This blog post was originally written in Japanese(the original post is here) and translated using a translation service (PLaMo Translation).

Please feel free to leave a comment if you find any unclear sentences or expressions. 🙇🏻

Xiaomi's official app "Mi Fitness" for smartwatches now supports integration with Google's Health Connect 😋.

I tried using it right away, so this time I'll be introducing it to you.

Trying to link Mi Fitness app with Health Connect - step data (using Xiaomi Smart Band 9)

● Details of this initiative: "Step count data synchronization"

This time, I tried synchronizing step count data.

Synchronize step data

Step count is a data point that Google Fit can measure itself, making it an ideal feature for testing Health Connect as it allows us to verify the synchronization between Mi Fitness and Google Fit data.

● Applications, services, and hardware to be used

This may be obvious to readers of this article 😅, but I'll mention it anyway 😋.

・App

- Mi Fitness

The first app is this one.

Mi Fitness (Xiaomi Wear) -Google Play

This is the official app for Xiaomi smartwatches and smartbands.

- Google Fit

Next up is this app.

Google Fit: 運動を記録して健康的な生活を -Google Play

This is a fitness (healthcare) data aggregation app provided by Google.
It can synchronize and collect various fitness data from third-party apps.

Even when used independently, the app automatically detects and records steps, bicycle commutes, and other activities with high accuracy (though performance likely depends on your phone's hardware).

- Health Connect

This is the final one.

Health Connect（ベータ版） -Google Play

You can select which data to sync with Google Fit for each external app. This app plays a crucial role in managing data flow when connecting Google Fit with various external applications.

This app does not operate independently—it functions as part of the Google Fit app.

・Hardware (smartwatch)

- Xiaomi Smart Band 9

The smartwatch (smartband) I used this time is this one.

Xiaomi Smart Band 9 スマートウォッチ 21日間連続使用ディスプレイ輝度強化環境光センサー搭載クイックリリース構造 150種類スポーツモードスマートバンド着信通知・LINEアプリ通知 iPhone&Android対応ミッドナイトブラック -Amazon

I've been loyal to Mi Bands since the original Mi Band 2 😋 (it was previously called just "Mi Band").

● Integration and Data Synchronization Methods

・Integration with Mi Fitness app and Health Connect

Mi Fitness app

"Profile" > "Third-Party Data" screen

then select "Health Connect" and tap "Connect."

Mi Fitness app screen

It's easy, isn't it?

By the way, there's no need to set up integration between Health Connect and Google Fit (since Health Connect operates as part of Google Fit).

・Selecting linked items (step count)

Health Connect (Google Fit app)

"Profile" > "⚙️ (top right)" > "Manage Data and Access Permissions" > "App Permissions" > "Mi Fitness" screen

and enable "Write Permission" for "Steps".

Health Connect (Google Fit app) screen

"Profile" > "⚙️ (top right)" > "Manage Data and Access Permissions" > "App Permissions" > "Google Fit" screen

and disable "Write permission" for "Steps".

Health Connect (Google Fit app) screen

・Setting data source priority

Health Connect (Google Fit app)

"Profile" > "⚙️ (top right)" > "Manage Data and Access Permissions" > "Data and Access" > "(Table? icon)" > "Data Sources and Priorities" screen

Select "Activities" and configure "App Sources" to specify which app's data should be used first.

Specifically,

Mi Fitness
Fit (Google Fit)

priority.

Health Connect (Google Fit app) screen

If you don't configure this setting, Mi Fitness app data will never be used or recorded (since Google Fit has priority by default).

Health Connect (Google Fit app) screen

That said, this settings screen is incredibly difficult to find. I wish they could make it more accessible somehow.

Setting is complete.

● Usage

Here's what I've experienced while actually using it:

How is the data being synchronized?
What data ultimately gets written to Google Fit?

from the perspective of actual user experience.

While it's quite useful, it does have some quirks—or rather, challenges for me 😫.

