Apple Fitness+ Appears to Be Incompatible With AirPlay

[tekchic]

It's weird that it's working for some of us but not others. Could it be TV model? HDMI cable or adapter quirk? iPad type?

I've got a 55" Samsung 4K UHD curved screen display, Anker USB-C to HDMI adapter, HDMI 2.0 cable, and iPad Pro 11" 2018.

 

[robotica]

This is a complete joke, why launch it like this? They must know people want to have this on the big screen. No way anyone is going to be using an iPad or iPhone to do these workouts. I have goodish eyesight but would not be able to follow along at a normal distance. Seriously, this does not make any sense for a subscription service.

 

[Pinonsparrow]

Here’s what’s curious. If I select the “Preview” option for a video the AirPlay icon dropdown shows all of my devices and the preview plays on my Toshiba TV with AirPlay. But when I select the actual fitnesss video itself the AirPlay dropdown only lists my iPad as the only available “display”. WTF?

I have attached two screen shots.

First is for the preview video.


Second is after selecting the actual fitness video.


So listen up, Apple, you’ve got 30 days to figure this nonsense out or I’m outta here. You won’t be getting my $9.99, no sir.

 

[Pinonsparrow]

Peloton and Fitbit are laughing all the way to the bank!

Yeah, Fitbit had a major crash and burn with it’s Charge 3. After wating months for the release it bricked two weeks right out of the box. Complaints ran for miles. I sent it back to Amazon after reading all of the complaints and the lack of any kind of meaningful response from Fitbit except to send out another one which then, also, promptly bricked.

I finally pulled the trigger on an Apple 5 series watch. I love it.

 

[tekchic]

I just did 30 minutes using the USB-C to HDMI and it worked beautifully. Pause/play from the watch, no skips on the TV. So I'm lucky at least my adapter/iPad/TV combo at least seems to work for that. Eats the heck out of my iPad battery, however.

They really need to get their AirPlay **** together though... it would be the easiest solution for a lot of us, even if it was just mirroring. You shouldn't have to buy an Apple TV (or the newest model even in my case) to play these on a bigger screen.

 

[itsmeaustend]

Tried it this morning with a USB C to HDMI cable fro ipad to TV. No Sound, unplugged everything and tried again, and then the apple watch metrics showed up on TV, but no video.

Really want to enjoy this on a big screen on my deck, instead of hunched over an ipad. it would be even harder on the phone

that’s weird. It might be that your adapter possibly can’t transmit sound for some reason?

 

[itsmeaustend]

The actual work out video plays?? All looks good fro me until I actually play the video, then it returns to iPhone only. Is there something special about an iPad's output??

Works just fine on my iPad, yep! Got through an entire workout and it worked great.
Not sure if there’s a difference between the two. I have an iPad Pro with USB-C , that might have something to do with it.

 

[fakename123]

I was hoping to use this with airplay on my TCL/Roku tv. I'll wait to start my trial until I'm more confident that it will work.

 

[bmashed]

I can also confirm that the actual Fitness+ videos will play to my Vizio HDTV using my iPad Pro and a mini USB-C dock that has HDMI out. The mirrored display works basically as expected, with the Apple Watch vitals and rings being shown in the corners. As you'd expect with device mirroring, the display will go black if/when the iPad Pro goes to sleep. Considering that shouldn't happen when you're actively playing a Fitness+ video, I don't see this as a problem.

My Vizio TV has a setting to control the picture size of my HDMI input but despite expanding it to the max, there are still some black bars around the main video. It's unfortunate but not a dealbreaker.

Compare that to the full screen view when using Airplay to cast the same workout video's preview.

I have absolutely no idea why the preview will honor Airplay and the main workout video won't, but I'm hoping that this is a short term lapse in Apple's judgement. I was hoping to see more coverage of this feature omission. I genuinely believe that this is a bug and will hopefully be resolved in the next maintenance release. Wishful thinking, at least.

 

[billhehn]

This is trash. Hopefully it's just a bug. Any word from Apple yet?

 

[Sokratesagogo]

Everyone should have Apple TV at this point. I don’t think it’s a big issue for real Apple enthusiasts who have bought into the ecosystem.

Maybe trying to push remaining ATV stock before a revised version in the new year

 

[Brooking]

I was going to get an Apple watch 6 and sign up for Fitness+. I got an iPhone SE (2020), Airplay2 and the Apple app on my Roku device, but having read the complaints, I think I'll save my money. No way am I going to buy an Apple TV.

I did also ask Apple support on Twitter about this and they said "you can use Airplay to stream a workout from an iOS device to only an Apple TV at this time".

