Guide to Polar Integration
Updated
by
Hewitt Tomlin
Device | HR | HRV | Passive Calories (BMR) | Active Calories | Steps | Sleep |
Polar | ⚠️ | ⛔️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
⚠️ = Data can be received from device, but with limitations (described below)
Connecting Your Polar Device to Apple Health
Whichever Polar device you use, you must download the Polar Flow app. You can connect Polar Flow app to Apple Health with these steps:
- Open Polar Flow app, tap More bottom right and go to General settings.
- Tap the Apple Health toggle to enable the connection.
- Select which categories to sync to Health app or tap Turn All Categories On.
- Tap Allow from top right to finish the connection.
What Data is Synced from Polar Flow App to Apple Health?
- Active Energy: calories burned during workouts.
- Heart rate: heart rate during workouts. *Note! Continuous heart rate is not synced.
- Resting Energy: calories burned when not working out, e.g. BMR calories.
- Sleep Analysis: sleep duration, time of falling asleep, time of waking up.
- Steps: step amount measured by your Polar device.
Prioritizing Data in Apple Health
When the Apple Health connection is established, Polar Flow app will sync all allowed categories to Health app but it is possible the Health app might not use all the data if Polar Flow app is not prioritized first in the Data Sources & Access settings. Check that Polar Flow app is set as the top priority in the Health app:
- Open Apple Health app.
- Tap any metric (that Polar Flow app syncs), like Steps.
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Data Sources & Access.
- If Polar Flow is not the first priority, tap Edit on the top right.
- Drag Polar Flow to the first position and tap Done.
You can also disable the iPhone's own Fitness tracking feature altogether if you'd like to only use the data from Polar Flow. This can be done via iOS settings:
- Go to Settings > Privacy > Motion & Fitness
- Disable Fitness tracking.
Troubleshooting Apple Health Connecting
If new data is not synced from Polar Flow app to Apple Health, make sure to go through these steps one-by-one:
- Open Polar Flow app and go to More > General settings. Tap Sync now button under the Apple Health toggle. This will sync last two weeks data again with Apple Health.
- Check that the Apple Health connection is still enabled. Open Health app > Profile > Apps > Polar Flow. Enable all categories if they're disabled.
- Check that Polar Flow app is up-to-date. Open App Store > tap your profile picture on the top right > check that all updates are installed
- Uninstall Polar Flow app from the phone. Tap Keep when the phone asks if you want to keep the Health data from Polar Flow app. Reinstall the app from App Store, sign in, go to General settings and enable Apple Health connection again. Tap Sync now.