・When exactly does the data sync occur?

The exact timing of data synchronization can be checked in the Health Connect (Google Fit app) under

Navigate to "Profile" > "⚙️" (top-right corner) > "Manage Data & Access Permissions" > "View All Recent Accesses" > "Recent Accesses" screen

You can check this in the Health Connect app.

Accessing the data synchronization confirmation screen (Health Connect [Google Fit app] interface)

- Timing of data synchronization from Mi Fitness to Health Connect (issues identified / provisional workaround available)

I investigated under what conditions step data from Mi Fitness gets written to Health Connect.

I noticed that the data would sometimes sync successfully, while other times it wouldn't sync at all. At the beginning, I couldn't quite figure out why this was happening, but after experimenting with different approaches, I finally understood the reason.

When the Mi Fitness app is not open: Data does not sync
When the Mi Fitness app is open: Data syncs successfully

Health Connect (Google Fit app) interface

So far, everything seemed smooth—or so I thought—until a problem emerged.

After some time passed, the Mi Fitness app would stop syncing even when open.

Health Connect (Google Fit app) interface

In the worst cases, the sync only works when I open the Mi Fitness app—after that, it stops working altogether. This is really frustrating 😫—sometimes the app only syncs when I open the Mi Fitness app, and then stops syncing altogether afterward.

The causes and temporary countermeasures for this matter will be explained below.
First, we'll verify and explain whether other settings are working properly.

- The timing of data synchronization from Health Connect to Google Fit

I checked how Google Fit is handling data imports.

Although not regular, data does occasionally get transferred from Health Connect to Google Fit.

Health Connect (Google Fit app) interface

・Does the Mi Fitness step count ultimately get recorded in Google Fit?

At first, I struggled to figure out how this app works, but after some effort, I finally figured it out—or at least I think I did.

- The mysterious data recording

At what point does Google Fit actually record step data?

"Steps" > "Day" > "View Source Data" > "Day View (Daily Data)" screen

You can check this by navigating to:

Accessing the step count display screen (Health Connect [Google Fit app] screen)

According to this screen, step count data continues to record even when the Mi Fitness app and Health Connect operate asynchronously.

Confirmation screen for real-time data synchronization and step count display (Google Fit app interface)

What exactly is this data being recorded? 🤔

- Deciphering the mysterious data recording behavior

After carefully examining various screens, I discovered that the display of step count data differs depending on whether the Mi Fitness app is synced or async.

Mi Fitness Async Mode: The Mi Fitness app icon does not appear
When Mi Fitness is synchronized: The Mi Fitness app icon appears

Health Connect (Google Fit app) interface

Additionally, when synchronizing after disabling Mi Fitness sync, the step count values match those from Mi Fitness.

So the picture is becoming clear. It turns out Google Fit operates as follows:

When Mi Fitness is disconnected: Google Fit records step count data measured independently by Google Fit itself.
When Mi Fitness is synchronized: Google Fit records step data from Mi Fitness (effectively overwriting it

This appears to be the case.
(In this case, I configured the app to prioritize this source data, so once I realized this, it made perfect sense—though admittedly, it wasn't immediately obvious at first 😅.)

So we've confirmed that this portion—recording data to Google Fit—is functioning reliably.

・Issues encountered (specifically, the intermittent synchronization failures between Mi Fitness and Health Connect) and their potential causes・Provisional troubleshooting measures

As we've seen so far, aside from the occasional synchronization issues with the Mi Fitness app and Health Connect, everything else has been functioning smoothly.
Now we're finally at the final step.

Let's investigate the cause and potential solutions

- Cause

After experimenting with various settings, I discovered the issue wasn't with the "Mi Fitness app-Health Connect synchronization" itself.

The true root cause turned out to be "the synchronization between the Mi Fitness app and the Xiaomi Smart Band breaking." When this synchronization breaks, data obviously doesn't sync with Health Connect either.

