Peloton is ending Apple Watch GymKit support

In an email sent to users Monday evening, Peloton announced that it will begin transitioning Apple Watch users from GymKit tracking to Peloton One-Tap tracking starting February 27.

GymKit integration Peloton marketed as an exclusive feature of the more expensive Bike Plus, but has lost its appeal in recent years. The company introduced Apple Watch integration in 2022, bringing Apple Watch calorie and heart rate tracking to any Peloton device, like many other fitness apps.

If you’ve recently connected your Peloton to your Apple Watch, you won’t notice the change. It was the company User oriented Only use GymKit if your device does not have the latest software update installed.

Like GymKit, the Peloton app integrates data from each workout into the Apple Health app. As with GymKit, you can still track distance and speed and see heart rate values ​​on the screen. Apple’s Fitness Device API is not used. So if you have the latest updates installed, not much should change. However, it’s still understandable that those who bought the more expensive Bike Plus now for GymKit integration will be upset by this change.

As Victoria Song explains here, metrics like calorie burn can vary greatly depending on the user and type of exercise, so changes in the accuracy of the data provided may not be material. While users can enter their weight, gender, activity level and other variables that affect the number of calories burned, wearables like the Apple Watch provide an educated guess at best.

But some fitness enthusiasts still enjoy tracking their workouts over time and viewing their aggregated health data in the Apple Health app — and now the only way to do that will be through the Peloton app.