Back in June 2017, Apple announced watchOS 4 at their annual developer conference WWDC. A significant component of watchOS 4 was the new GymKit, which allows users to seamlessly sync data between gym equipment and the Apple Watch.
Since yesterday, the feature rolled out globally and people can finally try it out. If you are familiar with Apple Pay on Apple Watch, then this experience should be no different. You just tap your Apple Watch to the treadmill, and data starts syncing. What this means is that the data on the machine will match the data on the Apple Watch. It was annoying indeed, when steps, calories burned, heart rate, and other data was different – what data is right? Now that the data is combined, everything becomes much more straight forward.
“We wanted to simplify the cardio machine experience and make it more accurate than ever before. With a quick tap on your favourite cardio equipment, you’ll see for the first time, two-way data exchange in real time that will result in the most accurate measurements possible with less device management,” said Jay Blahnik, senior director of fitness for health technologies at Apple in a media statement.
Naturally you will ask yourself if the gym equipment in your gym is compatible with the Apple Watch. Apple’s partners provide 80% of gym equipment, and they include TechnoGym, Life Fitness, and others. But only newer gym equipment will actually be compatible with GymKit.