Google Fit health tracking platform set to take on Apple’s HealthKit

Google is apparently preparing to launch a health tracking platform of its own, following Apple’s Healthkit reveal at WWDC two weeks ago.

Originally reported by Forbes, Google Fit will apparently pull data from third party fitness trackers, wearables and health apps, combining the information in one central hub – almost exactly like the iOS 8-exclusive Healthkit.

It’s currently unclear whether Google Fit will launch as a standalone app, or come built-in to a new version of Android. The company has decoupled most of its more popular apps from the mobile OS over the past few years, making them available to all Android owners through the Google Play Store, but it’s possible the app would require new APIs in order to import data from third party apps – possibly meaning it would arrive as part of Android 5.0.

The platform is also highly likely to come built into Android Wear devices, which are expected to finally see a retail release later this year.

Google Fit would also compete with Samsung’s Sami health platform, meaning there will be multiple companies and apps vying to become your go-to hub for health and fitness. With Healthkit exclusive to iOS devices, it will fall down to who launches on Android first – and our money is on Google beating Samsung to the punch.

Although Google has yet to comment on the rumour, the company is expected to make Google Health official at the Google I/O developer conference on the 25th of June – meaning we only have two weeks to wait to hear what it has planned.