Apple announces Fitness+, a new workout subscription service

At Apple’s new product event, Apple unveiled its new Apple Fitness+ service that is tightly integrated with Apple Watch.

Aimed as a Peloton Digital competitor, the service will include cycling, strength, treadmill, yoga, and even cool down. For $9.99/month or $79.99/year, it will offer on-demand workouts tracked with Apple Watch.

The classes can be watched on Apple TV, iPhone, or iPad, and all of the data is saved right back to the Apple Watch and the Health app.

Apple said they will add new workouts on a weekly basis, with a variety of “world-class” instructors. The classes will be accompanied by appropriate music, and users can save their playlists to Apple Music.

A purchase of a new Apple Watch will give three months free of Fitness+. It’s also included in Apple One Premier plan, Apple One is Apple’s new services bundle that includes iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and Apple TV+.

CTW’s Take

There had been rumors of Apple building a fitness subscription service, so it’s no surprise that it was announced today. Positioned as a Peloton Digital competitor, Fitness+ will likely be a popular service for those heavily invested in Apple Watch and the Apple ecosystem.

For those who are heavily invested in Peloton hardware, Fitness+ won’t offer deep integration with a Bike or Tread or the live classes. I do hope this encourages Peloton to continue to build out its Apple Watch app as well as look to add “free runs” where you can listen to your own music/podcasts while tracking activity.