Export heart rate sessions: CSV, TCX and backup

Q: What does a Beatcast CSV contain?

A few # lines about the session, then one row per reading with a UTC timestamp, the heart rate and the RR intervals. A list of session events comes last.

Q: How do I export all my sessions at once?

In History, open the More menu and tap Export all . With a search or filter on, it reads Export these and the CSV holds the sessions in the list.

Q: Can I export my weekly totals?

Yes. In History, switch to Weeks and choose Export weekly summary in the More menu. The CSV has one row per week and zone profile, with the active minutes, heart rate, and the minutes, name and range of each zone.

Q: Can I share a session as a picture or video?

Yes. Share is in the session's menu. The picture comes in four formats and the video shows the curve drawing itself. Notes and the time of day are never included.

Q: How do I move my sessions to a new iPhone?

Tap Export backup under Settings > Backup on the old phone, then Import backup on the new one.

By Andreas B. Diendorfer · ORCID · LinkedIn · Updated 30 October 2026

Short answer

Beatcast makes three kinds of file. A CSV is for a spreadsheet or your own analysis, with one row per reading, or one row per week from the weekly summary. A TCX is for training sites that take activity files. A backup moves your history to a new iPhone, or back after a reinstall. Saving to Apple Health is separate: a setting you switch on, with no file involved.

Last checked: 29 October 2026.

What a Beatcast file contains

CSV

It opens with a few lines that start with #. They hold the session start, the sensor, the zone model, and your tags and notes if you added any. When the session has a calorie estimate, three more lines carry it, the first of them # active_kcal_estimate.

The readings follow under the header timestamp,bpm,rr_intervals, one row per reading. A row looks like 2026-10-26T07:30:01Z,92,0.652;0.648. Timestamps are ISO 8601, in UTC. The RR intervals are the gaps between beats, in seconds and separated by semicolons, and the column stays empty if your sensor leaves them out. That is the column for anyone curious about heart rate variability.

At the end, a # events block lists zone changes, pauses, rests and sensor dropouts, each as timestamp,kind,value.

TCX

One activity, with a heart rate trackpoint for each reading. There is no position data, so no route and no map. Distance is written as 0 and the sport as Other.

The Calories field is always there. It holds your estimate when the calorie estimate is on, and 0 when it is off. Your tags and notes go into the activity's notes.

Find a session

History has a search field for tags, notes and zone profile names. Sort sessions, in the More menu, orders the list by newest first, oldest first, longest, or highest average heart rate. Each session also shows its resting heart rate, the lowest one-minute average in it.

Export one session

Open History and tap the session.
Tap the share icon at the top.
Choose Export as CSV or Export as TCX.
The share sheet opens. Save the file to Files, send it with Mail or AirDrop, or hand it to an app that opens the format.

The same menu has Share, which makes a picture or a video. See share a session.

A file is for a program. For people there is Share, in the same menu, and Save & Share when a session ends. You get a picture in one of four formats, from a post to a sticker, or a short video of the heart rate curve drawing itself. Beatcast makes both on the device.

Switches set what the card shows: the date, calories, a record badge, the sensor, the zone profile, tags, and your time in the target zone if the session had one. The sensor, zone profile and tags start off, and Beatcast remembers your choices. Notes and the time of day are never on it. The Instagram and TikTok buttons save the picture or video to Photos and open that app. More opens the share sheet.

Export many at once

In History, open the More menu at the top. Export all makes one CSV of every session. A search, or a tag or zone profile filter, changes it to Export these with the number of sessions, and the file holds what the list shows. Either way you get one CSV. Each session in it keeps its own # lines, so you can see where one ends and the next begins. For a TCX, export the session on its own.

Export the weekly summary

In History, switch to Weeks. Open the More menu and choose Export weekly summary to make the file, then choose it again to share it. A tag or zone profile filter applies here as well.

The header starts week_start,week_end,zone_profile,sessions,active_min,avg_bpm,max_bpm,active_kcal_estimate,kcal_sessions. A column of minutes for each zone follows, from zone_1_min up. After those, each zone gets three more columns: zone_N_name, zone_N_low_bpm and zone_N_high_bpm. They hold the zone's name and the heart rate at each end of its range, taken from the newest session of that week and profile. The cells stay empty when a profile has fewer zones than the widest one in the file. The top zone has no upper limit, so its zone_N_high_bpm is empty too. There is one row per week and zone profile, newest week first. Dates are days in your phone's time zone, minutes have one decimal, and a figure that does not exist is left empty. Your weekly goal is not in the file.

