Add exercise routes

This guide is compatible with Health Connect version 1.1.0-alpha12.

Exercise routes allow users to track a GPS route for associated exercise activities and share maps of their workouts with other apps.

This guide provides information on how to request permissions from the user and also outlines how apps receive permission to write route data as part of an exercise session.

Here's a brief summary of the read and write functionality for exercise routes:

  1. Apps create a new write permission for exercise routes.
  2. Insertion happens by writing an exercise session with a route as its field.
  3. Reading:
    1. For the session owner, data is accessed using a session read.
    2. From a third-party app, through a dialog that allows the user to grant a one-time read of a route.

Request permissions from the user

After creating a client instance, your app needs to request permissions from the user. Users must be allowed to grant or deny permissions at any time.

To do so, create a set of permissions for the required data types. Make sure that the permissions in the set are declared in your Android manifest first.

// Create a set of permissions for required data types
val PERMISSIONS =
    setOf(
  HealthPermission.getReadPermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class),
  HealthPermission.getWritePermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class)
)

Use getGrantedPermissions to see if your app already has the required permissions granted. If not, use createRequestPermissionResultContract to request those permissions. This displays the Health Connect permissions screen.

// Create the permissions launcher
val requestPermissionActivityContract = PermissionController.createRequestPermissionResultContract()

val requestPermissions = registerForActivityResult(requestPermissionActivityContract) { granted ->
  if (granted.containsAll(PERMISSIONS)) {
    // Permissions successfully granted
  } else {
    // Lack of required permissions
  }
}

suspend fun checkPermissionsAndRun(healthConnectClient: HealthConnectClient) {
  val granted = healthConnectClient.permissionController.getGrantedPermissions()
  if (granted.containsAll(PERMISSIONS)) {
    // Permissions already granted; proceed with inserting or reading data
  } else {
    requestPermissions.launch(PERMISSIONS)
  }
}

Because users can grant or revoke permissions at any time, your app needs to periodically check for granted permissions and handle scenarios where permission is lost.

Exercise route write and read permissions

Exercise routes have their own runtime write permission (android.permission.health.WRITE_EXERCISE_ROUTE).

To add exercise route capability to your app, start by requesting write permissions for a specific data type.

You also have to declare an exercise permission, as each route is associated with an exercise session (one session = one workout).

Here's the permission you need to declare to be able to write exercise routes:

<application>
  <uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.health.WRITE_EXERCISE_ROUTE" />
  <uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.health.WRITE_EXERCISE" />
...
</application>

To read exercise routes, you need to request the following permissions:

<application>
  <uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.health.READ_EXERCISE_ROUTES" />
  <uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.health.READ_EXERCISE" />
...
</application>

To request permissions, use the PermissionController.createRequestPermissionResultContract() method when you first connect your app to Health Connect. Several permissions that you might want to request are:

  • Read health data, including route data: HealthPermission.getReadPermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class)
  • Write health data, including route data: HealthPermission.getWritePermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class)
  • Write exercise route data: HealthPermission.PERMISSION_WRITE_EXERCISE_ROUTE

Read and write route data

Apps insert a route by writing a session with a route as a field.

If the user doesn't have write permissions and the route is not set, the route doesn't update.

If your app has a route write permission and tries to update a session by passing in a session object without a route, the existing route is deleted.

Whenever your app needs to read route data provided by a third-party app, a dialog appears asking the user to allow the read operation.

Request a route from a session

Here's how to read a session in Health Connect and request a route from that session:

suspend fun readExerciseSessionAndRoute() {
    val endTime = Instant.now()
    val startTime = endTime.minus(Duration.ofHours(1))

    val grantedPermissions =
        healthConnectClient.permissionController.getGrantedPermissions()
    if (!grantedPermissions.contains(
          HealthPermission.getReadPermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class))) {
        // The user doesn't allow the app to read exercise session data.
        return
    }

    val readResponse =
      healthConnectClient.readRecords(
        ReadRecordsRequest(
          ExerciseSessionRecord::class,
          TimeRangeFilter.between(startTime, endTime)
        )
      )
    val exerciseRecord = readResponse.records.first()
    val recordId = exerciseRecord.metadata.id

    // See https://developer.android.com/training/basics/intents/result#launch
    // for appropriately handling ActivityResultContract.
    val requestExerciseRouteLauncher = fragment.registerForActivityResul
    (ExerciseRouteRequestContract()) { exerciseRoute: ExerciseRoute? ->
            if (exerciseRoute != null) {
                displayExerciseRoute(exerciseRoute)
            } else {
                // Consent was denied
            }
        }

    val exerciseSessionRecord =
      healthConnectClient.readRecord(ExerciseSessionRecord::class, recordId).record

    when (val exerciseRouteResult = exerciseSessionRecord.exerciseRouteResult) {
        is ExerciseRouteResult.Data ->
            displayExerciseRoute(exerciseRouteResult.exerciseRoute)
        is ExerciseRouteResult.ConsentRequired ->
            requestExerciseRouteLauncher.launch(recordId)
        is ExerciseRouteResult.NoData -> Unit // No exercise route to show
        else -> Unit
    }
  }

  fun displayExerciseRoute(route: ExerciseRoute?) {
    val locations = route.route.orEmpty()
    for (location in locations) {
      // Handle location.
    }
  }

Write a route from a session

The following code demonstrates how to record a session that includes an exercise route:

suspend fun InsertExerciseRoute(healthConnectClient: HealthConnectClient) {
    val grantedPermissions =
        healthConnectClient.permissionController.getGrantedPermissions()
    if (!grantedPermissions.contains(
          getWritePermission(ExerciseSessionRecord::class))) {
        // The user doesn't allow the app to write exercise session data.
        return
    }

    val sessionStartTime = Instant.now()
    val sessionDuration = Duration.ofMinutes(20)
    val sessionEndTime = sessionStartTime.plus(sessionDuration)

    val exerciseRoute =
        if (grantedPermissions.contains(PERMISSION_WRITE_EXERCISE_ROUTE)) ExerciseRoute(
            listOf(
                ExerciseRoute.Location(
                    // Location times must be on or after the session start time
                    time = sessionStartTime,
                    latitude = 6.5483,
                    longitude = 0.5488,
                    horizontalAccuracy = Length.meters(2.0),
                    verticalAccuracy = Length.meters(2.0),
                    altitude = Length.meters(9.0),
                ), ExerciseRoute.Location(
                    // Location times must be before the session end time
                    time = sessionEndTime.minusSeconds(1),
                    latitude = 6.4578,
                    longitude = 0.6577,
                    horizontalAccuracy = Length.meters(2.0),
                    verticalAccuracy = Length.meters(2.0),
                    altitude = Length.meters(9.2),
                )
            )
        )
        else
        // The user doesn't allow the app to write exercise route data.
            null
    val exerciseSessionRecord = ExerciseSessionRecord(
        startTime = sessionStartTime,
        startZoneOffset = ZoneOffset.UTC,
        endTime = sessionEndTime,
        endZoneOffset = ZoneOffset.UTC,
        exerciseType = ExerciseSessionRecord.EXERCISE_TYPE_BIKING,
        title = "Morning Bike Ride",
        exerciseRoute = exerciseRoute,
        metadata = Metadata.manualEntry(
            device = Device(type = Device.TYPE_PHONE)
        ),
    )
    val response = healthConnectClient.insertRecords(listOf(exerciseSessionRecord))
}