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Guide

Export Fitbit Data: Sleep Stages, HRV, Heart Rate & Activity (2026)

Fitbit collects some of the most intimate health data any consumer device records: every night of sleep broken into stages, continuous heart rate readings, HRV, SpO2, and years of activity. Since Google acquired Fitbit in 2021, there are now two ways to export. This guide covers both, explains what is actually inside each file, and shows you what you can do with the data once you have it.

Everything Fitbit records about you

  • Heart rate — continuous readings throughout the day and during workouts
  • Resting heart rate — daily resting HR trend going back to account creation
  • Heart Rate Variability (HRV) — nightly HRV readings (device-dependent, Sense and Charge 5+)
  • Sleep stages — Light, Deep, REM, and Awake broken down per night, with timestamps
  • Sleep score — nightly summary score (0–100) based on duration, depth, and restoration
  • SpO2 — blood oxygen readings during sleep (device-dependent)
  • Daily steps, floors climbed, calories burned, active minutes, and distance
  • Hourly and minute-level activity data for supported devices
  • GPS exercise files for outdoor workouts (TCX format)
  • Weight and body fat logs (if tracked via Aria scale or manual entry)
  • Food and water logs (if used)
  • Menstrual health data (if tracked)
  • Stress management score (device-dependent)
  • Device and account metadata

Two ways to export: native Fitbit vs Google Takeout

  • Native Fitbit export: choose a specific time range and data types — best for focused date-range slices
  • Google Takeout: select "Fitbit" for a full account archive — best for everything at once
  • Native gives you CSV and JSON; Takeout gives you JSON only
  • For the most complete picture of your history, use Takeout

Native Fitbit export — step by step

  1. Go to fitbit.com and log in.
  2. Click your profile icon and go to Settings.
  3. Select Data Export from the left menu.
  4. Choose a date range (up to 31 days per request).
  5. Select the data types you want.
  6. Choose CSV or JSON format.
  7. Click Export and download the file.

Google Takeout export — step by step

  1. Go to takeout.google.com.
  2. Click "Deselect all".
  3. Check "Fitbit".
  4. Click "Next step", choose ZIP format and email delivery.
  5. Click "Create export" and wait for the notification email.
  6. Download the ZIP — link expires, so download promptly.

What the Takeout archive contains — sleep, heart rate, HRV, weight

  • Sleep/ — one JSON file per night with full stage breakdown: start time, end time, and seconds in each stage (Awake, Light, Deep, REM)
  • Heart Rate/ — JSON files with intraday heart rate readings, typically one value per 5 seconds during active periods
  • Physical Activity/ — exercise sessions with start time, duration, steps, calories, and average/peak heart rate
  • Daily Activity Summary/ — one JSON file per day with steps, distance, floors, calories, active minutes, and sedentary minutes
  • HRV/ — nightly HRV data including rmssd, nightly low, and nightly high values (device-dependent)
  • SpO2/ — blood oxygen readings during sleep, stored as average nightly values and intraday data where available
  • Weight/ — timestamped weight and BMI logs
  • User/ — profile data including account details and device history
  • Foods/ — food and water logs if you used Fitbit's food tracking

Inside a sleep JSON file — what the structure looks like

  • Each night is a separate file with a levels object containing a data array
  • Each entry in the array has: dateTime, level (wake/light/deep/rem), and seconds (duration in that stage)
  • A summary object gives totals: total minutes asleep, time in each stage, number of awakenings
  • The sleep array at the top level contains one object per sleep session — useful if you logged a nap separately
  • Files are named by date (e.g. sleep-2024-03-15.json) making them easy to sort and process

Heart rate and intraday activity files — can Fitbit export hourly data?

Yes — Fitbit can export hourly and even minute-level data for supported devices. The Heart Rate/ folder from Google Takeout contains intraday readings, typically one value every 5 seconds during active periods and at lower frequency overnight.

