Ruminating on Apple HealthKit backup

While my team was working on the Apple HealthKit iOS APIs, we came to know a few interesting things that many folks are not aware of. Jotting down our findings -

• HealthKit data is only locally stored on the user's device. 
• HealthKit data is not automatically synced to iCloud - even if you have enabled iCloud synching for all apps. 
• HealthKit data is not backed up as part of normal device backup in iTunes. So if you restore your device, all HealthKit data would be lost !
• HealthKit is not available on iPads. 

The only way we can take a backup of HealthKit data is to enable "encrypted backup" in iTunes. If this option is selected in iTunes, then your HealthKit data would get backed up.

Another interesting point from a developer's perspective is that the HealthKit store is encrypted on the phone and is accessible by authorized apps only when the device is unlocked. If the device is locked, no authorized app can access the data during that time. But apps can continue sending data via the iOS APIs.