The file is made from the Weeks view, which the weekly zone 2 minutes guide walks through.

Use the file elsewhere

Strava and Garmin Connect

On 26 October 2026 I uploaded a Beatcast TCX on the Strava website and on the Garmin Connect website. Both took it. The file goes in through their upload pages, like one from another source. Beatcast has no connection to either service and sends them no data. The file carries heart rate and time but no position, so there is no map.

Other services

Plenty of training sites accept TCX files. If yours has an upload or import option for activities, that is where it goes. Strava and Garmin Connect are the two I have tried myself.

Why a file at all

You might expect sessions saved to Apple Health to reach Strava from there. As of 26 October 2026, a Strava help article says activities that another company's app writes to Health do not sync, and that only workouts recorded with the Workout app in the past 30 days do. For Strava, then, the TCX file is a route that works.

Apple Health is separate

Saving to Apple Health is optional and off by default. Switch on Save to Apple Health in Settings, and finished sessions go to Health as a workout with heart rate samples, plus active energy when the calorie estimate is on. It is write-only. Getting a strap's heart rate into Apple Health has the details.

Move your history to a new iPhone

In Settings, under Backup, tap Export backup. You get one .beatcastbackup file with your sessions and zone profiles. Put it somewhere the new phone can reach, such as Files or your computer. On the new iPhone, install Beatcast and tap Import backup in the same place.

Import adds the sessions that are missing. The file leaves out your other settings, so set those again. The same works after a reinstall, and between an iPhone and an iPad.

The backup is the only file Beatcast reads back. Best done before you wipe the old phone.

FAQ

What does a Beatcast CSV contain?

A few # lines about the session, then one row per reading with a UTC timestamp, the heart rate and the RR intervals. A list of session events comes last.

Does the TCX include GPS or distance?

No. It holds heart rate and time, and distance is written as 0.

Can I upload a Beatcast TCX to Strava or Garmin Connect?

When I uploaded one on each website on 26 October 2026, both took it. It is a file upload, with no connection between Beatcast and either service.

How do I export all my sessions at once?

In History, open the More menu and tap Export all. With a search or filter on, it reads Export these and the CSV holds the sessions in the list.

Can I export my weekly totals?

Yes. In History, switch to Weeks and choose Export weekly summary in the More menu. The CSV has one row per week and zone profile, with the active minutes, heart rate, and the minutes, name and range of each zone.

Can I share a session as a picture or video?

Yes. Share is in the session's menu. The picture comes in four formats and the video shows the curve drawing itself. Notes and the time of day are never included.

Is exporting the same as saving to Apple Health?

No. An export is a file you send somewhere. Saving to Health is an optional setting that writes finished sessions there as workouts.

How do I move my sessions to a new iPhone?

Tap Export backup under Settings > Backup on the old phone, then Import backup on the new one.

Does Beatcast read files back in?

Only its own backup file. A CSV or TCX cannot be imported.

Are the calories in the export?

Only when the session has the calorie estimate. The CSV then has three calorie lines at the top, and the TCX puts the figure in its Calories field, which otherwise reads 0. The estimate uses the same equation as the calories burned by heart rate calculator.

Where Beatcast fits

Beatcast reads a Bluetooth sensor, keeps the live number on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, and keeps your sessions for you to export later. New sensor? Start with connecting it. A sensor is required. Beatcast on the App Store. Fourteen days free, then one purchase.

Good to know

Beatcast is not a medical device. It is built for training and general wellbeing, and it cannot detect, diagnose, treat or monitor any condition. If something about your heart worries you, talk to a doctor rather than to an app.

The Bluetooth word mark is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Apple, iPhone, iPad, Apple Health, AirDrop, Dynamic Island and Lock Screen are trademarks of Apple Inc. Strava, Garmin, Garmin Connect, Instagram, TikTok and other names belong to their owners and are used only to describe compatibility. Beatcast is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by any of them.

Uploaded a file somewhere else? Say how it went in r/beatcast.