Peloton announced in an email on Monday that it will stop supporting Apple Watch's GymKit starting February 27: Instead, it will track your health and wellness metrics within its own Peloton app.
Peloton One-Tap tracking, as its replacement is called, doesn't mean your Peloton workouts will need additional manual tracking to register in Apple Health. GymKit is the Apple Watch protocol that allows the Watch to connect directly to large gym equipment, such as stationary bikes and treadmills: instead, the device will connect through the Peloton app and collect your workout data via through the app.
Peloton users who originally purchased a Peloton Bike Plus for the announced Apple Watch GymKit integration may be feeling a little sad, but even though GymKit integration is a key focus of the more affordable Bike+ at launch, there's a good chance that I don't get much out of it. a difference in your daily life.
This isn't the first time Peloton Bike Plus has lost a feature, as the in-class video calling feature for friends will be removed in 2022 for the Bike Plus, Bike, and Peloton Tread models.
Peloton also removed the Just Run feature on its treadmill for users without a Peloton subscription, but replaced it after an outcry.
Analysis: What does this mean for Peloton/Apple Watch users?
Aside from being a little upset about a feature being removed, your daily usage is unlikely to change much.
Some users have complained that GymKit is a bit unreliable on forums like Reddit, while others say the same about One-Tap. However, moving away from Apple's API should not have any adverse effects on data transfer to Peloton for Apple Watch users.
Apple Health, Apple's place for all your health and fitness data, may only receive a subset of data, but all of your stats will still be in your Peloton account.
In many ways, it's hard to judge how successful GymKit has been since it arrived in October 2017. The API has often felt underused, and while Peloton made a big deal of its inclusion in Bike Plus, many other manufacturers and many gyms , they apparently chose not to update their hardware or software to take advantage of it.
The Peloton app was redesigned last year for use on and off the company's own-brand machine, including three new multi-tier paid subscription tiers.
