Apple Launches New Weekly Fitness+ Series and Apple Music Playlists

[aperture01]

Fitness+ still useless to me until it is able to support AirPlay on TVs. And no I’m not buying a three year old Apple TV, why would Apple even think that would be an option?

They just need to release the new apple tv already! This thing better be like some crazy graphics or a game they have to release with it that's keeping it from taking so long. The processor they can put in this thing now could be game changing at its price point if they can get companies to write software to use it.

But seriously... I'm pretty sure this is a software limitation, that they haven't worked through yet. I imagine the apple overlays are piped in via bluetooth link somehow and not directly integrated into the video thus making this a harder technical challenge to sync with an airplay device. I imagine they'd have to have the link happen at the phone level and then sent via video. That would require some video encoding or a change to the airplay code I imagine.

That said i'm sure one of the goals of fitness + is to drive sales of apple tv. But this is a no go if i'm traveling and don't have access to one.

Either way fitness + has been nice experience. and I'm a person who works out daily using Beachbody on Demand. Which is good, and has personalities, but it's not a smooth experience. Apple has definitely nailed the smoothness and "gamification" aspect. It's only going to get better. It's like Dance Dance Revoluiton without the pad.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Apple fitness+ is a flop since the majority of iPhone users have no way of activating it

It is not a product targeted at iPhone users, only at Apple Watch customers. The tight integration is great, and I look forward to the service growing and expanding. Hoping the multi-user support (data for two users being displayed on the same Apple TV) and gear integration (have Fitness+ workouts control my bike/rower/treadmill) are released soon.

 

[VermontsFinest]

Apple fitness+ is a flop since the majority of iPhone users have no way of activating it

Idk, I've been absolutely loving it. Used it daily since launch and it is by far my favorite Apple service thus far. Made my watch purchase feel like it gained even more value.

I wouldn't call it a flop just because you lack the right hardware, for those that have Apple Watch, it can add a lot of value and the videos are very well-produced.

Sorry you disagree, Appleman. Fitness+ is an Apple watch service, not iPhone, not sure why there is any disagreement here.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Appleman, you've disliked both of my posts! Message received. I'd still love to hear your thoughts. I've linked to the conversation here to make it easy for you.

 

[zinacef]

If you have different Apple IDs, she would need to sign up on her own device or you can set up Family Sharing through your device if you were the one to activate it.

That’s what I thought, thanks. She said she would still like to use the service and said she’s okay not using the watch. You think that’s doable?

 

[VermontsFinest]

That’s what I thought, thanks. She said she would still like to use the service and said she’s okay not using the watch. You think that’s doable?

For sure! You could sign up for it and then she could access the workouts through any device signed in to your Apple ID that is supported by Fitness+. There is an option to do the workout without the watch once you sign up for it.

 

[zinacef]

For sure! You could sign up for it and then she could access the workouts through any device signed in to your Apple ID that is supported by Fitness+. There is an option to do the workout without the watch once you sign up for it.

Perfect! Thanks so much for the advice!

 

[Alan Wynn]

Question for current users of the service. If I activated, how can my wife use it with her Apple Watch?

If you have family sharing, Fitness+ supports up to 6 users. There are lots of other benefits to enabling family sharing, so I would strongly encourage it. If one purchase it for the year it is under $7 A month and with two users it is under $3.50.

 

[FierceCorgi]

Hi, can somebody share a link of the playlist(s) mentioned. When searching Apple Music it is not showing up (German Apple Music subscriber). Thanks!

It is buried a bit. Go to Browse, then scroll down to Categories, and then to Fitness - or search for "Fitness" and choose the category Fitness from the results.

 

[theaudiobully87]

Anyone from the U.K. not seeing this? Still seeing the ‘Welcome to Fitness+’ when I open the app.

 

[User 6502]

I struggle to see why something like this costs so much. To each their own I suppose.

 

[Alan Wynn]

I struggle to see why something like this costs so much. To each their own I suppose.

