When Apple Health sync happens (and why nothing imports during onboarding)

Nutrola's Apple Health sync is not a background or scheduled job. It pulls your latest weight and body-fat when the app launches, when it returns to the foreground, when you open the Progress tab, and when you open the weigh-in screen. It only runs after you finish onboarding and have Apple Health connected, which is why nothing imports during signup.

When does the sync run?

Nutrola checks Apple Health at these moments, not on a timer or in the background:

• On app launch, shortly after you open Nutrola.
• When the app returns to the foreground (for example, you switch to the Health app, change a value, then switch back). This trigger is throttled, so it runs at most once every 10 minutes.
• When you open the Progress tab (and again when you pull to refresh it).
• When you open the weigh-in screen, so the "NOW" weight reflects a fresh scale or Health reading.

Each run quietly pulls your most recent weight and body-fat samples. If Apple Health has nothing newer than what Nutrola already has, the run does nothing, so reopening the app over and over will not double-count anything.

Why didn't it import anything during signup?

By design, onboarding (including the in-flow health-connect screen) stays entirely manual. Nutrola will not adopt any Apple Health values until you have completed onboarding, so the numbers you enter during signup are the ones you typed, not values pulled from Apple Health. Once onboarding is finished and Apple Health is connected, the next sync trigger above will start importing.

The sync also only runs when Apple Health is actually connected in Nutrola. You connect it under Settings → Health & Devices. If it shows as not connected, no sync will happen no matter how many times you open the app. For what gets connected and which categories Nutrola requests, see Exactly what data Nutrola reads from and writes to Apple Health.

What the sync actually does

When it runs, the sync merges your latest Apple Health weight and body-fat into the same history that backs your in-app entries and adopts the newest measurement, by date, as your current value. Whether the freshest reading came from a smart scale (via Apple Health) or an in-app weigh-in, the most recent one wins. For how that conflict is resolved, see How Nutrola decides your current weight when a scale and the app disagree and How do I record a weigh-in and view my weight history in Nutrola?.

On Android

Android uses Google Health Connect instead of Apple Health, and the same body-metrics sync applies: it runs on launch, on the Progress tab, and at weigh-in, only after onboarding and only when Health Connect is connected. See Health sync on Android (Google Health Connect) for setup details.

If a sync still isn't bringing in data after onboarding, check Sync with Apple Health (iOS) and My data isn't syncing.

Still need help? In the app, open Profile/Settings → Support & Legal → Contact us to chat with our support assistant, or email us at support@nutrola.app.