Apple's Fitness Technologies Director Jay Blahnik Talks Fitness+ Ahead of Launch

Apple Fitness+ is set to launch on December 14, and ahead of its debut, Apple's senior director of fitness technologies Jay Blahnik did an interview with WSJ. Magazine to answer some questions about Apple's newest streaming service.

applefitnesswatchandiphone
Though now is an excellent time for a home workout program, Apple has been developing Fitness+ for more than five years. Apple has recruited a total of 21 trainers after an "intensive search" where "no gym was too gritty to visit." Fitness+ syncs the Apple Watch to the Apple TV, iPad, or iPhone so you can see progress, including relative to others. "Metrics is motivation," said Blahnik of the feature.

The metrics react to the things the trainer says and the things that you do. We believe that makes it much more immersive than simply following content that's available anywhere else.

Apple Fitness+ has a robust recommendation engine to suggest workouts to people. "We always say: it shouldn't take 20 minutes to find a 20 minute workout," said Blahnik. Fitness+ suggestions will work based on the workouts that you've done, with some gentle encouragement to try other workout types.

The service is meant to be "equipment agnostic." Many of the workouts can be done with no equipment, and others, such as cycling, will work with existing equipment from many brands. It's also designed for users of all levels.

We love the fact that [Fitness+] is integrated with Apple Watch. It's really inclusive. We put music at the center to motivate a wide variety of people. We've made it really easy to find your next workout, whether you're a beginner or not, and allowed you to use it across all your screens. We treat all areas that we get engaged with as marathons, not sprints.

Apple Fitness+ will come with a three month free trial for anyone who purchased an Apple Watch Series 6, Series 3, or SE after the September 15 launch of those devices. The service will be accessible through the Fitness app on ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, and ‌Apple TV‌.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. iPhone 17 Pro's alleged design via Front Page Tech Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone...
iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Receive a New Perk

Thursday March 20, 2025 12:01 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost. The new perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which launched in the App Store last month. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, and more. Anyone ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock

iOS 19 Coming in June With These New Features

Thursday March 20, 2025 2:04 pm PDT by
While the first iOS 19 beta is still more than two months away, there are already plenty of rumors about the upcoming software update. Below, we recap the key iOS 19 rumors so far. visionOS-Like Design In January, the YouTube channel Front Page Tech revealed a redesigned Camera app that is allegedly planned for iOS 19. According to Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser, the Camera app...
iOS 18

Top 5 New Features Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday March 21, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
We're not getting new Siri Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.4 as expected, but the upcoming update does have quite a few new additions that will be worth upgrading for. We've rounded up the five best features to look forward to, and if you're not running the beta, you can expect to get access to these in early April. Priority Notifications If you have an iPhone or iPad that supports...
Generic iOS 18

Apple Seeds iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 Release Candidate With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music and More

Monday March 24, 2025 10:07 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released the fourth betas. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. With iOS 18.4, Apple is adding the Priority Notifications...
airpods max 2024 colors

Don't Buy Into Apple's Hype About AirPods Max Gaining Lossless Audio

Monday March 24, 2025 4:24 pm PDT by
Apple today announced that AirPods Max with a USB-C port will be gaining support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio with a firmware update next month, alongside the release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. For context, audio files are typically compressed to keep file sizes smaller. There are lossy compression standards like MP3, and Apple's own Advanced Audio Codec...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Iridescent Search

Foldable iPhone Expected to Launch Next Year, Costing Around $2,000

Monday March 24, 2025 3:43 am PDT by
Apple will launch its long-rumored foldable iPhone next year with a ~$2,000 premium price tag attached, expects well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. Gurman's comments on Apple's launch plans for its first foldable device appeared in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter. Earlier this month, the reporter said Apple's foldable iPhone could be arriving "as early as 2026,"...

Top Rated Comments

contacos Avatar
56 months ago
Since our lockdown is never going to end, I might give this a chance. I am getting bored of my life. I am pretty much stuck in Groundhog Day. Perfectly timed
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coolfactor Avatar
56 months ago

I guess they have completely toppes out out on ideas to advance hardware. Because otherwise this is a non starter. Way off track for core business. Here just make good hardware and get the hell out the way.

What next? Apple juice brand ?
Apple is about experience and lifestyle. They are about their customers having the best possible experience, not just about selling products. There's a notable difference there.

Dell will sell you their crappy computers running Windows. They don't care how bad Windows is... they just want to sell hardware and then move onto the next customer.

Apple is a hardware+software company in order to deliver the best possible experience. Fitness+ is exactly that, so it's very much core to their business.

We can all agree that the world needs every push to encourage more fitness that it can get, right? If you think about it, Apple is merely course-correcting a world that they helped to create. The explosion in popularity of digital devices has created a world where too many people live behind their screens all day long. That's not good for health. So they have a responsibility to transform that world to a healthier one. Fitness+ is an effort to do that.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
btrach144 Avatar
56 months ago

I hate Peloton.
Just got the bike+ and love the GymKit integration. Peloton is awesome!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
56 months ago
Good on Apple for giving people another venue to work out. I hope it helps a lot of people.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jrath1 Avatar
56 months ago
Can two family members with apple watch's do a workout together?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
clcnyc Avatar
56 months ago
This is very exciting to me. I was an avid gym goer until March, and there’s no way in hell I’ll step foot in a Petri dish gym until who knows when, so this is very welcome. Hopefully I’ll be able to ditch my daily burn and Fitbod subscriptions for this!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)