If you don’t already have one Peloton machine, you may be out of luck for a while due to company logistical issues. But regardless of whether you have a bicycle or a tread in your home, you can still enjoy the newest feature in the Peloton app. That is, if you have an iPhone or iPad.
The launch of new Peloton software features for users of on-demand fitness classes and owners of their training machines continues to baffle me, but the features themselves are really good. Case in point: a beta scheduling feature being launched in the Peloton iOS app today. Schedules is a long-requested tool that allows you to set up a class schedule, live or on demand, in two weeks. For on-demand workouts, you’ll see a new Schedule button below the lesson description (where the Batteries button is on the Peloton website interface), and you can select a day and time. You will receive a notification when your class is about to start. See below for screenshots of what the process involves.
That’s great! So useful! People who use Peloton tend to be a little stubborn in creating an ideal exercise routine, and this feature makes it easier for them to plan weeks of classes. It’s a Type A dream. But it’s also useful for those who need a little encouragement – taking the time to attend a class and inviting a friend to participate eliminates some of the excuses we made up for quitting exercise.
The social feature is not the same as Peloton’s first beta software attempt, another social feature called Sessions that allowed you and a friend to take a class at exactly the same time. Instead, it’s more of a link sharing exercise – you text a friend with a link to the class using the iOS sharing spreadsheet, which you could already do. But the invitation also includes the day and time when you plan to take the course, and your friends can add it to their own schedules. (Sessions received great feedback in its beta version, but it has now been completed. A Peloton spokesman told me he could not confirm an official release date for a Sessions release.)
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This brings me back to the way Peloton introduces new features. Listening to subscriber feedback is great, and I know from my deep dives on Reddit that Peloton members really want a scheduling tool. But, as the recent addition of Stacks, a feature that allows you to create a workout playlist, but only on the Peloton website or on a Peloton machine, the Schedules tool is very limited. This seems like an easy feature to implement widely, and it’s one that people have been clamoring for, so keeping it only on iOS (even for now) is unfortunate. And the fact that you can create Stacks and Calendars separately, but you can’t create a Stack Schedule, is bizarre! A cross-platform calendar tool would be ideal.
I haven’t tried Schedules yet, but if it’s easier than scheduling individual classes and trying to remember what I wanted to do that week, I’d risk guessing that I would wholeheartedly agree with this addition.
The beta feature is part of an app update that is dropping on the App Store today and is open to all Peloton subscribers.