The easiest way to export Apple Health data to a spreadsheet is through VitalTrends. Connect your iPhone's Apple Health via the VitalTrends iOS companion app, and your steps, heart rate, sleep, HRV, weight, and other metrics sync automatically to the dashboard. Pro users can then download any date range as a CSV file that opens directly in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers — with each metric in its own column, already cleaned and aggregated by day.
Why Apple's Built-In Export Is Difficult to Use
Apple Health has a built-in export feature. Go to your profile in the Health app, tap Export All Health Data, and it generates a ZIP file. The problem is what is inside: a single massive XML file with millions of raw sample records — one row per heartbeat, per GPS ping, per step count update. For an active user, this file can exceed 1 GB and is not usable in a spreadsheet without significant technical work to parse and aggregate it.
VitalTrends solves this by handling the parsing and aggregation for you, then letting you download a clean, analysis-ready file.
How VitalTrends Processes Apple Health Data
When you sync Apple Health through the VitalTrends iOS app, raw samples are uploaded to VitalTrends, where they are processed through an aggregation pipeline:
- Summable types (steps, distance, active energy, basal energy): summed per day
- Averageable types (heart rate, HRV, resting heart rate, SpO2, respiratory rate): averaged per day with min and max values
- Passthrough types (sleep sessions, body mass, body fat): stored per session
The result is one clean row per day, with each metric in its own column. This is what gets exported to your spreadsheet.
What Data Is Included in the Export
A typical Apple Health CSV export from VitalTrends includes:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| date | YYYY-MM-DD |
| steps | Total steps for the day |
| distance_km | Total walking and running distance |
| active_energy_kcal | Active calories burned |
| basal_energy_kcal | Resting calories burned |
| heart_rate_avg | Average heart rate (bpm) |
| heart_rate_min | Lowest heart rate reading |
| heart_rate_max | Highest heart rate reading |
| hrv_ms | Average HRV (RMSSD, ms) |
| resting_heart_rate | Morning resting heart rate |
| sleep_duration_min | Total time asleep (minutes) |
| body_mass_kg | Body weight if recorded |
| body_fat_pct | Body fat percentage if recorded |
The exact columns depend on which data types your device tracks and how long you have been syncing.
How to Export: Step by Step
Step 1: Install the VitalTrends iOS app
Download the companion app from the App Store and sign in with your VitalTrends account. On first launch, it will ask permission to read your Apple Health data.
Step 2: Complete the initial sync
The app uploads your Apple Health history to VitalTrends. Depending on how much data you have, this can take a few minutes to a few hours on first run. After that, syncs happen automatically and quickly.
Step 3: Download the CSV
On the VitalTrends web dashboard (Pro plan required):
- Go to Export in the navigation
- Select Apple Health as the source
- Choose your date range
- Click Download CSV
The file downloads immediately and opens in any spreadsheet application.
Opening in Google Sheets
- Go to sheets.google.com and create a new spreadsheet
- Click File → Import
- Upload the CSV file
- Select Comma as the separator and click Import
You will have all your Apple Health data in a clean grid, ready for formulas, pivot tables, or charts.
What You Can Do With the Data
Once your Apple Health data is in a spreadsheet, common analyses include:
- Weekly step averages: are you actually moving more than last year?
- Heart rate trends: does your resting heart rate rise or fall with training volume?
- Sleep vs steps: is there a relationship between how much you walked and how long you slept?
- Weight tracking: plot body mass over months to visualize long-term trends
You can also upload the file to Claude or ChatGPT for AI-assisted pattern detection — the same workflow described in our guide to connecting health data to Claude AI.
