How does a Garmin device read .FIT files?

Former Member
Former Member
I ask because I am interested in developing a data screen that provides users some statistics about all running activities saved throughout the day (i.e., their average running cadence today, average heart rate, total distance ran, etc.). The watch that I own allows me to view metrics from previous activities via the 'History' module. So, I believe that the watch locally stores all the data needed for this project. However, it is my understanding that the SDK doesn't provide a way to read stored .fit files; so, I'm not sure how to go about accessing things like distance and cadence from a previous activity.