Peloton GymKit support is being withdrawn later this month, says the company. However, the company says that Apple Watch users won’t be left out in the cold …
Peloton GymKit support
Back in 2020, GymKit support was originally marketed as a way to upsell buyers to the more expensive Peloton Bike+.
With just a contactless tap of the Apple Watch to the NFC reader, the bike and Watch synchronize to start a workout and share workout metrics.
When a workout is paused on the watch, it pauses on the bike and vice versa. The Watch can contribute health data from sensors like its own heart rate monitor, and the bike can tell the watch about things it knows, like how fast the user is pedalling and what resistance level is being used.
The end result is a pretty seamless workout experience that provides more accurate readings and calorie estimates than if the Watch was used standalone.
It wasn’t long, however, before the company partly disabled the functionality.
Since then, fitness companies have increasingly created their own Apple Watch integrations for home equipment, without using GymKit. Apple’s integration is now primarily used for kit in public gyms.
Peloton One-Tap tracking replacing GymKit
Peloton has for some time now been updating its machines to use Peloton One-Tap rather than GymKit, and recommending the latter only to those who haven’t updated their products.
While the latest Peloton Product software updates use One-Tap Apple® Watch Tracking, GymKit may be used if these updates have not yet been made. Please see below for more information on how to use GymKit (compatible with Apple® Watch Series 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6).
The Verge reports that Peloton is now ending support for GymKit.
In an email sent to users Monday evening, Peloton revealed that starting February 27th, it will start transitioning Apple Watch users from GymKit to Peloton One-Tap tracking.
Owners of kit with this update installed won’t notice any difference, while those with older firmware will need to update. The data will still feed into Apple’s Health app, so you’ll still get the same functionality, but there is one issue to look out for.
Different companies use different algorithms for calculating things like your basal metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn without doing anything) and the number of calories burned through different forms of exercise. You may therefore see a change in the calorie credit for the same amount of exercise – but as all these algorithms are just estimates, it only impacts comparisons before and after the switch.
While the practical impact is limited, I can imagine those who paid the premium for Bike+ specifically for GymKit support may not be overly impressed.
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