In 2014, Apple introduced HealthKit alongside iOS 8. HealthKit is Apple's solution for storing, managing, and sharing health data. HealthKit enables developers to read and write health data to a database managed by the operating system.

Getting started with HealthKit is not difficult as long as you are not intimidated by the slew of classes, methods, and constants the framework defines. Without a proper foundation, you may miss the forest for the trees.

In the previous installment of HealthKit Fundamentals, we discussed the sensitivity of health data and the limitations of the HealthKit APIs with respect to accessing the user's health data. Apple put these limitations in place to ensure developers respect the company's commitment to protecting the customer's privacy.