Copyright BGR
Almost five years ago, Apple released Apple Fitness+, its fitness service that integrates the very best of its products with a healthy lifestyle. Available on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, the company slowly expanded it to more regions while consistently adding new practices and improving some of its best features, such as the Time to Walk and Time to Run programs. The service is currently available as a $9.99/monthly subscription or with the pricier Apple One tier, which means not every Apple user has had the chance (or willingness) to experience the service. This is why Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple Fitness+ is one of the company's weakest digital offerings, suffering from "high churns and little revenue upside." In his story, Gurman says that the future of Fitness+ is under review, but it seems Apple is not considering canceling it because it has a small but loyal customer base, and ending this service would do more harm than good for the company. As one of the loyal Apple Fitness+ users, I'm glad to hear that, and with a new management taking over the service, it seems the service could see new life soon. Apple currently has two kinds of services: The ones it's heavily promoting and putting all its weight behind, and the others. In the first group, we have iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple TV. On the other hand, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, and Apple Fitness+, which just... exist. To be fair, Apple gave a few pushes to Apple Arcade over the years, but the service hasn't gotten much attention in the past few months. With Apple Fitness+, the service was in the midst of a controversy regarding its VP and toxic work environment. That said, with Apple health head Sumbul Desai and services' boss Eddy Cue taking over the service, it's possible that things could greatly improve. Over the years, the main change Apple Fitness+ has made was the ability to use the service without an Apple Watch. With AirPods Pro 3 and Powerbeats Pro 2 now offering heart rate measurement, it's even easier to enjoy the service and track workouts without a watch. Still, Apple needs to be clearer about the features and advantages of subscribing to the service. There's a lot to love about Apple Fitness+. The trainers are great, the service gets new workouts every week, and the sessions range from very light workouts to a good sweat. My favorite workouts are treadmill and yoga, but I tried a few Time to Walk, Time to Run, and meditation sessions. What usually makes me come back to the service is resetting my balance, but also when I know the company is having Artist Spotlight sessions, which honestly makes the workout activities way more enjoyable. Unfortunately, Apple usually updates these sessions once or twice a year for a few weeks, and then we hear nothing. Besides that, a huge issue with the service is the language barrier. While it does offer subtitles, I bet someone who doesn't speak English will have a hard time understanding what to do next while doing a downward dog. iOS beta code suggests that dubbed versions of Apple Fitness+ might be coming in the future, and I do think this could be a huge way to promote the service as a more inclusive offering. Other options could be making it cheaper, offering a longer trial to new users, or adding it to the Apple One Family tier. In other words, Apple has one of the best fitness services in the world, it just has to expand and improve how to promote it.
