How It Works

How Free60 Uses Apple Health and Health Connect

Free60 reads six data types from Apple Health (iOS) and Health Connect (Android): heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), sleep analysis sessions, step count, exercise minutes, and resting heart rate. It uses this data to calculate 7 automated KPIs across Sleep, Activity, and Load. No manual health logging. All data stays on your device. Nothing is sent to a server.

What does Free60 read from Apple Health / Health Connect?

When you connect Free60 to Apple Health (on iOS) or Health Connect (on Android), the app requests read access to six specific data types. Each one feeds a different part of the Health dimension:

• Heart rate: Continuous readings from your wearable device. Free60 uses these to assess cardiovascular load during exercise and recovery periods. Heart rate data feeds the Activity and Load levers.
• Heart rate variability (HRV): The variation in time between heartbeats, measured during rest. HRV is the primary input for the Autonomic Balance KPI in the Load lever. Higher variability generally indicates better recovery capacity.
• Sleep analysis sessions: Your wearable records when you fall asleep, wake up, and what sleep phases you pass through (REM, deep, core). Free60 uses these sessions to calculate all three Sleep KPIs: consistency, quality, and efficiency.
• Step count: Daily step totals feed the Activity Sufficiency KPI, measuring whether your baseline movement meets the threshold your body needs.
• Exercise minutes: Active exercise sessions (walks, runs, workouts) feed the Activity Distribution KPI, which measures whether physical activity is spread across the week or concentrated in bursts.
• Resting heart rate: Your baseline heart rate during extended rest. This feeds the Strain Trend KPI, which detects whether your cardiovascular system is recovering or accumulating load over time.

That is the complete list. Free60 does not request write access to Apple Health or Health Connect. It reads data, runs calculations locally, and stores results on your device.

How does this data become KPIs?

Raw health data is not useful on its own. A single heart rate reading or one night of sleep tells you almost nothing about structural stability. Free60 aggregates data over rolling windows, typically 7 to 14 days, and converts it into scored KPIs.

The Health dimension contains three levers. Each lever holds specific KPIs:

Sleep lever (3 KPIs):

• Sleep Consistency: Measures the regularity of your sleep and wake times over a 14-day window. Irregular schedules degrade cognitive performance even when total sleep hours are adequate. The input is sleep session start and end times.
• Sleep Quality: Measures the ratio of restorative sleep phases (deep and REM) to total sleep time. Good duration with poor phase distribution still degrades recovery. The input is sleep phase data from the health platform sleep analysis.
• Sleep Efficiency: Measures the ratio of time actually asleep to total time spent in bed. High efficiency means your sleep architecture is functioning. Low efficiency signals structural friction: you are in bed but not sleeping. The input is sleep session timestamps.

Activity lever (2 KPIs):

• Activity Sufficiency: Measures whether your daily movement meets a baseline threshold. This is not about hitting a target. It flags when activity drops below the minimum your body requires for stable metabolic function. The input is daily step count.
• Activity Distribution: Measures how evenly physical activity is spread across the week. Six sedentary days and one intense workout is structurally different from moderate activity on five days. The input is exercise minutes per day.

Load lever (2 KPIs):

• Autonomic Balance: Measures the state of your autonomic nervous system through HRV trends. Declining HRV over a rolling window signals accumulating physiological stress, a failure mode that precedes visible symptoms. The input is HRV readings during rest.
• Strain Trend: Measures whether cardiovascular load is stable, rising, or recovering by tracking resting heart rate trends. A rising resting heart rate over 7 to 14 days indicates your system is absorbing more strain than it can recover from. The input is resting heart rate.

What does Free60 not access?

Free60 requests the minimum data required. It does not access:

• Location or GPS data
• Medical records or clinical documents
• Blood glucose or blood oxygen readings
• Menstrual cycle tracking
• Medications or supplements
• Body measurements (weight, body fat)
• Nutrition or water intake logs
• Mindfulness or meditation sessions

If Apple or Google add new health data types in the future, Free60 will not automatically gain access to them. Each data type requires an explicit permission request that you approve.

Where does the data go?

Nowhere. Free60 reads from Apple Health or Health Connect, runs all calculations on your device, and stores scored results locally. No biometric data is transmitted to Free60 servers, third-party analytics, or cloud storage. The Free60 system architecture is designed so that your health data never leaves your device.

This is a deliberate constraint, not a limitation. Biometric data is sensitive. A diagnostic product that transmits your heart rate variability and sleep patterns to external servers creates a trust problem that no privacy policy can solve. The simpler answer: keep it on the device.

How is this different from what my Apple Watch already shows?

Your wearable and the health app show you data. Free60 converts that data into diagnostic signals. Your watch might show that you slept 7 hours and 12 minutes last night. Free60 tells you whether your sleep system is structurally stable over the past two weeks: are your times consistent, is the quality adequate, is your efficiency holding.

The distinction matters because a single good night means nothing if the pattern is unstable. And a single bad night means nothing if the pattern is solid. Free60 measures the pattern, not the event.

The same principle applies to Activity and Load. Your watch shows today's steps and today's heart rate. Free60 measures whether your movement distribution is adequate across the week and whether your autonomic system is recovering or accumulating strain over a rolling window.

What does setup look like?

One tap. When you first open Free60, the app requests health data read permissions. You approve, and automated Health KPIs begin calculating immediately from existing wearable data. There is no manual configuration, no calibration period for the data connection itself, and no ongoing maintenance.

The KPIs need approximately 7 days of historical data to produce stable scores. If your wearable has been recording data for at least a week, your first scores appear within minutes of connecting.