Plan for onboarding users

Many apps have a custom onboarding flow for workflows such as educating the user about app features or asking for user consent. To create a seamless connection flow, your app can also use the Matchmaking API to prompt users to connect other apps that can write data your app is configured to read.

To include a custom onboarding flow, configure Health Connect to launch it automatically after permissions are granted. However, be aware that the Matchmaking API does not support this trigger. To do this, add the following to your manifest:

<!-- Required to support pre-Android 14 devices with APK Health Connect -->
<activity
  android:name=".OnboardingActivity"
  android:exported="true"
  android:permission="com.google.android.apps.healthdata.permission.START_ONBOARDING">
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="androidx.health.ACTION_SHOW_ONBOARDING"/>
  </intent-filter>
</activity>
<!-- Required to support Android 14+ devices with platform Health Connect -->
<activity-alias
  android:name="UAndAboveOnboardingActivity"
  android:exported="true"
  android:targetActivity=".OnboardingActivity"
  android:permission="android.permission.health.START_ONBOARDING">
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.health.connect.action.SHOW_ONBOARDING" />
  </intent-filter>
</activity-alias>

Users may initiate the connection to your app directly from the Health Connect app, rather than from within your app.

Version support

To support both pre-Android 14 and Android 14+ devices:

  • Recommended approach: Create a single onboarding activity that handles both scenarios. Use an activity alias, as shown in the example,to verify compatibility across Android versions.

  • Alternative approach: Export two separate activities, one for each Android version. This approach may lead to increased maintenance complexity.

Exported activity requirements

When a user attempts to connect your app to Health Connect, the exported activity is launched. This activity must do the following:

  • Display any relevant user education such as explaining what data is written or read.
  • Ask the user to grant consent if required.
  • Make a permissions request to Health Connect.
  • Carry out any other application specific logic such as scheduling a periodic worker.
  • Once complete, allow the user to dismiss the activity.

For apps that don't export an onboarding activity, Health Connect instead brings the user to the Manage permissions screen once the user attempts to connect the app. This may be acceptable for apps where permissions being granted is the only prerequisite for the integration to function.

Note that the onboarding activity may be launched more than once, for example if the user later revokes permissions to your app and then reconnects it.

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