Overall, it just sounds like a typical ploy by Apple / Tim Cook in trying to get us to spend more money.
As a brand, I am starting to hate Apple.

 

[bostonsox]

Isn't it weird that there is not a peep from Apple about this? They haven't confirmed whether it's a bug or a feature. I am in the same boat as everyone else. I was so looking forward to this, but Airplay was the only way I could use it. It is such a bummer.

 

[robotica]

The sad thing is I would be willing to buy an Apple TV for this. But just not the current multi year old model. Sort it out apple smh.

 

[svenmany]

I bought an Apple TV that I plan to return if and when Airplay is supported. I have until early January, thanks to Christmas.

I played a lot with the features of the device; it's pretty nice, with many features other than the Apple TV application. But, for my needs, and considering I have a smart TV that has the Apple TV application, it adds no real value other than Fitness+.

 

[4pp13]

My Vizio TV has a setting to control the picture size of my HDMI input but despite expanding it to the max, there are still some black bars around the main video. It's unfortunate but not a dealbreaker.

I've used a satechi hub from my MacBook with my iPad and this seems to work in the same manner. Can't get it properly full screen, but whatever, at least it stops the annoyance that is having a large telly unable to display the fitness+. It's a bit ridiculous to think I'd have to buy an Apple TV to run this properly. Citing OS issues does not seem acceptable. I've got an OS, it's on my phone and iPad! I don't see why mirroring the screen over Airplay should be any sort of issue.

Given the people mentioning the OS requirements needed, does this mean there is a dedicated app on the Apple TV? Eg - if my iPad and iPhone were both dead - could I do Apple TV + watch?

Anyone got an idea of what connection might work for lightning? It seems from previous parts of this thread it was inconclusive. I'd love to just get a magnetic mount for the wall near the telly, paste my iPhone onto it and connect a physical cable to the telly, job done cheaper than an Apple TV and a little less annoying having to ready the iPad for this.

 

[4pp13]

The sad thing is I would be willing to buy an Apple TV for this. But just not the current multi year old model. Sort it out apple smh.

BTW, this SO much. Also, the thing that made me return the Apple TV when I'd previously tried it was the shambles that is BBC iPlayer not having subtitles. Apple should loan some developers to them as consultants to get that job done, people have been complaining about it for years! Funny thing, got a fire cube instead and guess what! BBC app is the one giving issues on that too (after the return window closed on that one unfortunately and it at least has a stopgap remedy).

 

[robotica]

Yeah we’re does the licence fee go eh? It really makes you wonder.

 

[4pp13]

Yeah we’re does the licence fee go eh? It really makes you wonder.

They were probably too busy paying people to talk about the right type of people to hire rather than actually finding and hiring them.

 

[itsmeaustend]

Could you please clarify: TV's zoom mode (thus overriding display overscan or wide settings), or Accessibility Zoom on iPadOS?

Nice setup too. I have almost the same setup, from TV & audio to the consoles & Amazon boxes, haha.

My TV's zoom settings.

 

[MacArnos]

I've just been onto to Apple Support. The adviser reckons it's a glitch and engineers are already working on a fix. That would make sense, because they're clearly not that bothered about shifting loads of physical Apple TVs. I've been holding out on updating my 3rd gen one for 18 months now, waiting for the refresh that's yet to arrive.

 

[MacArnos]

I was able to get it to Airplay with my Apple TV 4K

It works on the two latest Apple TVs, but won't AirPlay to any other devices/TVs.

 

[wallaby]

Either a large swath of people will start buying Apple TVs to use Fitness+, or Apple will see a small number of people signing up and will reconsider allowing AirPlay. My money is on the latter, maybe in six months.

 

[4pp13]

Either a large swath of people will start buying Apple TVs to use Fitness+, or Apple will see a small number of people signing up and will reconsider allowing AirPlay. My money is on the latter, maybe in six months.

I just don't see how this isn't possible in the case it is planned rather than a bug. They obviously see a this as a key market for expansion of watch take-up, especially given what future features they can delve into - really what else is a smart watch in need of other than further fitness options, cameras and better biometric security?

 

[Morrissey]

I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and used the origkinallightning to hdmi adaptor, it doesn’t work once the training starts the tv screen goes black and only the sound is transmitted, the video is on the iPhone screen, but before that I can see everything on the tv with the adaptor, the previews videos and navigate thru the app using the adaptor.

I haven’t try using my iPad 12.9” Pro 1st Gen with the lightning hdmi adaptor, that combination or usb-c is working as far as I read this forum.

I contacted Apple Support but the guy who called me didn’t understand the problem, and I think they used face mask there because the call quality was horrible.