Peloton is researching a pause button for Bike and Tread workouts

Outside of lack of direct hardware integration, one of the biggest differences between working out on a Peloton Bike or Tread and Peloton Digital is the included “pause” button on the app-only options. Rumors (via PeloBuddy) are now circulating that Peloton is researching a pause button for its hardware products as well.

Peloton has sent out surveys to members asking their opinions on a pause button that would presumably only work for on-demand classes. The survey is particularly interested in gathering feedback on how a Peloton class leader should work if a pause button were implemented.

Should the pause button remove leaderboard stats?

Peloton particularly asks if once a pause option is used during an on-demand class, if that person should be removed from the leaderboard. The idea here is that someone could break up a half-hour-long class into smaller 10-minute segments and expend more energy to rise to the top of the leaderboard. The survey also asks if you think that pausing an on-demand class should disqualify you from being able to earn a personal record badge on that class.

Another survey question asks whether all types of on-demand classes should include a pause button or only those without a leaderboard, such as yoga, strength, or meditation.

New Peloton features for 2021

In his year-end letter, Peloton CEO John Foley teased several new features coming in 2021, so it remains to be seen if the pause feature is something Peloton will eventually implement. In his year-end email, he said:

Our goal is to constantly add value to your Membership, which we’ll continue to do in 2021 with exciting content, including new Artist Series classes and introducing some great new features which I think you’ll love.