Connecting your watch or running app

Get your runs into Apple Health, and PaceWise can do the rest (iPhone).

Two PaceWise features read your running workouts from Apple Health on iPhone:

• Import from Health (in Personal Bests) scans your running workouts and offers your fastest 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon as personal bests.
• Weekly distance (the Trends tab) adds up the running you’ve logged each week.

Both work best when your runs actually land in Apple Health. If you run with an Apple Watch, they already do — every workout is saved to Health automatically, with nothing to set up. If you run with a Garmin, Coros, Polar or any other brand of watch, or you track your runs in an app like Strava, those runs only reach Apple Health once you switch on that app’s own Health sharing. It’s a one-time toggle inside the company’s app, and you only have to do it once.

PaceWise never asks for your watch account or password and has no servers of its own. It simply reads from Apple Health, on your phone, when you tap Import or open the Weekly distance screen — the connection below is strictly between that company’s app and Apple Health.

Pick your service for its official guide

• Apple Watch

  Nothing to do — workouts recorded with the Workout app save straight to Apple Health, ready for PaceWise to read.

  Get started with the Workout app on Apple Watch
• Garmin

  The one we test with ourselves. In the Garmin Connect app on your iPhone:

  1. Tap More (bottom right), then Settings.
  2. Choose Connected Apps, then Apple Health.
  3. Follow the prompts and allow the data you want to share — make sure Workouts is on (that’s what PaceWise reads).

  From then on, runs reach Apple Health shortly after your watch syncs with Garmin Connect.

  Sharing Garmin Connect data with Apple Health
• Strava

  In the Strava app: Settings → Manage Apps and Devices → Health → Connect, and be sure to allow Workouts. Strava only back-fills about 30 days, so connect it before you import.

  Health App and Strava
• COROS

  In the COROS app: Profile → Settings → 3rd Party Apps → Apple Health, then choose the data types to share.

  Connecting Apple Health with the COROS app
• Polar

  In the Polar Flow app, turn on the Apple Health toggle and pick the categories to share. (Polar Beat has its own, similar guide.)

  Connecting Polar Flow with Apple Health
• ASICS Runkeeper

  In the Runkeeper app, open Settings and turn on Apple Health, then enable Health Sync so your runs are sent across.

  Apple Health & Runkeeper
• Suunto, Nike Run Club, adidas Running, Peloton and most others

  Most running apps have a “Save to Apple Health” or “Connect to Apple Health” switch in their own settings — turn it on (and allow Workouts), and your runs will start flowing to Apple Health. Check that app’s help centre for the exact menu path.

Checking it worked

Apple Health itself has the final say on what an app may write: the first time an app connects, iOS asks you to allow each data type. If runs aren’t coming through, open the Health app, tap your profile picture, then Apps (under Privacy) and pick your running app — make sure Workouts is switched on there. If you can see your runs in Apple Health (Health app → Browse → Activity → Workouts), PaceWise can see them too. Lastly, check PaceWise’s own read access: iPhone Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → PaceWise.

A couple of things worth knowing

PaceWise only counts activities saved as Running workouts, so an indoor session logged as a plain “workout” or saved only as steps won’t be picked up. The sharing is one-way and read-only as far as PaceWise is concerned — it reads from Apple Health and never writes back. And Fitbit doesn’t offer an official Apple Health connection, so Fitbit runs won’t reach PaceWise without a third-party bridge app.

Still stuck? Head back to Support or email support@doughworks.dev.