Manual method
Export the health and fitness data currently held in the iPhone Health app as XML.
- Open Health on the iPhone and choose Summary.
- Tap your profile picture/initials, then Export All Health Data.
- Wait for generation and use the share sheet to save the archive to a private folder or your own computer.
- Keep the original export and inspect a separate extracted copy.
Coverage and limitations: Exporting XML is not proof that another health app can import every record. Source apps may retain data that was never written into Health. Keep units, timestamps and source identifiers; do not combine readings blindly.
Size and time to allow
Illustrative small / central / large case: 0.05 / 1 / 10 GB (decimal GB). These are planning assumptions, not a measured average per person. 1 GB models several years of frequent watch measurements. Sampling frequency and record count, rather than the number of summary charts, drive size.
Preparation: On-device generation can take minutes for a large history; allow 5–30 minutes as a planning estimate, not an Apple guarantee. Transfer comes afterward.
For the central 1 GB example, network transfer alone is approximately:
| Connection | Estimated transfer |
|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 19.0 minutes |
| 50 Mbps | 3.8 minutes |
| 100 Mbps | 1.9 minutes |
Assumes 70% sustained use of the stated connection. Provider throttling, many small files, retries, local extraction and copying add time. For online backup use your upload speed. These are not estimates of the provider’s preparation queue. See calculation and large-file advice.
Store and verify the archive
An encrypted external drive is a practical main archive; a USB key can carry a copy if it has sufficient free space. Keep an additional encrypted copy on another device or private online backup, outside the source account’s sync folder. For health records, restrict access and avoid shared-family/public-link destinations; keep encryption recovery information separately.
Create apple_health/YYYY-MM-DD/originals/, preserve the untouched download, and extract a separate working copy when needed. Allow extra free space for archive plus extraction; compressed text can expand far beyond twice its size. Record account/scope, export date, date coverage and missing items in a local README without passwords.
Confirm the archive opens and contains XML; inspect earliest/latest records and a few data types. Do not infer medical meaning from a successful export. Reopen a sample from the second copy before deleting or replacing any source. Storage choices and verification.
Sources and review
Public documentation was reviewed on 27 October 2026. No signed-in export or restoration was performed. Account options and availability can change; follow the current provider instructions.