What you need to know
- Peloton has released a new statement surrounding its drop of GymKit support for its Bike Bootcamp classes.
- The company says that limitations with GymKit prevent the feature from working.
Peloton is pointing the finger at Apple over its lack of GymKit support for Bike Bootcamp classes.
Yesterday, it was reported that the Peloton Bike+, which includes support for GymKit, was dropping support for the integration for its Bike Bootcamp classes.
Peloton debuted its Bike Plus with a much-desired feature: GymKit support. But now, the company's pulling back some of that functionality. A Peloton spokesperson confirmed to The Verge today that GymKit no longer works with Bike Bootcamp classes and instead will "only be available in cycling classes for now." The spokesperson also said: "Peloton is committed to bringing the GymKit integration to all workouts and disciplines within Apple's terms of service," seemingly suggesting bootcamp workouts didn't fall under those terms.
This was a punch in the gut for Peloton Bike+ owners who reasonably paid more for the bike for that exact feature. Syncing your Apple Watch with your Bike+ and doing a strength and workout session without having to switch between workout types on your Apple Watch is a handy feature, and the drop in support killed that. GymKit still works for the company's cycling classes, but people are understandably bummed that it doesn't work for other popular workouts.
There was a lot of confusion around who was to blame for support being dropped and, as reported by The Verge, Peloton has released a new statement adding some clarity to the situation:
Apple GymKit is designed to work with equipment-based cardio workouts. However, Peloton recently implemented GymKit with Bike Bootcamp, a multi-disciplinary class type that combines strength and cardio, which the feature does not support. Members can still use GymKit to sync their cycling-only workouts to their Apple Watch from the Bike+.
Basically, Peloton is saying that the Apple Watch is unable to switch workout types on its own, and can't (or won't) currently allow other companies to build functionality to do so.
This hasn't been much of an issue for most other apps, including Apple's own Fitness app, which tracks one workout at a time. However, for companies like Peloton, who want to blend workout types together in the same session, this has obviously uncovered a feature that should probably exist.
Until then, you really will have to start and stop cycling and strength workouts on your Apple Watch if you want to attempt to correctly track a Bike Bootcamp workout with your Peloton Bike+.