[Possible Cause Evidence]
I experimented by adding a Mi Fitness widget (displaying step count) to my phone's home screen, but sometimes the Xiaomi Smart Band's data wouldn't update in the widget. At this time, data synchronization with Health Connect also fails to occur.

The Mi Fitness widget resets the step count to zero at midnight, so the app appears to be functioning properly.

(By the way, phone notifications are displayed on the Xiaomi Smart Band in real time, so the Mi Fitness and Xiaomi Smart Band are properly connected.)

In this state, if you tap the widget to open the Mi Fitness app, the data will update—even syncing with Health Connect in the process 😅.

Before tapping the Mi Fitness app widget:

After tapping the Mi Fitness app widget:

As a side note, during this period the app managed to sync the data twice—though it stopped working properly afterward 😰.

At this point, we've determined that the synchronization issue appears to be caused by a malfunction in the connection between the Mi Fitness app and the Xiaomi Smart Band.

Regarding the intermittent synchronization issue between this Xiaomi band and the Mi Fitness app, we've confirmed that others have successfully reproduced the problem after viewing this blog post. This indicates that the issue appears to be inherent to the Mi Fitness app's specifications rather than being specific to my device alone.

This appears to be either a feature or a bug in the Mi Fitness app.

The app only synchronizes activity data with the Xiaomi Smart Band when it's actively open

Since the Mi Fitness app's behavior appears to be by design, there's nothing we can do about it right now—we'll just have to wait for the app to receive an update. 😅
(These kinds of issues are tricky because it's hard to know whether they're unique to my device or widespread, so I'm truly grateful for anyone who can verify this. 🙇🏻)

In fact, this has been an ongoing problem for me for a while now 🥲.

Link (within this blog): "Attempting to Fix Sync Issues Between Xiaomi Smart Band 8 and Mi Fitness App (Mi Band 8)"

(For me) Ugh, here we go with this again 😫. Kind of feels like we've been through this before.

- Temporary measures

After analyzing these challenges (or rather, attempting to), my provisional solution is:
"Frequently manually open the Mi Fitness app"
(Not exactly the most efficient approach, I know 😅).

My recommendation (?) is to place the Mi Fitness widget (showing step count) on your phone's home screen. If the numbers aren't updating, simply tap the widget to open the Mi Fitness app.

● Improvement Requests (?) / Areas for Improvement

Anyway, I want to find a way to ensure constant data synchronization between the Mi Fitness app and the Xiaomi Smart Band.

● Summary

I managed to transfer my Mi Fitness step data from Health Connect to Google Fit.

However, since the data doesn't sync unless you open the Mi Fitness app, it's too cumbersome to use (in my opinion).
Personally, if you're always carrying your phone around, I'd recommend using the step data from Google Fit as it's more reliable.

This time, I thought "I'm really going to nail this!" when I started writing this article, but somehow it ended up feeling a bit incomplete...🙇🏻. Too bad 🥲.
(This ended up being a pointlessly long diary-style post with unnecessary details. Not good at all 😫. I'm deeply reflecting on this 🙇🏻.)

Of course, I'll continue monitoring and improving this case 😋.

[Bonus] Not just a "thank you" 🙇🏻🙇🏻

This investigation began in response to a comment (question) from someone who had previously read another article on this blog, and I ended up gathering many valuable insights that I wanted to share in this post.

This truly exemplifies what people mean by "once-in-a-lifetime opportunities" and "relationships are strange and wonderful things" (though in this case, it's a bit different 😅). Thanks to this experience, I was able to significantly improve my skills! (And they even gave me a make-up exam) - I'm truly grateful 🙏🏻.

[Bonus 2] How to Install the Widget

Long-press the app icon to display a submenu, then select "Widgets" to open the widget placement screen.

After trying to use widgets for the first time in ages, I realized the installation method on Android had changed—it took me by surprise, so I'm documenting it here as my personal reference 😋.

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