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Peloton Is Dropping Apple Watch GymKit Support
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Also a Bike+ owner disappointed with this news.
Poor decision by Peloton, but I'm gonna put some of the blame on Apple as well. They can't just throw these SDKs out into the world with minimal support and expect third parties to continue to develop and maintain them if their end users don't know about them.
We're the geeks who use this stuff, but I bet there's a huge number of Bike+ owners who never used the GymKit integration because they never knew about its benefits or struggled with setup. They didn't even know it was an option, because there was no glossy campaign by Apple to show how great it could be, and why you'd want it on your exercise equipment. (No, Apple would rather put the marketing budget behind Fitness+)
Same thing happened with HomeKit Secure Router. Nobody knew about it, it was poorly documented, and there were some quirks with using it that often resulted in advice like "disable HKSR, that'll fix it". If you had issues, Apple pointed you towards the router manufacturer, and the manufacturer would blame Apple. Well, seems like HKSR is dead, and nobody cares.
It goes both ways, Apple. Put some resources behind making these integrations work better. Get developers AND customers to love and want this stuff.
Poor decision by Peloton, but I'm gonna put some of the blame on Apple as well. They can't just throw these SDKs out into the world with minimal support and expect third parties to continue to develop and maintain them if their end users don't know about them.
We're the geeks who use this stuff, but I bet there's a huge number of Bike+ owners who never used the GymKit integration because they never knew about its benefits or struggled with setup. They didn't even know it was an option, because there was no glossy campaign by Apple to show how great it could be, and why you'd want it on your exercise equipment. (No, Apple would rather put the marketing budget behind Fitness+)
Same thing happened with HomeKit Secure Router. Nobody knew about it, it was poorly documented, and there were some quirks with using it that often resulted in advice like "disable HKSR, that'll fix it". If you had issues, Apple pointed you towards the router manufacturer, and the manufacturer would blame Apple. Well, seems like HKSR is dead, and nobody cares.
It goes both ways, Apple. Put some resources behind making these integrations work better. Get developers AND customers to love and want this stuff.
This is sadly exactly it. I just read the headline as "another corporation silos more data."
This is why open standards are dead or dying. We didn't need a GymKit in the first place but what we really need is a secure open standard to transmit any kind of data like this. That will never, ever happen because any company that puts in the work to make it thinks they have the right to monetize all the data that comes out of it.
Peloton discontinues GymKit support. In other news, my bank account discontinues Peloton support.
GymKit is alive and well with other manufacturers, like TechnoGym.
Apple would be wise to purchase Peloton and integrate the Vision Pro with immersive Fitness+ apps while you’re on their machines. I’d probably run faster if velociraptors were chasing me.
GymKit is alive and well with other manufacturers, like TechnoGym.
Apple would be wise to purchase Peloton and integrate the Vision Pro with immersive Fitness+ apps while you’re on their machines. I’d probably run faster if velociraptors were chasing me.
Apple GymKit is complete nonsense. It is nothing else than an artificial blocker, so you have to buy and pay license fees to Apple.
Under the hood it is just NFC and BLE combined to do a standard OOB pairing initiated by NFC. On top of it sits an evil Timmy telling everyone that you owe Apple money, if you want to sync data from or to the AW.
Under the hood it is just NFC and BLE combined to do a standard OOB pairing initiated by NFC. On top of it sits an evil Timmy telling everyone that you owe Apple money, if you want to sync data from or to the AW.
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Interesting after the fact, if I had realised that there was indeed a HomeKit enabled bike for a lot less than commercial studio equipment I might have bought this.
Glad I didn't now of course.
Glad I didn't now of course.
I don't think anyone would win a class action lawsuit against Peloton as it doesn't sound like they are removing it, more not adding support for GymKit in newer models. However as soon as the version new Peloton unit comes out without GymKit, the 'lawsuit' begins. Meaning people aren't going to buy it and after a few months of lax-luster sales, a 'firmware' update will come out to support GymKit again.
They are absolutely removing it from existing Bike+ hardware. They also continue to advertise the Bike+ as supporting GymKit.
I have a friend with a Peloton. Last time I went to his apartment, he was using it as a coat rack...
I don't understand all of the data arguments - I don't think this data is particularly valuable and Peloton has it all already anyway. It more feels like a combo of Apple making it too hard/expensive on integrations and Peloton wanting to cut some costs.
+1 I go to Lifetime and love that I can tap the watch on the device to sync them.
I agree with this sentiment completely
Too much of Apples approach to working with other companies is just "make an SDK and they will come"
No -- they won't and largely don't, because Apple is a PITA to work with and has a huge ego
I didn't have to pay an extra fee for the times I've used GymKit on a machine.
When other companies/manufacturers have to pay it? I don't care.
Peloton could've gotten a bike out of me, and a monthly subscription fee...which would've more than covered the per-capita licensing fee they pay/paid to Apple.
Now they'll get nothing. Decisions like that are why are on the cusp of going out of business.
GymKit was only available on the Bike+. For the original Bike - they added Apple Watch integration through their Peloton watch app. I don't have GymKit, so I'm not sure if the functionality is exactly the same - but that support made me not want a Bike+, and happy with my Bike.
Can someone that knows explain the difference between GymKit and the Peloton watch integration which I assume isn't going away?
I'm able to look into Health app and see my heart rate from the Peloton activity - so I'm curious if this is a nothing burger announcement?
Can someone that knows explain the difference between GymKit and the Peloton watch integration which I assume isn't going away?
I'm able to look into Health app and see my heart rate from the Peloton activity - so I'm curious if this is a nothing burger announcement?
GymKit integration synced more metrics and made the calorie calculation a lot more accurate (With GymKit it was 1 kcal ~= 1kj, which is reasonable, without it, it registers as almost 3kcal/kj for me which is crazy). You lose things like power, cadence, ftp, etc syncing to Apple Health, which was the only way to see long-term trends in power output since the Peloton app/UI/website doesn't show that.
Good because I’ll be cancelling my sub if they go through with this.
Curious, what percentage of fitness fans religiously check the data tracked by this type of tech?
Me also with that question.
And is it any better than a Wahoo Kickr Bike I’m using with a HR monitor, Garmin Edge 1030 and Zwift, Fulgaz and PerfPro Studio? Then tracking all that in TrainingPeaks.
I looked at Peleton and cringed. A cycling workout is about cycling, not an instructor flexing their arms for the camera… And for that matter the instructors don’t look like serious riders.
There is a sizable PowerZone community (and a lot of PZ classes), and a lot of us do care about being able to see trends in power output and such over time.
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A lot was ignored back then... Little mention of getting your body in shape kept you healthy.
What brand?