What you need to know
- Peloton has added heart rate monitoring for Apple Watch.
- Users can start a workout and, with one tap, start tracking with their watch.
- The integration works with the Bike, Bike+, Tread, or on the Peloton app.
Peloton, after blaming Apple for its dropping of GymKit support, is now working again with the Apple Watch.
In a blog post, the company announced that the service is launching a new integration with the Apple Watch that will allow you to track your heart rate and count Peloton workouts towards your Activity Rings with one tap.
This means that the Peloton app integrates with the Fitness app on iPhone, which allows you to track workouts from other apps and count them towards closing your rings every day. It should also mean that workout info can also be recorded in the Apple Health app, but the blog post does not mention that specifically.
Peloton says that, when you start a class on your Bike, Bike+, Tread, or on the Peloton app, it will send a notification to your Apple Watch to start monitoring. You can also open the Peloton app on your watch after you start your workout and tap to start tracking.
Heart rate monitoring will continue for the duration of your class. Peloton will use your heart rate to calculate your Strive Score—a personal, noncompetitive metric that measures how much time you spend in each heart rate zone to track how hard you're working out. This will give you an easy way to compare your performance across all your workouts, including cycling, strength, HIIT and bootcamp classes.Connecting your Apple Watch to Peloton will also allow you to more seamlessly log your workouts in the activity app. We hope this will make it that much easier to close your rings and keep you on the path to feeling like your fittest self.
The move comes close to a year after the company launched its own heart rate monitor to attempt to take on the Apple Watch. While the company still sells the band, it is sure to be a small contendor compared to the Apple Watch, so the addition of support is no surprise.
If you want to set up Apple Watch support with Peloton, you can learn everything you need to know on the blog post.
Bottom line: I love the Apple Watch Series 7, and its small upgrades make for a big difference on most previous models.
