How to Connect Garmin to Apple Health: Complete Setup, Sync Options, and Workarounds

Overview: Can Garmin connect to Apple Health?

Yes. Garmin integrates with Apple’s health platform via the Garmin Connect iOS app. Garmin can
write
many activity and health metrics to Apple Health, but it typically does not
read
data back from Apple Health, meaning the sync is largely one-way from Garmin to Apple Health [1] . Community guidance further notes that certain data, such as body weight, does not flow from Apple Health into Garmin Connect without third-party intermediaries [2] . A practical, step-by-step walkthrough of enabling the connection is also available in a recent tutorial [3] .

What you can sync to Apple Health

When you connect Garmin Connect on iPhone to Apple Health, you may allow specific categories such as workouts, steps, heart rate, sleep, distance, floors, calories, and active minutes to be written to Apple Health. Third-party setup guides and app documentation consistently list these categories as available write targets once permissions are granted [4] . In practice, you can toggle which categories Garmin is permitted to share within Apple Health’s Data Access & Devices screen after you authorize Garmin Connect on first setup [4] .

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Important limitation: One-way sync behavior

According to up-to-date industry coverage, Garmin Connect currently pushes data to Apple Health but does not pull data back from Apple Health or Apple Watch, making the integration primarily outbound from Garmin into Apple’s health records [1] . This aligns with long-running user reports: Apple Health data (for example, body weight entered in Apple Health) generally does not flow into Garmin Connect. Some users have used intermediaries like MyFitnessPal to relay weight from Apple Health to Garmin Connect, but this is an indirect workaround and may require periodic manual action [2] .

Step-by-step: Connect Garmin to Apple Health on iPhone

Use the official Garmin Connect app on your iPhone. The following steps reflect common, current menu paths shown in recent tutorials and support explainers, and you may see minor wording differences as apps update [3] [5] :

1. Install and open Garmin Connect on your iPhone and sign in to your Garmin account. Ensure your Garmin watch is paired to the app.
2. In Garmin Connect, go to More (bottom right) → Settings → Connected Apps → Apple Health. Choose Apple Health to begin authorization [5] [3] .
3. When prompted by iOS, allow Garmin Connect to write the categories you want (for example, Steps, Workouts, Heart Rate, Sleep). You can later adjust this in the Apple Health app under Data Access & Devices → Garmin Connect [4] .
4. Open the Apple Health app → Browse or your profile → Data Access & Devices → confirm Garmin Connect appears and the desired categories are enabled [3] .
5. Perform a brief activity with your Garmin device or wait for the next background sync. Your permitted metrics should start appearing in Health within a few minutes, though initial sync may take longer.

What to expect after setup

Once connected, your Garmin device data can automatically populate Apple Health, consolidating your daily metrics in one place. Many users rely on this setup to maintain Apple Health as their master record while wearing a Garmin for training. However, if you add or edit data inside Apple Health (for instance, manual body weight entries), Garmin Connect typically will not ingest that data back. This one-direction constraint is useful to keep in mind if you rely on Apple Health as your only source of truth for some metrics [1] [2] .

Troubleshooting common issues

If your data is not appearing in Apple Health after you finish a workout or record steps, consider these checks:

• Verify permissions: In Apple Health → Data Access & Devices → Garmin Connect, confirm the intended categories are toggled on for data sharing. If a category is off, Apple Health will not show that metric from Garmin [4] .
• Update software: Ensure iOS, Garmin Connect, and your Garmin device firmware are current; compatibility issues can block writes to Apple Health [4] .
• Re-authorize: Remove and re-add Apple Health under Garmin Connect → Settings → Connected Apps → Apple Health, then re-allow all desired categories [5] .
• Restart devices: Power-cycle your iPhone and Garmin watch. This frequently resolves stalled background syncs [4] .
• Force a sync: Open Garmin Connect, pull down to refresh, or initiate a new short activity to trigger data write.

If you continue to experience issues, you may contact Garmin Support through official channels from within the Garmin Connect app. When contacting support, note your iOS version, Garmin device model, Garmin Connect app version, and specific data types that fail to appear. Providing timestamps for missing activities can speed diagnosis.

