Peloton will continue to support Apple Watch GymKit following userbase uproar

(Image credit: Peloton)

Just days after announcing that the company would stop using Apple's GymKit, Peloton has backtracked on the decision. In an email sent to Peloton members, the company said, "We heard you loud and clear" and "Based on your feedback, we will continue supporting this integration."

It was a strange decision for the company to remove GymKit, considering the feature has been a huge selling point for its Bike+ fitness bike. In 2022, the company added Apple Watch support via the Peloton One app to all of its fitness equipment, although GymKit remained a huge selling point for the more premium Bike+.

After Peloton contacted members last week to announce the fitness tracking would no longer work with GymKit from the end of February, instead going through the Peloton One app and connecting with the Apple Home app, many users voiced their anger.

The calls for Peloton to backtrack have worked, and Apple GymKit lives on. Not only will GymKit still be available on Bike+ moving forward, but the company added that "Peloton One-Tap Tracking will continue to be available on Bike+ as well as on all of our equipment," giving users the choice of how they want to track their fitness metrics.

A win for Peloton users

All-Access Peloton members can continue to use Apple GymKit, and that's fantastic for users like myself, who initially bought the more expensive Bike+ just for GymKit integration. Removing GymKit would've been a real kick in the teeth for users who have supported Peloton throughout the COVID pandemic and beyond, paying monthly memberships for fitness classes and exercise bikes.

Last week, I would've said to hold off on buying a Peloton, but this 180 makes me feel that Peloton is still one of the best exercise bikes, even if it doesn't have built-in Apple Fitness Plus classes. But if you're looking for one of the best exercise bikes for Apple Fitness Plus, iMore has you covered.

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John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.