Producing the workouts with the production values they are offered is expensive. Streaming them in 4K is not free. Ongoing feature development costs money. The musical artists need to be paid for use of their work. Add up pretty quickly. That said, it is pretty cheap as a yearly service, even better value with family sharing and basically free with AppleOne Premier.

 

[LeeW]

It is actually one of the services that I don't mind paying for, 3 in my family using it almost daily. The service costs £1.54 ($2) per week or for my 3 users £0.51 ($0.69) per user, per week. Bargain really. As noted above production, costs, music, and so on, it is not going to be cheap to keep producing new workouts week after week.

I struggle to understand why some see this as costly, even for just 1 person it is good value.

 

[Appleman3546]

Idk, I've been absolutely loving it. Used it daily since launch and it is by far my favorite Apple service thus far. Made my watch purchase feel like it gained even more value.

I wouldn't call it a flop just because you lack the right hardware, for those that have Apple Watch, it can add a lot of value and the videos are very well-produced.

I understand what you are saying: that it is specific to the Apple Watch and therefore is not a flop functionality wise. However, the average consumer does not have another apple peripheral device (like Apple Watch or Apple TV) and cannot access this app or service. There are so many Apple iPhones compared to the Apple Watch/Tv. The average consumer will likely see this as a flop because they cannot access it without paying $200+ for hardware they do not need (in addition to then needing a monthly subscription).

Furthermore, it is baffling that Apple Fitness+ can be used on an iPhone when an Apple Watch/Tv is initially paired, but not without the initial pairing (even though it does clearly work without peripherals after being initially paired). Stockholders have not been happy with Apple News+ low adoption rate and I can only imagine that stockholders will not be happy about Apple's decision to gatekeep the Apple Fitness+ service behind the less than 10 million Apple Watch/tvs. The market is so much bigger without all of this peripheral gatekeeping and stockholders will likely see this as a flop.

 

[Alan Wynn]

It is actually one of the services that I don't mind paying for, 3 in my family using it almost daily. The service costs £1.54 ($2) per week or for my 3 users £0.51 ($0.69) per user, per week.

With an annual purchase it drops to about $1.54 a week, an even better deal. For those with Apple One Premier, who already had Apple Music Family Plan and 2TB, it is about $1.15 and getting News+ and Arcade free.

 

[pipes2181]

I would like to see support for multiple users, for example, two people connecting at the same time with both having their info show up on screen. Also, since we are paying for it, the option to use the service without a watch for other family members in the house whenever those with a watch aren’t home for example.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

I understand what you are saying: that it is specific to the Apple Watch and therefore is not a flop functionality wise. However, the average consumer does not have another apple peripheral device (like Apple Watch or Apple TV) and cannot access this app or service. There are so many Apple iPhones compared to the Apple Watch/Tv. The average consumer will likely see this as a flop because they cannot access it without paying $200+ for hardware they do not need (in addition to then needing a monthly subscription).

Furthermore, it is baffling that Apple Fitness+ can be used on an iPhone when an Apple Watch/Tv is initially paired, but not without the initial pairing (even though it does clearly work without peripherals after being initially paired). Stockholders have not been happy with Apple News+ low adoption rate and I can only imagine that stockholders will not be happy about Apple's decision to gatekeep the Apple Fitness+ service behind the less than 10 million Apple Watch/tvs. The market is so much bigger without all of this peripheral gatekeeping and stockholders will likely see this as a flop.

Is your 10 million based solely on Apple TV sales? One estimate I saw was 100 million Apple Watches sold. I haven't even used Apple TV for workouts, only an iPad and Apple Watch.

 

[tribeaumes]

I don’t see this new video overview about what’s new. It’s still the intro video from launch. Anyone else?

 

[sppunk]

I use Peleton (not the bike but the app) but am not in love with the cardio classes (no boxing, for instance - every cardio class seemingly requires burpees). Does Fitness+ have a bit more varied cardio offering?

 

[ics4ajd]

Anyone from the U.K. not seeing this? Still seeing the ‘Welcome to Fitness+’ when I open the app.

Nope, same as you - in the UK and not seeing this in Fitness+ (though the playlists are there in Apple Music)

 

[efp722]

That $29 bundle is a shockingly good value.

