Switching From Apple Watch to Garmin: What Data Comes With You

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 11, 2026

When you move from Apple Watch to a Garmin watch, your workouts can come with you: export your Apple Health data, convert each workout to a FIT file with its GPS route and heart rate, and import the files into Garmin Connect. Your other history, such as steps, sleep, weight and resting heart rate, has no matching import in Garmin Connect that we could find, so the practical way to keep it is as CSV files you own. Activity rings, awards and Apple-only features do not move. FitMigrate does both conversions in your browser from one export.zip.

What comes with you, and how

• Workouts with GPS and heart rate: yes, as FIT files imported on the Garmin Connect website. Runs, rides, walks, hikes and other workouts keep their route, heart rate, distance, duration and calories.
• Indoor workouts: yes, as FIT files with time and heart rate but no map.
• Steps, sleep, weight, heart rate history and other metrics: keep them as CSV files, one per metric. They stay readable in any spreadsheet for as long as you need them.
• ECG recordings: they stay in your export.zip as Apple wrote them, one CSV file per recording.
• Activity rings, awards, trends and other Apple features: these are part of Apple's apps and do not transfer.

Step 1: make a complete export before you switch

1. On the iPhone paired with your Apple Watch, let the watch sync, then open the Health app.
2. Tap Summary, tap your picture or initials, and tap Export All Health Data.
3. Save export.zip somewhere you will keep, such as a computer or cloud storage you trust.

Do this before you unpair or reset the Apple Watch, and keep the zip even after converting it. It is the most complete copy of your history. See how to export all Apple Health data.

Step 2: move your workouts to Garmin Connect

1. Open FitMigrate on a computer and choose the export.zip.
2. Click Download all workouts as FIT (zip) and unzip the download.
3. Sign in to Garmin Connect in a browser and open the Import Data page. The way to reach it may vary between versions of the site.
4. Import a few files first, check them, then import the rest.

Step by step, with what each file contains: upload Apple Watch workouts to Garmin Connect.

Step 3: keep the rest as CSV

1. In FitMigrate, under Metrics to CSV, click Select all, or tick only what you care about.
2. Click Download selected as CSV and store the zip next to your export.

Each file has start date, end date, value, unit and source, so you can still chart your old data or compare it with what your Garmin records. How to open them: Apple Health export to CSV.

Things to know before you start

• Different devices, different numbers. Apple and Garmin measure and estimate in their own ways. Do not expect step counts, calories or sleep from the two watches to line up exactly.
• Connected apps. If your Garmin Connect account shares activities with Strava or other services, imported workouts may be passed on too. Check those connections before a big import, especially if Strava already has your Apple Watch workouts.
• Imported file details. Each workout arrives as one lap. Splits, intervals, running power and cadence are not included.
• Apple Health after the switch. If you still want everything in Apple Health on your iPhone, Garmin Connect can share data with it from your new watch. The data types it shares are decided by Garmin.

Alternatives

If you want to keep moving data between several services over time, an iPhone app such as RunGap, which lists Apple Watch, Apple Health and Garmin among the services it works with, may suit you better than a one-off conversion. Its exports need a paid subscription. FitMigrate is free, needs no account and keeps your data in your browser, which fits a single move of your whole history.

Heading to a different brand? See how the same files work with COROS Training Hub, and what Polar does and does not accept in Apple Health to Polar Flow.