Apple has finally started the rollout of SharePlay support for its Fitness+ service that allows users to engage in a Group Workouts session with their friends and family members in real-time. As the name makes it abundantly clear, the goal is to let users engage in a group exercise session for an extra dose of motivation as they see their fellow partners complete their exercise rings and make progress. Group Workouts via SharePlay will allow up to 32 people to join a session and burn some calories. However, before the how-to instructions, it is worth pointing out the key criteria first.
Users will first need to download the freshly released iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, tvOS 15.1, and WatchOS 8.1 updates on their compatible Apple devices to ensure that they get access to the SharePlay feature. Additionally, a subscription to the Fitness+ service is required, which costs $9.99 for the monthly plan or $79.99 with the annual subscription. The Apple One Premiere bundle plan, priced at $29.95 per month, also gives access to Fitness+ alongside a host of other perks. Moreover, Fitness+ can be shared among six family members without paying an extra dollar.
To begin a Group Workout via SharePlay on Fitness+, users will first have to start a FaceTime call with the friend or family members who want to join during the exercise session. Once the call is in progress, open the Fitness app and choose a workout. As soon as a workout is selected, all participants in the FaceTime group call will be automatically added to the Group Workouts session. Their camera view and fitness metrics will appear on the screen. Every time participants close their activity ring during the workout session, the whole team will get an alert.
One Of The Most Practically Useful Fitness+ Additions
Fitness+ allows users to choose workouts that can be as short as 5 minutes or as lengthy as 45 minutes. Plus, users can cherry-pick from amongst a wide variety of workout types such as strength, yoga, dance, cycling, pilates, meditation, treadmill, mindful cooldown, and high-intensity interval training to name a few. The service also offers access to the Time To Walk experience that is essentially a collection of inspiring audio stories spread across episodes and recited by influential personalities from domains like athletics, singing, acting, and writing to name a few.
SharePlay works across all Apple devices such as iPhones, Apple Watch, iPad, and even the Apple TV. Support for Mac hardware will arrive later this year with a macOS Monterey update. Aside from the arrival of SharePlay support for Fitness+, the service is also expanding to 15 more countries that include Austria, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. And even though the workout instructions are currently available only in English, users can see subtitles in Brazilian Portuguese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
Source: Apple