Apple doubles on Fitness + with new Apple Watch “Time to Walk” content

Today, Apple launched a new component of its Fitness + personal health subscription service: “Time to walk.” With it, users who have an Apple Watch can do a monitored walking exercise while listening to stories or inspiring lectures by “influential and interesting people”.

These lectures will be automatically downloaded to users’ Apple Watch, as long as those users subscribe to Fitness +. When users start listening to one of the 25-40 minute episodes, the watch will begin to monitor a walking workout. For wheelchair users, the walking time is called “Push Time” and offers an outdoor walking pace workout.

The ad states that “each episode of Time to Walk is shaped by the personal and shaping moments of the guest’s life and includes lessons learned, meaningful memories, purposeful thoughts and gratitude, moments of levity and other thought-provoking topics recorded during an outdoor walk or in places that are meaningful to them. “

The stories and lectures obviously involve audio of the figure speaking, but Apple says that this feature will also show photos on the Apple Watch at specific times during the lectures to illustrate the stories or points.

In addition, the lectures are followed by short playlists composed of songs that gave the speaker “motivation and inspiration”.

The first episodes of Time to Walk come from the following guests: country singer Dolly Parton, NBA player Draymond Green, musician Shawn Mendes and actor Uzo Aduba. New episodes will be released every Monday “until the end of April”.

The announcement came with this statement by Jay Blahnik, Apple’s senior director of Fitness Technologies:

Walking is the most popular physical activity in the world and one of the healthiest things we can do for our body. Often, a walk can be more than an exercise: it can help to clear the mind, solve a problem or welcome a new perspective … Even during this challenging period of time, an activity that has remained available to many is walking. With Time to Walk, we’re bringing original weekly content to the Apple Watch in Fitness + that includes some of the most diverse, fascinating and celebrated guests, offering inspiration and entertainment to help our users stay on the move in the power of walking.

Experts and organizations like the United States Department of Health and Human Services advise people to do 150 minutes a week of medium intensity exercise, which for some may include walking – but many Americans are nowhere near that.

Increasingly, personal technology products, such as smartphones and smart watches, have become part of the battle against this problem in the United States and elsewhere. Apple launched Apple Fitness + in December – its first health-focused subscription. There are also numerous third-party apps in the iOS and Android app stores that offer similar content and features, and many other big tech companies are also looking to make waves in personal health.

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