Next iOS Update Will Fix Apple’s Biggest + Fitness Problem

THEone of our biggest gripes with Apple new Fitness + service when he launched was that it didn’t support AirPlay, which means you couldn’t stream workouts from, for example, your iPhone to your (non-Apple) TV. It was a bewildering choice, as Apple Watch and iPhone owners without Apple TV were forced to stream workouts to a tiny tiny screen. Users were also no as well happy. But, rejoice! It looks like Apple is also adding the ability to stream Fitness + workouts to any AirPlay-enabled TV.

The new feature was spotted in today’s developer update for watchOS 7.4 and iOS 14.5, which have yet to be released to the public.. Adding AirPlay 2 compatibility isn’t only convenient, but it’s a step in the right direction. While Fitness + is relatively affordable at $ 10 per month, it requires a significant hardware investment to get the best experience. So that you could get away with it fair an Apple Watch and an iPhone is much better if you also have an iPad and an Apple TV. (Because of course It does.) Allowing users to stream content to an AirPlay-enabled TV opens up the service to a wider range of users.

There is a catch, however. According to TechCrunch, it seems that while you will be able to stream both audio and video through AirPlay, you will lose the onscreen metrics. In Fitness + a big draw is that you can see your Aactivity ris displayed directly on the screen, along with your heart rate, calories burned and time remaining in a workout. For some cardio workouts, you may also see a “Burn bar,“ Which one is a visual representation of how you stack up against anyone who has done the workout before. These measurements are probably the reason why Fitness + was not initially launched with AirPlay compatibility, as the watch sends these measurements to Apple devices via Bluetooth.

It’s a bit of a disappointment, but at the same time the most important part is seeing the workout video itself. You can always glance at your wrist to see heart rate, calories burned, and your workout progress. A more important question is whether your ability to control workouts (for example, pause and start) from the wrist will be affected via AirPlay. Either way, it’s encouraging that Apple isn’t waiting to add updates to Fitness +. Last week he added a new It’s time to walk functionality, and now this.

This isn’t the only update we can expect. The iOS 14.5 developer beta also appears to include a new feature called Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch. As long as you have an unlocked Apple Watch, you can use FaceID on your iPhone. This would be extremely useful in situations where you cannot remove your mask and still need to unlock your phone or use a verification feature – for for example, if you are at the grocery store and want to use Apple Pay.

Again, it’s Apple. Using this feature would require you to have an Apple Watch and leave non-Apple Watch users without a good option. But as always, this isn’t the last iteration of these features. Although it is more than likely they will eventually get to consumers, it is possible that they will take a slightly different form after receiving feedback from the developers. Either way, both updates are very welcome fixes to some big pet peeves.