It is and it isn't. It's still way cheaper for me to go with the Family tier and annually sub to Fitness+ separately.

 

[efp722]

But seriously... I'm pretty sure this is a software limitation, that they haven't worked through yet. I imagine the apple overlays are piped in via bluetooth link somehow and not directly integrated into the video thus making this a harder technical challenge to sync with an airplay device. I imagine they'd have to have the link happen at the phone level and then sent via video. That would require some video encoding or a change to the airplay code I imagine.

If it's a hardware limitation then why was I able to use Peloton Digital with my HDMI adapter for the past year? There definitely might be some kind of limitation somewhere but when their main competitor is able to do it no problem it really does feel like Apple trying to strong arm customers into buying another apple device.

 

[efp722]

I would like to see support for multiple users, for example, two people connecting at the same time with both having their info show up on screen. Also, since we are paying for it, the option to use the service without a watch for other family members in the house whenever those with a watch aren’t home for example.

Have you tried signing in as a guest? My wife was able to sign in as a guest and do some workouts for a couple days without her watch (she was having issues updating the OS) and it worked totally fine- workouts played with no issue and just didn't display all of the stats.

 

[spazzcat]

I use Peleton (not the bike but the app) but am not in love with the cardio classes (no boxing, for instance - every cardio class seemingly requires burpees). Does Fitness+ have a bit more varied cardio offering?

The lack of kickboxing is my main complaint at this point. But I still use Les mills OnDemand for kickboxing.

 

[Alan Wynn]

I understand what you are saying: that it is specific to the Apple Watch and therefore is not a flop functionality wise.

It is not a flop in any way. Early reviews and customer response has been overwhelmingly positive.

However, the average consumer does not have another apple peripheral device (like Apple Watch or Apple TV) and cannot access this app or service.

There are currently about 100 million Apple Watch Customers quite a large target for this product.

There are so many Apple iPhones compared to the Apple Watch/Tv. The average consumer will likely see this as a flop because they cannot access it without paying $200+ for hardware they do not need (in addition to then needing a monthly subscription).

The average consumer have never heard of this product, like most products. This is a subscription targeted at a subset of Apple’s customers. Just to be clear, do you believe that Peloton is a flop because they have sold fewer units than the iPhone?

Furthermore, it is baffling that Apple Fitness+ can be used on an iPhone when an Apple Watch/Tv is initially paired, but not without the initial pairing (even though it does clearly work without peripherals after being initially paired).

Not baffling at all. From its market research, Apple understands that a video workout streaming service with no other metrics is neither very compelling nor very sticky. Given the Apple Watch’s increasing health focus, a product that is integrated with that is much more interesting. Allowing people to use the service without a Watch is not designed to be their standard interaction, but a special occasion when they have walked out without it, or it is dead.

Stockholders have not been happy with Apple News+ low adoption rate and I can only imagine that stockholders will not be happy about Apple's decision to gatekeep the Apple Fitness+ service behind the less than 10 million Apple Watch/tvs.

Can you provide some support for your statement expressing “Stockholder’s” views? There have already been about 100 million Apple Watches sold, and the sales have been increasing. If they were able to get 10% of just the current Watch customers to subscribe to Fitness+, that would likely be about $700 million in on going subscription revenue. A me-too video workout streaming service is just not very interesting and is likely to damage the product and the brand.

The market is so much bigger without all of this peripheral gatekeeping and stockholders will likely see this as a flop.

Please provide some evidence that there is a huge demand for non-Apple Watch customers to stream video workouts to their iPhones. In addition, since you every number you have presented so far seems not to be low, please tell us how much Apple would need to earn from this product for it not to be considered “a flop” by you. I always like to get people who criticize products days after their launch on record with real metrics so we can judge their statements in a few months.

 

[Alan Wynn]

It is and it isn't. It's still way cheaper for me to go with the Family tier and annually sub to Fitness+ separately.

We have different definitions of “way cheaper.” It would be $20 a year cheaper (or about $1.67 a month) but give you 1.6TB less storage and no subscription to the Wall Street Journal or the LA Times.