Workarounds for data Garmin doesn’t read from Apple Health

For metrics like body weight, some users report Apple Health → Garmin Connect is not supported directly. A community-documented workaround uses an intermediary that can read Apple Health and then write to Garmin Connect-for example, syncing body weight via MyFitnessPal. In this approach, a typical path might be: Scale app → Apple Health → MyFitnessPal → Garmin Connect. This is not an official Garmin feature and may require occasional manual syncs in the intermediary app to propagate entries reliably [2] . If you prefer to avoid intermediaries, you can maintain body weight directly in Garmin Connect or in a compatible Garmin accessory app to ensure consistency across your Garmin ecosystem.

Alternative pathways and best practices

If your end goal is consolidated wellness reporting in Apple Health, the direct Garmin Connect integration usually suffices for daily training and activity metrics. If you participate in workplace challenges, third-party programs often rely on Apple Health as a data bridge for multiple brands, and they specifically list Garmin among compatible trackers. A support guide describing connected-app flows notes Garmin Connect appears as a compatible Apple Health tracker and outlines that some platforms only sync steps or have one-direction limitations-context that helps set expectations for enterprise or challenge use cases [5] . As a best practice, pick a single “source of truth” for each metric in Apple Health’s data sources ordering to avoid duplicates or inconsistent totals when multiple apps write the same category. You may also disable nonessential writers (for example, if both iPhone and Garmin write steps) to prevent double counting.

Use cases and examples

Consider a marathon trainee who uses a Garmin Forerunner for structured workouts. By enabling Apple Health writing from Garmin Connect, their runs, resting heart rate, and sleep can populate Apple Health daily. This allows using iOS features like Trends and sharing aggregated data with a physician through the Health app’s sharing tools, while keeping Garmin Connect as the training hub. Another example is a wellness program participant who needs steps centralized in Apple Health for a corporate challenge. Enabling Garmin → Apple Health ensures steps recorded on the Garmin watch are counted by the challenge’s app if it reads directly from Apple Health. If the program also requires body weight for weekly weigh-ins but the weight is maintained in Apple Health only, the participant might adopt the intermediary approach described above-or manually record weight in both Apple Health and Garmin Connect to keep both ecosystems aligned [2] .

Action plan: Get set up today

1. Decide your destination of record: If you want iPhone-centric insights, let Garmin write to Apple Health and keep Apple Health as your daily dashboard. If you prefer Garmin-centric analytics, record key metrics directly in Garmin Connect.
2. Connect Garmin to Apple Health: In Garmin Connect on iPhone → More → Settings → Connected Apps → Apple Health → allow categories to write [5] [3] .
3. Check and refine permissions: In Apple Health → Data Access & Devices → Garmin Connect, toggle categories on or off as needed and set data source priority for steps and workouts.
4. Test and verify: Complete a short walk or record a brief activity on Garmin, sync in Garmin Connect, and confirm the data appears in Apple Health within your permitted categories.
5. Handle gaps: For metrics Garmin doesn’t read from Apple Health, consider an intermediary (for example, a nutrition/weight app that bridges Apple Health to Garmin) or maintain those entries directly in Garmin Connect for consistency [2] .

Key takeaways

• Garmin does connect to Apple Health on iPhone via Garmin Connect and can write core fitness and health metrics into Apple’s health records [5] [3] .
• The integration is primarily one-way: Garmin → Apple Health. Garmin generally does not read data from Apple Health back into Garmin Connect [1] [2] .
• For missing inputs like body weight, indirect bridges may help, but they are not guaranteed and can require manual steps [2] .

References

[1] the5krunner (2025). Garmin to add Health Connect Support to Apple. [2] Garmin Forums (2020). Can I sync the weight from Apple Health? [3] WearHolic (2025). How To Connect & Sync Garmin Watch to Apple Health. [4] Reaction Club (2023). A Step-by-Step Guide to Connect Garmin with Apple Health. [5] 10,000 Steps (n.d.). Connecting Trackers via Apple Health.

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