Apple Health Export Stuck or Failed: What to Try

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 11, 2026

If your Apple Health export is stuck on preparing, cancels itself, or gives a zip that is empty or will not open, the most common causes reported by users are a very large export that needs more time, the iPhone leaving the Health app or locking during the export, too little free storage, and file problems in specific iOS versions. We found no Apple support article about export errors, so start with the checks below, which are safe and quick, then export again. Once you have a good export.zip, FitMigrate can turn it into CSV and FIT files in your browser.

Check the steps first

Apple's iPhone User Guide gives this path: open Health, tap Summary, tap your picture or initials, then tap Export All Health Data and choose a method for sharing. If you cannot see the option, scroll to the top of the Summary screen so your picture appears. Full walkthrough in how to export all Apple Health data.

Export stuck on "Preparing" or cancels itself

Apple Community has threads with titles such as "Health data export remains in preparation and cancels itself". Things worth trying, in order:

1. Give it time. With years of Apple Watch data the export can take several minutes. Watch for the share sheet before assuming it failed.
2. Stay in the Health app. Keep the screen on and do not switch apps until the share sheet appears.
3. Free up storage. The export is built on the iPhone before you share it, and it can be large. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see how much space is available, and remove items you do not need if it is low.
4. Restart the iPhone and try again.
5. Update iOS. Some export problems have been tied to specific iOS versions and fixed later, as in the cases below.

These are general checks, not fixes confirmed by Apple. If the export still fails, contact Apple Support.

The zip is empty or will not unzip

• Choose a better destination. Save to Files or use AirDrop instead of Mail or a messaging app, which may refuse large attachments.
• Wait for the transfer to finish. If you saved the file to iCloud Drive, make sure it has fully uploaded before you open it on another device. Apple's guide to finding downloaded files explains where the Files app keeps them.
• Export again. A file cut off during saving or transfer cannot be repaired. Users have reported exports that gave an empty zip; exporting again with plenty of free storage is the simplest test.

export.xml will not open, or shows a DTD error

In a 2023 Apple Community thread, a user on iOS 16 got an error mentioning the DTD when opening export.xml. A reply said an XML formatting glitch in early iOS 16 had been fixed in later versions. The other point from that thread still applies: XML is not a spreadsheet, so Excel will not show it as a table even when the file is valid. Convert it to CSV first, as in Apple Health export to CSV.

Workout routes are missing or empty

After the iOS 14 update, users reported route GPX files in the export that were valid but held no coordinates, and in one case no workout-routes folder at all. One user said the routes returned after following Apple's steps and waiting for the Health data to be restored, but that older route data had been lost. If routes are missing, check on the iPhone whether those workouts still show a map. If they do not, an export cannot bring the route back.

Remember that indoor workouts and workouts recorded with location off never have a route.

The export works but the file is huge

That is normal with an Apple Watch. A published example from 2021 had a 58 MB zip that unpacked to nearly 3 GB. You do not need to unzip it to use FitMigrate: choose the zip as it is, and it is read in a stream, so the browser never loads the whole file at once. A computer is faster than a phone for very large exports.