Microsoft has released a preview of the Microsoft Health Cloud APIs. The APIs represent an early step in Microsoft’s goal to provide programmatic access to Microsoft Health products and associated data. Apps and services that integrate with Health Cloud APIs lead to extensive health and fitness features (e.g., observations, insights, personalized recommendations, fitness coaching, individual baseline development, and more). During the preview period, the APIs remain read-only.
Microsoft launched Band in October 2014, and promised the developer community that the Microsoft health ecosystem would exist as an open environment accessible across platforms. The Microsoft Band SDK, launched in February, marked Microsoft’s first move toward its promise. The SDK was updated in April and presented at the Microsoft Build Developer Conference in April. The Health Cloud API preview invites the broader developer community to incorporate Microsoft-collected health data into third-party services and apps.
The API preview includes four APIs: profile, devices, activities, and summaries. The profile API provides the user profile for an individual user. The devices API provides the devices (Microsoft Band, phones, etc.) associated with a particular user and the details of such devices. The activities API provides activity data for a determined amount of time or user ID. Activities include sleep, run, workout, bike, guided workout, and golf. The summary API gives hourly or daily summaries for a certain date range. The API can summarize data for steps, calories, distance, and heart rate. As previously mentioned, the APIs are read-only during the preview period.
To supplement the API preview, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Band Web Tiles preview. The Web Tiles preview makes health data easier to view with a “glance.” Once a Tile is authored, the view is supported across platforms (iOS, Android, and Windows). Developers can author via their favorite text editor or utilize the Web Tiles Authoring Tool that provides user-friendly UI-based, step-by-step guide to create Web Tiles. Keep an eye out for more developments to come in the Microsoft health space.