chest strap is not listed under Sources > Devices.



Expected Results:
In step 6, I would expect the HR chest strap to be listed under Sources > Devices.

If it's not possible to automatically list health devices that were not set up through iOS' Settings/Bluetooth menu, I would expect an option in the Apple Health app to set up already connected devices with Apple Health.

Actual Results:
In step 6, the HR chest strap is not listed under Sources > Devices.

Version:
iOS 10

Notes:


Configuration:
iPhone 6

Attachments: