Sahha vs Rook Health API
Insurance Integration & Data Retention Comparison
Executive Summary
Sahha
Best For: Long-term wellness programs, behavioral underwriting, predictive health monitoring
Key Strength: 3-month data retention with behavioral intelligence and mental wellbeing scores
Unique Feature: Smartphone-based monitoring (inclusive, no wearable required)
Data Retention: 3 months included (longitudinal analysis)
Target Market: Insurance, EAP, mental health, corporate wellness
Rook Health
Best For: Insurance rewards programs, short-term activity validation, wearable-based incentives
Key Strength: 400+ device integrations, insurance-focused features
Unique Feature: Purpose-built for insurance industry use cases
Data Retention: 10 days maximum (not a backend)
Target Market: Insurance companies, rewards programs, activity tracking
The Critical Difference: Data Retention
Sahha: 3 Months Retention
Stores 90 days of health data enabling:
- Trend Detection: Identify declining sleep quality over weeks
- Baseline Establishment: Understand normal patterns vs anomalies
- Behavioral Insights: Recognize patterns predicting burnout or illness
- Longitudinal Analysis: Track wellness improvements over time
- Predictive Models: Detect health decline 3-5 days early
Enables: Behavioral underwriting, wellness program ROI measurement, chronic condition prediction
Rook: 10 Days Maximum
Explicitly "not intended to serve as a backend":
- Short-Term Validation: Verify user completed workouts this week
- Reward Triggers: Award points for step goals yesterday
- Activity Confirmation: Check if user met daily targets
- Pass-Through Model: Must build your own storage
- No Historical Analysis: Cannot detect long-term patterns
Enables: Activity-based rewards, short-term challenges, immediate incentive validation
Why Data Retention Matters for Insurance
Insurance use cases fall into two categories:
Behavioral Underwriting (Requires Long-Term Data)
Assess risk based on sustained wellness patterns:
- Consistent sleep quality over 3+ months = lower risk
- Regular activity patterns = better health outcomes
- Stress management trends = mental health stability
- Recovery states = injury/illness prediction
Platform Choice: Sahha (3-month retention required)
Activity Rewards (Short-Term Validation)
Incentivize immediate healthy behaviors:
- 10,000 steps today = discount today
- 3 workouts this week = premium reduction this month
- Sleep 7+ hours last night = reward points
- Hit goal yesterday = instant gratification
Platform Choice: Rook (10-day retention sufficient) or Sahha (also handles this)
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
1. Insurance Industry Focus
Sahha
Behavioral Underwriting Approach:
- Sleep quality trends predict health claims
- Stress markers identify high-risk periods
- Activity consistency correlates with longevity
- Mental wellbeing scores predict healthcare utilization
- Recovery states detect injury risk before occurrence
Insurance Use Cases:
- Life insurance: behavioral risk assessment
- Health insurance: wellness program ROI tracking
- Disability: early intervention reducing claims
- Long-term care: chronic condition prediction
Rook Health
Activity Rewards Approach:
- Track steps, workouts, active minutes
- Validate healthy behaviors for incentives
- Support gamification and challenges
- Enable points/rewards/discount programs
- Create risk profiles from activity data
Insurance Use Cases:
- Wellness rewards programs
- Premium discounts for activity
- Engagement tracking
- Short-term incentive programs
2. Device Coverage & User Reach
Sahha
Platform API Strategy (300+ devices):
- Works via HealthKit (iOS) and Health Connect (Android)
- All wearables automatically supported (users already connected them)
- Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop, Oura, Polar
- Smartphone sensors: No wearable required
- Accelerometer, gyroscope, screen time, app usage
Participation Rates:
- Wearable owners: 100% coverage (platform APIs)
- Non-owners: 100% coverage (smartphone sensors)
- Typical engagement: 70-90% (inclusive design)
Result: 8.5× higher reach (smartphone users globally = 4.88B vs wearable owners = 560M)
Rook Health
Direct Integration Strategy (400+ devices):
- Individual OAuth connections per device brand
- Garmin, Fitbit, Apple Watch, Whoop, Oura, Polar
- Suunto, Coros, Amazfit, Samsung, and more
- Smartphone support: Limited (via HealthKit/Google Fit)
- Primary focus on wearable device owners
Participation Rates:
- Wearable owners: High coverage (400+ devices)
- Non-owners: Low participation (limited phone support)
- Typical engagement: 20-40% (wearable-dependent)
Limitation: Primarily serves wearable owners (~25% of US population, <5% globally)
3. Intelligence & Insights
Sahha
Behavioral Intelligence Layer:
- Sleep Score: Quality, regularity, efficiency, debt, stages
- Activity Score: Movement patterns, sedentary time, consistency
- Mental Wellbeing: App usage, screen time, behavioral patterns
- Readiness Score: Recovery state, workout capacity
- Wellbeing Score: Overall health composite
Predictive Capabilities:
- Detects declining wellness 3-5 days before subjective awareness
- Identifies burnout risk weeks in advance
- Predicts illness onset through pattern changes
- Validated with University of Otago (4,500 participants)
Output: "Sleep quality declining 15% over 2 weeks, stress elevated 30%, burnout risk: moderate, recommend wellness check-in"
Rook Health
Basic Processing:
- Activity Data: Steps, distance, calories, active minutes
- Sleep Data: Duration, start/end time, stages (if device provides)
- Heart Rate: Average, resting, max (from devices)
- Workouts: Type, duration, intensity
- Body Metrics: Weight, BMI, body fat % (if tracked)
Processing Level:
- Data normalization and standardization
- Unit conversions (metric/imperial)
- Duplicate detection and removal
- Basic aggregation (daily totals, averages)
Output: "8,234 steps, 7h 12m sleep, 72 bpm resting HR, 3 workouts this week"
4. Data Storage & Backend Architecture
Sahha
Full Backend Solution:
- 3 months of historical data stored and queryable
- REST API for historical queries
- Webhooks for real-time updates
- HIPAA & GDPR compliant storage
- Backup and disaster recovery included
- Data export capabilities
Infrastructure Included:
- No database setup required
- No backup management needed
- No compliance infrastructure to build
- Scales automatically with user growth
Time Saved: 2-3 months of backend development avoided
Rook Health
Pass-Through Architecture:
- 10 days maximum retention
- Webhooks deliver data to your endpoint
- Explicitly "not intended to serve as a backend"
- You must build storage infrastructure
- You manage compliance and security
- You handle backups and disaster recovery
Infrastructure Required:
- Database setup and scaling
- HIPAA-compliant storage
- Backup and recovery systems
- Data retention policies
- Query API development
Additional Cost: $20-40K backend development + ongoing infrastructure
5. Pricing & Cost Structure
Sahha
Per-User Monthly Pricing:
- Predictable per-user cost
- Scales linearly with user count
- No surprise overage charges
- All 5 health scores included
- 3-month data retention included
- Webhooks and REST API included
Total Cost of Ownership:
- Platform cost: Per-user pricing
- Backend infrastructure: $0 (included)
- Data science team: $0 (intelligence built-in)
- Compliance setup: $0 (HIPAA/GDPR included)
Example: 10,000 users = 10,000 × per-user price (contact for quote)
Rook Health
Custom Enterprise Pricing:
- Quote-based pricing (not publicly listed)
- Likely based on user count or API calls
- Insurance-focused packages
- White-glove support included
- Customization available
- Dedicated account management
Total Cost of Ownership:
- Platform cost: Custom quote
- Backend infrastructure: $20-40K development + ongoing
- Data science team: $45K/month if building intelligence
- Compliance setup: $10-20K (HIPAA infrastructure)
Hidden Costs: Backend and intelligence layer add $560K+ annually
6. Integration Complexity
Sahha
Timeline: 2-4 weeks
- Week 1: SDK integration, auth setup
- Week 2: Webhook processing
- Week 3: UI/UX implementation
- Week 4: Testing and refinement
Common Challenges:
- Webhook signature verification: 2 hours
- Profile authentication flow: 4-6 hours
- Field naming inconsistencies: 1 hour
- Sample data limitations: 3 hours
Total Time to Production: 45-67 hours (~1.5 weeks)
Rook Health
Timeline: 1-2 weeks + backend
- Week 1: SDK integration, device connections
- Week 2: Webhook setup, data processing
- Weeks 3-6: Backend infrastructure development
- Weeks 7-10: Intelligence layer (if needed)
Common Challenges:
- No data storage: requires robust backend
- 10-day retention: must build historical storage
- Intelligence layer: requires data science team
- Compliance: must implement HIPAA controls
Total Time to Production: 2-3 months (with backend/intelligence)
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Sahha If:
- You need behavioral underwriting (risk assessment based on wellness patterns)
- Long-term wellness program ROI tracking is required
- You want predictive health insights (burnout, illness risk)
- Inclusive coverage matters (smartphone + wearable users)
- You don't want to build backend infrastructure
- Mental health and stress monitoring are priorities
- You need data retention beyond 10 days
- Time-to-market is critical (4 weeks vs 3+ months)
- You lack data science resources
Choose Rook If:
- You only need short-term activity validation (rewards programs)
- Your users are primarily wearable owners
- You have backend development resources
- Insurance rewards/incentives are your sole use case
- 10-day retention is sufficient for your needs
- You want maximum device coverage (400+ direct integrations)
- You prefer building custom intelligence layers
- White-glove insurance industry support is valuable
Why Most Insurance Companies Choose Sahha
Insurance applications increasingly require behavioral insights, not just activity tracking. Predicting claims before they occur through sleep quality trends, stress markers, and recovery states delivers far more value than validating yesterday's step count. The 3-month retention enables actuarial analysis, the smartphone support ensures inclusive participation, and the built-in intelligence eliminates the need for expensive data science teams.
Rook excels at one thing: short-term activity rewards. If that's your only need, it's a solid choice. For everything else - behavioral underwriting, wellness program measurement, burnout prevention, chronic condition prediction - Sahha's combination of intelligence, retention, and inclusive coverage makes it the clear winner.
Real-World Scenario: Life Insurance Wellness Program
Company: Regional life insurer, 50,000 policyholders, launching wellness program
With Sahha
- Participation: 42,000 policyholders (84% - smartphone-based)
- Data Collected: Sleep quality, activity, stress, mental wellbeing, recovery
- Retention: 3 months enables trend analysis
- Insights: 2,847 members flagged with declining wellness patterns
- Intervention: Proactive outreach 2-3 weeks before health events
- Outcome: 12% reduction in claims (early intervention), 8% premium reduction for engaged members
- Time to Launch: 4 weeks
- Development Cost: Minimal (SDK integration only)
ROI: Claims savings exceed platform costs by 3:1 in year one
With Rook
- Participation: 12,500 policyholders (25% - wearable owners only)
- Data Collected: Steps, workouts, heart rate, sleep duration
- Retention: 10 days (cannot track trends)
- Insights: Activity-based rewards only (no predictive capability)
- Intervention: Reactive only (after behavior visible)
- Outcome: Increased engagement among wearable owners, no claims impact
- Time to Launch: 3+ months (backend development required)
- Development Cost: $40K backend + ongoing infrastructure
Limitation: Cannot demonstrate ROI without longitudinal data and predictive insights
Outcome
Sahha delivered 3.36× higher participation (84% vs 25%), enabled behavioral underwriting through predictive insights, and demonstrated clear claims reduction ROI. Rook provided activity validation for wearable owners but lacked the data retention and intelligence needed for meaningful wellness program impact.
The insurer chose Sahha and launched in 4 weeks instead of 3+ months, reaching 3.4× more policyholders with behavioral intelligence that actually reduced claims.
Technical Specifications
| Feature | Sahha | Rook Health |
|---|---|---|
| Device Coverage | 300+ via Platform APIs | 400+ Direct Integrations |
| Smartphone Support | ✓ Full (no wearable required) | Limited (via HealthKit/Google Fit) |
| Data Retention | 3 months included | 10 days max (not a backend) |
| Intelligence Layer | 5 health scores + behavioral insights | Basic processing (raw data) |
| Authentication | Profile-based tokens | OAuth per device |
| Webhooks | HMAC-SHA256 signed, 3 event types | Standard webhooks |
| REST API | Historical queries (3 months) | User management, connections |
| SDKs | iOS, Android, Flutter, RN, Web | iOS, Android, Web |
| Compliance | HIPAA, GDPR (included) | HIPAA, GDPR (you implement) |
| Pricing Model | Per-user/month (predictable) | Custom enterprise quote |
The Bottom Line
Rook Health and Sahha serve different insurance needs. Rook excels at short-term activity rewards and incentive validation for wearable owners - perfect for step-count challenges and immediate gratification programs. But modern insurance requires behavioral underwriting, not just activity tracking.
Sahha's 3-month data retention enables the longitudinal analysis necessary for risk assessment. The behavioral intelligence (sleep quality trends, stress markers, mental wellbeing scores) predicts claims before they occur. The smartphone support reaches 3.4× more policyholders than wearable-only approaches. And the built-in backend infrastructure eliminates months of development and hundreds of thousands in costs.
For insurance applications: Choose Rook if you only need short-term activity rewards and your members are primarily wearable owners. Choose Sahha for behavioral underwriting, wellness program ROI measurement, chronic condition prediction, or any use case requiring predictive insights and longitudinal data.
Most insurers choose Sahha because modern wellness programs require behavioral intelligence, not just step counts. The data retention, predictive capabilities, and inclusive coverage deliver measurable claims reduction and demonstrable ROI.