Apple Fitness+
Apple already has subscription services for games, music, movies and news. With Apple Fitness+, a separate service for sports and fitness has now been added. Fitness+ will help you get fit and achieve your sporting goals. It contains training schedules, instructions to do certain exercises and coaching to achieve your goal. Whether it’s losing weight, building muscle or getting fitter: Apple Fitness should make it all easier. Do you want to use Fitness+ in the Netherlands and Belgium? You can if you follow our step-by-step plan.
- In brief
- Supplies
- Properties and functions
- Price and release
- the Netherlands and Belgium
- Alternative: Fitbit Premium
New! Fitness+ also works without Apple Watch
Apple has announced that Fitness+ subscribers are not required to have the Apple Watch. This applies from the autumn of 2022 to all 21 countries where Fitness+ can already be used (so not in the Netherlands and Belgium). You can then follow workout videos, but no body values such as heart rate are recorded. You can therefore not see what your consumed calories are or what your performance is compared to other users. If you’re doing an iPhone-only workout, only the red calorie ring will fill, as shown in the image below, but not your standing and exercise ring. It was always possible to do a workout without Apple Watch (for example, if it failed to connect), but no measurements were recorded at all.
Apple Fitness in a nutshell
These are the main features of Apple Fitness:
- Subscription service for sports and fitness
- New workouts every week
- Started on December 14, 2020, not yet official in the Netherlands and Belgium
- Costs $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year, the same as Fitbit Premium
- Exercises and instructional videos to get fitter
- Various exercises, aimed at multiple sports
- The emphasis is on teaching videos, which you can stream or download
- Can be purchased separately or as part of Apple One
What do I need for Apple Fitness+?
To use Apple Fitness+, you need:
- Apple Watch (with watchOS 7.2 or later)
- iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV with iOS 14.3 or later
- US Apple ID (or other suitable country)
Apple Fitness+ requires an Apple Watch if you want all your training data to be recorded. With the Workout app on the Apple Watch, all your results are recorded, such as calories burned and the duration of your workout. This is also displayed on the iPad, iPhone or Apple TV, so that you can see how you are doing during the instruction. From autumn 2022 you can also use Fitness+ without Apple Watch, but then only the red calorie ring will be filled in the Condition app on your iPhone.
Fitness+ countries: it’s available here
Fitness+ is available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom as of December 2020. Fifteen countries joined in November 2021, including Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Switzerland. Even Indonesia and Malaysia are now participating, but the Netherlands and Belgium are not yet. There are now 21 countries in total. All workout videos are spoken in English, with subtitles in the local language if necessary.
Apple Fitness: features and functions
Apple Fitness is a service with instructional videos for a variety of workouts. It works on the iPhone and iPad, in combination with the Apple Watch. It is also available on the Apple TV. The fact that it also works on the Apple TV is a logical choice, because the large screen of the television is perfect for playing fitness videos. There is also an important role for the Apple Watch. You will find the Workout app on this for some time now, for recording your activities.
From the autumn of 2021 you can work out with friends thanks to Group Workouts. This works via SharePlay.
During exercise you get to see your performance. To compare with others there is the Performance bar, which indicates how you perform compared to people with the same characteristics in terms of gender, age and so on.
The home base of Fitness+ is the Fitness app (in Dutch the Condition app) on the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. That means that for the first time you will also find the app on devices other than the iPhone. The Fitness app can be downloaded from the App Store for iPad and Apple TV in countries where Apple Fitness+ is available.
These exercises are available:
- Walk on treadmill
- High Intensity Interval Training
- Running on treadmill
- Rowing
- Dancing
- Misuse
- Yoga
- Abs
- power
- mindfulness
- Pilates (from autumn 2021)
- Guided Meditation (from autumn 2021)
- Time to Walk (since 2021)
- Time to Run (since 2022)
You don’t need any equipment for most exercises, but you do for a number of exercises. Think of a treadmill or an exercise bike. A yoga mat also comes in handy for the yoga exercises.
The service provides suggestions for exercises you can do, based on your workouts with the Workout app on the Apple Watch. The service contains an algorithm to give you the best workout possible. And there is also a program for beginners.
You can choose how long the exercise should be, by filtering by duration or by stopping halfway through the workout. After choosing the type of sport, you can filter by duration (usually 5 to 45 minutes), which trainer and which music genre. The music comes from Apple Music and you can view a playlist of the songs played afterwards. You don’t have to be an Apple Music subscriber to view this list. If you want to listen to the music again later, you must of course be a subscriber.
As an Apple Music subscriber, you can listen to Apple Fitness+ playlists again later and save them to your library.
A recent addition is the Collections. These are a series of workouts to work towards a specific goal. Examples of Collections are:
- 30 Day Core Challenge
- Improve Your Posture with Pilates
- Perfect Your Yoga Balance Poses
- Run Your First 5K
- Strengthen Your Back, Stretch Your Hips
- Wind Down for a Better Bedtime
When will Apple Fitness+ come and what is the price?
At the beginning, Apple Fitness+ was available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US. So it’s about English-speaking countries first, because the videos are in English. In the autumn of 2021, another 15 other countries, including Germany and France, followed. In these countries you simply see subtitles, so the content is not adapted to the relevant region.
You pay $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. Everyone in the participating countries gets one month free. Apple Fitness+ is also part of the Apple One Premium package. This bundle cannot be taken out in the Netherlands and Belgium.
When will Apple Fitness+ come to the Netherlands and Belgium?
It is not yet known if and when Apple Fitness+ will be available in the Netherlands and Belgium. Apple probably wants to get the service up and running in a number of larger countries first. Germany and France have been added in autumn 2021, with subtitles chosen. You would expect that it is not that difficult to also add Dutch subtitles, but Apple has its own priorities.
From the Netherlands and Belgium you can simply use the service with an American Apple ID. You will then have to put some credit on your American account. This is possible with gift cards that you can simply purchase online from external providers from Europe.
The alternative: Fitbit Premium
Apple Watch competitor Fitbit has been offering paid guidance, training programs and fitness videos for some time. Fitbit Premium is a paid subscription that uses data to give you personal advice. It focuses on health, sports and wellness and thus goes well beyond watching fitness videos. Fitbit tries to motivate you with the service and to change your behavior. It offers sleep advice, dynamic workouts, more statistics, challenges, health reports and coaching, among other things.
When it comes to workouts, Fitbit offers various options. This feature was previously known as Fitbit Coach. You get access to hundreds of audio and video workouts in the areas of cycling, walking, running, climbing stairs, stretching, rowing, exercises on fitness machines such as an elliptical trainer and bodyweight exercises. The more feedback you give, the smarter the workouts become and the better they are tailored to your personal situation.
You can also participate in challenges and games, such as the All For One Challenge aimed at families. There are also custom challenges based on steps, calories, distance and active minutes. You can take on a challenge with a friend, something that is already possible with the Apple Watch as standard. There is also a Get Fit Bingo Challenge, where the bingo card is different per user. You can forward the health and wellness reports to your personal trainer, doctor or nutritionist.
Fitbit Premium costs €10 per month or €80 per year. You can try for 7 days, but this has been extended to 90 days during the corona crisis.
In addition, there were already various other paid fitness services, such as Zova (software) and Peloton (bicycle with video lessons). Peloton has recently started working with Apple’s GymKit.
