Apple Fitness+ adds guided meditation, coming to new markets

Guided Meditation is dubbed a simple way to practice mindfulness anywhere, anytime; also there is Pilates, a new low-impact, body-conditioning workout type.

Apple Fitness Plus

Apple Fitness+ will introduce guided Meditation, a simple way to practice mindfulness anywhere, anytime, and Pilates, a new low-impact, body-conditioning workout type, on September 27. Fitness+ is also introducing a new program called Workouts to Get Ready for Snow Season – featuring and designed with two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion skier Ted Ligety, along with Fitness+ trainer Anja Garcia. Inspired by winter sports, the program will help build strength, balance, and endurance so users can have more fun on the slopes, all the way to the last run.

New features

Guided Meditation
Building on the popularity of Mindful Cooldowns in Fitness+, guided Meditation will help users develop a regular meditation routine and improve their overall sense of well-being. Users will be able to choose from nine guided Meditation themes — Purpose, Kindness, Gratitude, Awareness, Creativity, Wisdom, Calm, Focus, and Resilience — for an engaging video experience alongside the Fitness+ trainers. Each practice will be five, 10, or 20 minutes long. Guided Meditation will be led by a group of Mindful Cooldown and Yoga trainers that Fitness+ users know and love, including Dustin Brown, Gregg Cook, Jessica Skye, and Jonelle Lewis, as well as two new trainers specializing in Meditation – Christian Howard and JoAnna Hardy.

Pilates
Most Fitness+ Pilates workouts can be done with just a mat, while some also incorporate the use of a resistance band. All Pilates workouts will be 10, 20, or 30 minutes long. Pilates will be led by two new Fitness+ trainers, Marimba Gold-Watts and Darryl Whiting. Marimba is an award-winning Pilates trainer who started her career as a professional dancer, and Darryl is a former professional athlete who brings an athletic approach to his Pilates workouts. Both trainers bring a broad range of styles to Pilates for Fitness+ users, making Pilates approachable to everyone who tries it. As with all Fitness+ studio workouts, Marimba and Darryl will be joined by members of the Fitness+ trainer team to show modifications for those who are just getting started, need a different option for specific moves, or are ready to try more advanced moves.

Workouts to Get Ready for Snow Season
To prepare users to get back to their favorite winter sports, Fitness+ is now introducing Workouts to Get Ready for Snow Season, featuring and designed with two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion Ted Ligety, who is recognized as one of the world’s best alpine skiers, along with Fitness+ trainer Anja Garcia, who is an experienced snowboarder. These studio workouts are a fun way to build up strength, improve balance, and increase endurance – all important components to preventing injury. The program’s moves are inspired by exercises Ted adapted from his training program as an elite athlete, and include HIIT, Strength, Yoga, and Core. As with all Fitness+ studio workouts, modifications are shown so users can enjoy the workouts at their own level.

Artist Spotlight and Time to Walk
Fitness+ will add to the popular Artist Spotlight series with new workouts featuring the music of Billie Eilish, Calvin Harris, Imagine Dragons, and Nicki Minaj. The Artist Spotlight series dedicates an entire workout playlist to a single artist. Every Monday for four weeks, new workouts featuring music by each of these artists will appear in the service across different modalities. Workout types include Cycling, Rowing, HIIT, Strength, Yoga, Dance, and Treadmill, across music genres such as Latest Hits, Chill Vibes, Everything Rock, Pure Dance, Upbeat Anthems, and Hip-Hop/R&B.

New episodes of Time to Walk
Throughout the fall, Fitness+ will also introduce new episodes of Time to Walk, an inspiring audio experience on Apple Watch designed to encourage Fitness+ users to get active by walking more often. Time to Walk features some of the world’s most interesting and influential people, who share stories, photos, and music with Fitness+ subscribers. As the series continues its second season, new guests will be added each week, including singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha; singer-songwriter Camila Cabello; country musician and actor Reba McEntire; activist and founder of the Me Too movement Tarana Burke; professional basketball player and 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony; and actor, activist, and author Gabrielle Union.

Group Workouts with SharePlay
Later this fall, Group Workouts powered by SharePlay will come to Fitness+, with support for up to 32 people at a time. Users will be able to start a Group Workout from a group message thread or FaceTime call on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV with AirPlay. From there, they will navigate to the Fitness app, select a workout or Meditation, see their friends and family onscreen, and get started. During a Group Workout, users will see their metrics and progress toward closing their Activity rings, while also seeing and hearing friends as they work out. With Group Workouts, when someone moves ahead on the Burn Bar or closes their Activity ring, users will be notified so they can celebrate together – or even trade some friendly smack talk to keep each other going.

On the record

“Whether you’re just getting started, trying something new, or switching up how you train your mind and body, the amazing and welcoming Fitness+ trainer team is here to help users live a healthy lifestyle, no matter where they are in their fitness journey,” said Jay Blahnik, Apple’s senior director of Fitness Technologies. “We are excited to be introducing new workouts that bring Fitness+ users more options to stay active and motivated, plus immersive guided Meditation experiences that are approachable for all and easy to fit into your day. With new ways to work out together or alone — and coming to more countries later this year — we can’t wait to welcome even more people to experience Fitness+.”

Pricing and Availability

Fitness+ is currently available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. It will be available later this year in Austria, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, and the UAE.

The service will be available in English with subtitles in six languages, so more people can experience the workouts led by a diverse and inclusive team of trainers whose approach is tailored to everybody at every fitness level.

Fitness+ is available as a subscription service for $9.99 (US) per month or $79.99 (US) per year. Three months of Apple Fitness+ are included for customers who purchase Apple Watch Series 3 or later, and one month of Fitness+ is included for existing Apple Watch users.