Apple has announced a group workout feature for Apple Fitness Plus. Fitness Plus will also reach 15 new countries, including Brazil, France, Mexico and Russia, and workouts will receive subtitles in six languages. There are new workouts such as guided meditation, Pilates and programs to help you prepare for winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding.
Group workouts will allow Fitness Plus subscribers to do a workout with a friend (or a group of up to 32 people), starting with an iMessage or FaceTime call. On the screen, you can see the instructor and the people you share training with. (Hopefully Apple includes an option to turn off the camera if it gets embarrassing.) You’ll also see your metrics and calls and see how your friends are at the recording bar feature and when they close the rings.
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Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t announced a way to allow two people to share a workout on the same screen, though you’re likely to be able to share a workout with a roommate or family member if you each have your own device.
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To go with the new guided meditation workout, Apple Watch’s upcoming Mindfulness app will include audio versions of the meditations.
Group training and support for new countries will arrive “later this fall,” which makes sense as Apple has already announced that SharePlay won’t be released with iOS 15. The rest of the features will be out later this month.