Connect Health Connect on Android

Grant VEXA read access to heart rate, resting heart rate, sleep and steps through the Health Connect app so Sentinel can read your physiology.

AndroidAndroid tablet Updated 26 July 2026

What this does

Sentinel reads physiology, not trades. On Android the physiology arrives through Health Connect, the system app that other health apps write into. Once VEXA has permission, it can read four things: heart rate, resting heart rate, sleep and steps.

Health Connect is how a Wear OS watch, Samsung Health, Google Fit or the Fitbit app reach VEXA. A Bluetooth chest strap does not go through Health Connect at all: it connects straight to the phone over Bluetooth and needs the Bluetooth permission instead.

Before you start

Health Connect is part of Android on recent versions and a separate install on older ones. If your phone does not have it, install it from Google Play before starting.

Permissions are granted inside the Health Connect app, not inside VEXA. VEXA can open the right screen for you, and the switches themselves live in Health Connect. There is no single in-app prompt that grants everything.

VEXA reads only. It writes nothing back into Health Connect.

Health Connect polls every 30 seconds, so a watch feeding through it reacts more slowly than a Bluetooth strap, which streams continuously.

On an Android tablet you cannot grant Health Connect access from Settings. The Health Connect row opens a Health Connect pane, but the Open Health Connect Settings button on that pane does nothing. The tablet asks for these permissions once during onboarding. If you skipped that, grant them on your phone.

Steps

Open Home, then tap the avatar at the top right to open Profile.
Tap Other Services, then Health Connect.
Allow the permissions VEXA asks for: heart rate, resting heart rate, sleep and steps.
If Android takes you into the Health Connect app, turn on the same four and come back.
Open Sentinel from Home and check that the wearable section reads Connected.

If you are still setting the tablet up, allow the four permissions when onboarding asks for them.
Otherwise grant them on your Android phone using the steps in the Android tab. The tablet’s Health Connect row opens a pane, but the button on it does not open Health Connect.
Once the phone has access and a session is running, the tablet mirrors it.

What you should see

In the Health Connect app, VEXA listed under the apps with permissions, with heart rate, resting heart rate, sleep and steps switched on.

In VEXA, starting a session with your watch on fills the beats-per-minute figure within about half a minute, and the live badge names your source.

If it doesn’t work

The Open Health Connect Settings button does nothing. You are on an Android tablet, where that button is dead. Grant the permissions on your phone instead.

Permissions look granted but no heart rate arrives. Health Connect only passes on what another app writes into it. Open your watch’s own app and confirm it is syncing heart rate. If it is not, connect a Bluetooth strap instead, which bypasses Health Connect.

Readings arrive but lag behind your watch. Expected. Health Connect is polled every 30 seconds. A Bluetooth strap updates continuously.

Sleep never appears. Nothing has written sleep for last night. Wear the watch overnight, or check that its app is syncing sleep into Health Connect.

What you need to run Sentinel The plan, the phone, the wearable and the health permissions Sentinel needs before a session can read anything. Set up a Wear OS watch for Sentinel Install the VEXA watch app on a Wear OS watch, grant body sensors access, and stream your heart rate to Sentinel from your wrist. Sentinel on iPad and Android tablet Tablets show a session your phone is running. They cannot supply heart rate, and a session belongs on the phone.

Still stuck? Email support@vexatrade.ai.