The new beta of Peloton iOS lets you create training class schedules

If you don’t already have Machine platoon, you may be out of luck for a while due to logistical problems of the company. But whether you have a bike or a tread in your home, you can still enjoy the new feature of the Peloton app. In other words, if you have an iPhone or an iPad.

Peloton’s rollout of new software features to users of its on-demand fitness classes and owners of its training machines continues to puzzle me, but the features themselves are actually good. Concrete example: a beta planning feature deployed today in the Peloton iOS app. Schedules is a long-requested tool that allows you to set up a course schedule, live or on demand, in two weeks. For on-demand workouts, you’ll see a new Schedule button below the course description (where the Stacks button is on the Peloton website interface), and you can select a day and time. You will receive a notification when your course is about to start. See below for screenshots of what the process involves.

It’s good! So useful! People who use Peloton tend to be a bit of a fan of creating an optimal workout routine, and this feature makes it easier for them to plan weeks of class. It’s a Type A person’s dream. But it’s also useful for those who need a little encouragement – committing to taking a class and inviting a friend to join us eliminates a few. -one of the excuses we find for not exercising anymore.

The social feature is not the same as Peloton’s first software beta attempt, another social feature called Sessions that allowed you and a friend to take a class at exactly the same time. Instead, it’s more of a link-sharing exercise: you text a friend to class a link using the iOS Share Sheet, which you can already do. But the invitation also includes the day and time you plan to take the class, and your friends can add it to their own schedules. (Sessions received great feedback in its beta, but they’ve since ended. A Peloton spokesperson told me he couldn’t confirm an official release date for a session launch.)

This brings me back to how Peloton introduces new features. Listening to subscriber feedback is great, and I know from my in-depth dives on Reddit that Peloton members really want a planning tool. But since the recent addition of Battery, a feature that lets you create a sort of workout playlist, but only on the Peloton website or on a Peloton machine, the Schedules tool is so limited. It seems like an easy feature to deploy widely, and it’s a feature people are clamoring for, so only keeping it on iOS (even for now) is unfortunate. And the fact that you can create stacks and calendars separately, but you can’t create a calendar from stacks, is weird! A cross-platform calendar tool would be ideal.

I haven’t tested the schedules yet, but if it’s easier than favoriteing individual lessons and having a hard time remembering what I wanted to take that week, I’d guess I will be wholeheartedly with this addition.

The beta feature is part of an app update on the App Store today and is open to all Peloton subscribers.