  • Heart rate files are named by date (e.g. heart_rate-2024-03-15.json) and contain an array of { dateTime, value: { bpm, confidence } } entries
  • For hourly step data: use the native Fitbit export at fitbit.com > Settings > Data Export, select "Activities" and choose CSV — this gives you hourly step counts in a spreadsheet-ready format
  • Minute-level activity data is available for Charge, Sense, and Versa devices — the native export includes a "minutes" granularity option
  • The Physical Activity/ folder in Takeout contains per-exercise heart rate: average HR, peak HR, and fat burn / cardio / peak zone minutes per workout
  • Heart rate zone data (Fat Burn, Cardio, Peak) is in the Daily Activity Summary/ files — one JSON per day with zone minutes and calorie breakdown
  • For continuous HRV: the HRV/ folder contains nightly rmssd, nightly low, and nightly high values — one file per night for supported devices (Sense, Charge 5+)

How to open Fitbit data in Excel or a spreadsheet

  • Open in Excel: use the native Fitbit export in CSV format — go to fitbit.com > Settings > Data Export, choose CSV, and the Daily Activity Summary and Sleep files open directly in Excel with no conversion needed
  • Import JSON to Excel: open Excel > Data > Get Data > From File > From JSON, then select any file from the Takeout archive; Power Query will let you expand the nested fields into columns
  • Import to Google Sheets: upload the CSV files directly via File > Import, or use the ImportJSON formula for the Takeout JSON files
  • Analyse weight data: the Weight/ folder from Takeout contains timestamped weight and BMI entries — import weight.json via Excel Power Query or export weight as CSV from the native exporter
  • Visualise sleep stages: the Sleep/ JSON files load into Excel via Power Query; expand the levels.data array to get one row per sleep stage per night for charting
  • Import to Apple Health: use the Health Auto Export app or a third-party sync tool to bring Fitbit history into Apple Health
  • Import to Runalyze: upload JSON or TCX files for training load analysis, VO2 max trends, and fitness/fatigue curves
  • Use with Exist.io or Gyroscope for cross-platform personal analytics that combine Fitbit with other data sources

What happens if Google sunsets Fitbit

  • Google has shut down or absorbed products before — exporting now means your data is yours regardless of future platform decisions
  • The Fitbit app was rebranded to Google Fit integration for some users in 2024; data migration between the two platforms is not guaranteed to be complete
  • If your account is ever migrated or closed, the local export is your only fallback
  • Export annually at minimum — the native export is limited to 31-day windows, so <a href="/guides/backup-your-exports">back up your files</a> with a <a href="/guides/google-data-download">Google Takeout</a> of your full history

Where to store it

  • Store in a folder named fitbit-2026-04
  • The Sleep/ and Heart Rate/ folders are the most valuable — keep these even if you discard the rest
  • Off-site copy in ProtonDrive (go.getproton.me/SH2aK) or pCloud (partner.pcloud.com/r/155235)
  • HRV and SpO2 files in particular are worth preserving — they are not easily reconstructed and represent longitudinal health data

Quick version

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Related guides

FAQ

Should I use the native Fitbit export or Google Takeout?

Native for focused date ranges up to 31 days; Takeout for your complete history in one go.

Does downloading my Fitbit data delete it?

No — exporting creates a copy; data stays on servers unless you separately request deletion.

What format is the data in?

Google Takeout exports JSON; native export offers both CSV and JSON.

What is HRV and is it in the export?

Heart Rate Variability — a nightly metric measuring the variation between heartbeats during sleep; included in the export for supported devices like Sense and Charge 5+.

What is inside the sleep files?

Each night is a JSON file with a full stage breakdown — Light, Deep, REM, and Awake — plus a summary with total minutes and number of awakenings.

Can I import my Fitbit data into Apple Health?

Not directly from the export file — you need a third-party sync tool like Health Auto Export or a Fitbit-to-Apple Health connector app.

What happens to my data if Google shuts down Fitbit?

Your local export is the only guaranteed copy — export before any platform transition rather than assuming migration will be complete.

Can Fitbit export hourly data?

Yes. The native Fitbit export at fitbit.com > Settings > Data Export includes hourly and minute-level activity data for supported devices. Select "Activities" and choose CSV format to get hourly step counts in a spreadsheet-ready file. Google Takeout also includes intraday heart rate readings in the Heart Rate/ folder.

How do I open Fitbit data in Excel?

For the native export: choose CSV format and the files open directly in Excel. For Google Takeout JSON files: use Excel > Data > Get Data > From File > From JSON, then use Power Query to expand the nested data into columns. The Daily Activity Summary and Weight files are the most straightforward to work with.

How do I export Fitbit weight data?

Two options: (1) native export at fitbit.com > Settings > Data Export — select "Body" and choose CSV for a spreadsheet-ready file with date, weight, BMI, and fat percentage columns; (2) Google Takeout — the Weight/ folder contains weight.json with the same data in JSON format, importable via Excel Power Query.