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Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

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Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#11

Post by _neil »

formerly_proven wrote: post #7

There is a native export function in Health but it generates about 1-2 GB of XML per year, since the schema is extremely verbose, so it takes a while. On the other hand, it’s very literally self-describing. But no need for handing access to Health to more or less dubious apps. I also think you can „export“ select data points to „CSV“ using a ten step Shortcut. Might be quicker.

I actually started with this but the export always had the appearance of stalling unless I left it for long periods. For a first version, the CSV export app was much quicker. And actually, the author of the app (Eric Wolter) has a nice site that will convert the xml format to csv using the FileReader api, etc.

I would like to go back to this though and add it as an integration option.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#12

Post by _neil »

dostick wrote: post #8

What Apple health actually is? It’s Apple Watch. My data coming from Oura and Withings, I wonder maybe those would have better ways to integrate with actual API.

It would work with those devices since it all funnels into apple health. I have a Withings scale as well so it’s part of my export. But you’re right, there may be easier integration with Oura.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#13

Post by woodylondon »

This is really cool - I recently worked on a tool that I installed on my iPhone, which extracts all health data nightly to CSV and then to a cloud database.

This was quite straightforward once you understand the permissions. I wonder why the OP didn’t do this and was instead using a simple health export CSV?

The main concern I had with releasing this or turning it into a tool was data security.

I have been swimming 1500m x 365 days of the year for the last 7 years. My use case was to build a personalised dashboard for my daily swimming and heart rate data to track detailed progress beyond what Apple offers. Having the ability to query this data with AI could be quite useful, rather than relying on manual reports.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#14

Post by _neil »

woodylondon wrote: post #13

This is really cool - I recently worked on a tool that I installed on my iPhone, which extracts all health data nightly to CSV and then to a cloud database. This was quite straightforward once you understand the permissions. I wonder why the OP didn’t do this and was instead using a simple health export CSV? The main concern I had with releasing this or turning it into a tool was data security. I have been swimming 1…

Simple Health Export CSV was just the fastest route to proving to myself that the idea would work. I really considered making an app but decided that was one nerd snipe too many for the given task.

But I'd like to revisit it because it would be a natural fit to just put the personal trainer flow directly in an app.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#15

Post by _neil »

monatron wrote: post #3

Very cool indeed. I started building something similar - relying on Auto Export [ https://apps.apple.com/us/app/health-auto-export-json-csv/id... ] to export my health data to an endpoint which stores it in a sqlite database. I never got as far as building an MCP server around the data but that's certainly the direction I was heading. The initial idea was to use my health data to provide context to a health/fitness a…

Great minds :)

I haven't experimented with MCP too much because I have some reservations about it, but I decided to go MCP-first for this to see how it feels to prototype around it. My typical flow would have been to go sqlite+sveltekit.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#16

Post by NotPractical »

formerly_proven wrote: post #7

There is a native export function in Health but it generates about 1-2 GB of XML per year, since the schema is extremely verbose, so it takes a while. On the other hand, it’s very literally self-describing. But no need for handing access to Health to more or less dubious apps. I also think you can „export“ select data points to „CSV“ using a ten step Shortcut. Might be quicker.

> But no need for handing access to Health to more or less dubious apps

I mean, it's been vetted by Apple, right? If they did their job then it should be fine. This isn't the Play Store you're dealing with; it's the App Store. I kinda dig the "simple utility app that does one job well" format, tbh.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#17

Post by _neil »

friggeri wrote: post #6

This is awesome! I’ve been working on and off for the last few months on an AI running coach app. Would love to compare notes of effectively prompting Claude or O3 to analyze workouts / build workout plans. In my experience it still requires a lot of hand holding (sudden mileage increases w/w, inconsistent intervals, etc)

I haven't gone deep on prompting around health data specifically, but I've built some other data agents. Agree that there isn't always an easy path, depending on the domain. It might be worth exploring multiple subagents with different focuses. I.e., have one subagent that is going to focus on writing window function queries in order to find interval variations.

My general belief around data agents is to offload as much as possible to SQL.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#18

Post by mattkrause »

dkdcio wrote: post #5
monatron wrote: post #3

Very cool indeed. I started building something similar - relying on Auto Export [ https://apps.apple.com/us/app/health-auto-export-json-csv/id... ] to export my health data to an endpoint which stores it in a sqlite database. I never got as far as building an MCP server around the data but that's certainly the direction I was heading. The initial idea was to use my health data to provide context to a health/fitness a…

it is wild to me that products like this don’t allow you to easily export all data into sqlite (or duckdb) natively. it’s 2025 and you frequently have to page through hundreds or thousands of API calls to get a trivial amount of data (or use 3p services)

I thought this was sort of deliberate for Apple Health.

People use it to track sensitive information, like reproductive and mental health data, that should only be exported very intentionally.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#19

Post by _neil »

mattkrause wrote: post #18
dkdcio wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is wild to me that products like this don’t allow you to easily export all data into sqlite (or duckdb) natively. it’s 2025 and you frequently have to page through hundreds or thousands of API calls to get a trivial amount of data (or use 3p services)

I thought this was sort of deliberate for Apple Health. People use it to track sensitive information, like reproductive and mental health data, that should only be exported very intentionally.

Agreed. I'm fine jumping through a couple hoops to get my own data in this case.

Re: Show HN: Apple Health MCP Server

#20

Post by s0sa »

dkdcio wrote: post #5
monatron wrote: post #3

Very cool indeed. I started building something similar - relying on Auto Export [ https://apps.apple.com/us/app/health-auto-export-json-csv/id... ] to export my health data to an endpoint which stores it in a sqlite database. I never got as far as building an MCP server around the data but that's certainly the direction I was heading. The initial idea was to use my health data to provide context to a health/fitness a…

it is wild to me that products like this don’t allow you to easily export all data into sqlite (or duckdb) natively. it’s 2025 and you frequently have to page through hundreds or thousands of API calls to get a trivial amount of data (or use 3p services)

This isn’t some bespoke API/format that they made up to make it harder for you to get your data. Apple did the right thing here and implemented HL7 standards like CDA and FHIR. This is a win for interoperability. There are already a wealth of tools available for dealing with these standards.
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