How to Export All Apple Health Data From iPhone

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 11, 2026

To export all your Apple Health data, open the Health app on your iPhone, tap Summary, tap your picture or initials in the top right corner, then tap Export All Health Data and choose where to send the file. The iPhone builds a file called export.zip with all your health and fitness records in XML format, plus workout routes and ECG recordings if you have them. You can then open that zip in FitMigrate to get each metric as a CSV file and each Apple Watch workout as a FIT file.

Steps to export Apple Health data

1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Summary at the bottom of the screen.
3. Tap your picture or initials in the top right corner. If you do not see it, scroll to the very top of the Summary screen.
4. Scroll down and tap Export All Health Data, then confirm with Export if the Health app asks.
5. Wait while the iPhone prepares the export. Keep the Health app open and the screen on until the share sheet appears.
6. In the share sheet, choose where the file goes, for example Save to Files, AirDrop to a Mac, or a cloud storage app.

Apple's iPhone User Guide describes these steps under "Share your health and fitness data in XML format". The exact wording of the buttons may vary with your iOS version and language.

Where to save the export.zip

• Save to Files is the simplest choice if you want to convert the export on the same iPhone. Pick a folder you will find again, such as On My iPhone or iCloud Drive.
• AirDrop sends the file straight to a nearby Mac, which is faster than email for large exports.
• Mail can fail for large exports, because mail services limit attachment size. For an export with years of Apple Watch data, Files or AirDrop is safer.

If you cannot find the file later, Apple's guide to finding downloaded files explains how to browse the Files app, including the Downloads folder and iCloud Drive.

How big is the export and how long does it take?

It depends on how many years of data you have and whether you wear an Apple Watch, because the watch records heart rate and activity many times a day. Apple does not publish typical sizes, so these are examples rather than rules:

• One published example from 2021 describes a zip of about 58 MB that unpacked to nearly 3 GB, with an export.xml of 882 MB.
• Macwelt notes that with years of data it can take several minutes before the zip is ready.

Text files compress very well, so a zip of a few hundred megabytes can hold several gigabytes of XML. That is why many spreadsheet apps and text editors struggle to open the files directly. If the export never finishes, see Apple Health export stuck or failed.

What you get

When you unzip the file you get a folder called apple_health_export. The main file is export.xml, with one line per measurement: steps, heart rate, sleep, weight and every other type the Health app stores. Next to it you may find export_cda.xml, a workout-routes folder with GPX files and an electrocardiograms folder with CSV files. There is a full breakdown in what is inside the Apple Health export.zip.

Turn the export into files you can use

The XML is a format for moving data between apps, not something you read by hand. FitMigrate reads it in your browser, without uploading it.

1. Open FitMigrate on your iPhone or computer.
2. Tap or click Choose your Apple Health export.zip and pick the file. You do not need to unzip it first.
3. Wait while the export is read. Your metrics and workouts are listed with the number of records in each.
4. Tick the metrics you want and use Download selected as CSV. One metric gives one CSV file; several give a zip of CSV files. See Apple Health export to CSV.
5. For workouts, use the FIT button on a row, or Download all workouts as FIT (zip), to get files for Garmin Connect or Strava.

A computer is faster for very large exports. Phones work too, but take longer.

Export is not a backup

Apple's privacy page lists separate ways to keep your Health data: iCloud sync, an encrypted backup on your computer, and the export. The export is a copy you can use outside the Health app. It is not a way to restore data to a new iPhone; for that, use iCloud or an encrypted backup.

After exporting, you can list and keep your whole Apple Watch workout history. If you are moving to Android or Fitbit, read Apple Health to Google Fit or Health Connect and Apple Health to Fitbit first.