How to Export Heart Rate Data from Apple Health

Apple Health records every heart rate sample your Apple Watch, chest strap, or gym equipment captures — often thousands of data points per day. But when your cardiologist, sports medicine doctor, or GP asks for your heart rate history, getting that data out in a usable format is not straightforward.

This guide shows you how to export your heart rate history as a clean PDF or CSV file using vitalina, a free iPhone app that reads your Apple Health data and generates doctor-ready reports in under two minutes.

Why Apple Health's built-in export does not work for heart rate

Apple Health does let you export your data as XML, but the result is a single file containing every health data point your iPhone has ever recorded. There is no way to filter by metric, so your heart rate samples are buried alongside steps, sleep, nutrition, and everything else. There is also no date range control — you cannot ask for just the last three months. The file is not readable by a human, and there are no charts or summaries.

Apple doesn't hand you the XML directly either. You get an Export.zip archive that you have to unzip on a computer. Inside is a folder called apple_health_export, and the full Export.xml sits inside it alongside supporting files. For long-time Apple Watch users that XML can easily reach 2.9 GB — 11 years of continuous health data in one file.

Heart rate is especially painful: an Apple Watch can record a reading every few minutes all day long, so a few months of history quickly turns into hundreds of thousands of samples. The resulting XML is not something you can email to your cardiologist or review before an appointment.

vitalina solves this by reading your Apple Health data locally on your iPhone and letting you export just your heart rate data — for any date range you choose — as a PDF or CSV.

What you'll need

• An iPhone running iOS 16 or later
• Heart rate data recorded in Apple Health (from an Apple Watch, chest strap, connected gym equipment, or a compatible third-party app)

Step 1: Download vitalina

Download vitalina from the App Store. It's free to use with no account or sign-up required.

Step 2: Allow access to Apple Health

When you first open vitalina, tap Allow Health Access and confirm the permissions in the Apple Health prompt. vitalina only requests read access — it cannot modify or delete your health data.

Your data never leaves your device. vitalina processes everything locally on your iPhone with no cloud uploads, no tracking, and no analytics.

Step 3: Tap the "Heart Rate for Doctor" quick export

On the main screen, you'll see a set of one-tap Quick Export templates. Tap Heart Rate for Doctor to start an export pre-configured for clinical use — heart rate and resting heart rate selected, PDF format, ready to go.

If you prefer full control over the date range, which metrics to include, and format, tap Create Custom Export instead. The rest of this guide walks through the custom export flow.

Step 4: Select your heart rate metrics

In a custom export, you'll see all available health metrics grouped by category. Under Vitals, select Heart Rate and Resting Heart Rate. These are the two core metrics your doctor will want to see.

Depending on what your cardiologist has asked for, you may also want to add related metrics:

• Heart Rate Variability (HRV) — useful for stress and recovery tracking
• Walking Heart Rate Average — a good indicator of cardiovascular fitness over time
• Low Heart Rate Events and High Heart Rate Events — Apple Watch notifications that can be relevant for arrhythmia review

Step 5: Pick a date range

This is where vitalina makes a real difference over Apple's native export. You can choose exactly how far back to go:

• Last 7 days and Last 14 days — available for free
• Last 30 days, 3 months, 1 year, and All time — available with vitalina Pro
• Custom date range — pick any exact start and end date with Pro

If your cardiologist or sports medicine doctor has asked for several months of heart rate history — for example to review resting heart rate trends, post-surgery recovery, or training load — the Pro upgrade is a one-time purchase that unlocks all extended date ranges.

Step 6: Choose your export format

For heart rate, two formats are most useful:

• PDF: The best format for doctor appointments. Includes a trend chart for heart rate and resting heart rate over time, a full table of readings with timestamps, and clean formatting your cardiologist can read without any technical knowledge. You can email it, AirDrop it, or print it before your appointment.
• CSV: Opens in Excel or Google Sheets. Ideal for beat-by-beat analysis, comparing training periods, or when your doctor wants to import the raw samples into another tool.

Both formats are available for free.

Step 7: Tap "Export Now"

Tap Export Now. vitalina reads your heart rate data from Apple Health, formats the export, and generates your file — usually within a few seconds, even for a year of continuous Apple Watch recordings.

Step 8: Share with your doctor

Once your export is ready, you'll see a full preview of the file. From here, tap Export to open the iOS share sheet, where you can:

• Email it to your cardiologist or care team before your appointment
• AirDrop or share via Messages to anyone nearby
• Save to Files on your iPhone or iCloud Drive
• Print a physical copy to bring to the clinic

This is the same flow people use for cardiology visits (AFib history, arrhythmia tracking), post-heart-surgery monitoring, sports medicine and athletic training reviews, stress management check-ins, and medication adjustment appointments (for example when titrating beta blockers).

Which devices record heart rate to Apple Health?

vitalina exports any heart rate data stored in Apple Health, regardless of where it came from. This includes:

• Apple Watch — all models with a heart rate sensor (Series 1 and later, SE, and Ultra)
• Polar chest straps — H9 and H10 via the Polar Beat app
• Wahoo TICKR — chest straps and optical arm bands
• Garmin devices — via Garmin Connect synced through Health Sync or similar bridges
• GymKit equipment — treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes at participating gyms
• Third-party apps — Cardiogram, HeartWatch, and other apps that write to Apple Health
• Manual entries — readings entered by hand in the Health app

If the reading appears in Apple Health under Vitals → Heart Rate (or Resting Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, etc.), vitalina can export it.

How much does vitalina cost?

vitalina is free with 5 unique exports and date ranges up to 14 days. vitalina Pro is a one-time purchase (no subscription) that unlocks unlimited exports, extended date ranges up to all time, and Shortcuts automation. Re-exporting the same configuration is always free.

Download vitalina free on the App Store →

Frequently asked questions