Announced in September and launched in December last year in English-speaking countries (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand), Apple Fitness + is not yet available in France. But we cannot insist on trying the latest Made in Cupertino service, especially in these times of imprisonment and sanctions.

As a warm-up, remember that Apple Fitness + is a virtual gym of sorts. For $ 9.99 per month (or $ 29.99 per month with an Apple One Premier membership), the service offers several sports classes from various categories (HIIT, bodybuilding, fitness, dance, yoga, meditation, etc.).
There are also sessions that require professional equipment (rover, court mats, indoor bikes), which will come in handy when the real rooms are reopened. Apple’s idea is quite simple, put your iPhone down, put it on your headphones and listen to the instructions, all with the Apple Watch on your wrist.

For a month, we tried Apple Fitness + at the rate of one session per day (although we must admit that we have not always lived up to this promise). Our opinion on this service, in substance and form, in the written version and in the video is as follows.

Excellent teacher and good use of watch

Available on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV (and Mac, which we find outrageous), Apple Fitness + can only work if you have an Apple Watch. Otherwise, the “Shakti” application will not appear on your device and you will not be able to subscribe.
In the event that you own the California Connected Watch, but have forgotten it at home, you can skip your session of the day. Fitness + only works when the watch is on your wrist. It’s a shame, but we’ll talk about it a little later.

For Apple Fitness +’s interface, this is fairly straightforward to understand. At the top, there are shortcuts to all categories offered by the platform.
The rest of the application is a mix between recent courses (Apple adds more each week), the most popular ones, programs (there are still very few, Apple has not yet addressed this part) and the list of all teachers, order Choose your coach directly (special mention of Goat and Jamie-Ray, our favorites).
In each category, you can refine the results by choosing a teacher, a period, and the type of music you want. In fact, even without an Apple Music subscription, Apple Fitness + provides you with playlists from the streaming platform. Teachers dance and develop on it, which makes the course more lively (you can listen to your own music if you want).

Often in such programs, Dn Each class has three teachers. The one in the middle speaks and leads the dance, the one on the left makes movements suitable for beginners and the right tries the most, for those who want to cross themselves. This approach, taken from courses such as Lesmills, does not let you choose the level of difficulty before starting the session, and may change the way. This is an excellent idea For Do not encourage and come back regularly. Everyone adopts their effort according to the size of the day.

Information from the Apple Watch (heart rate, number of calories consumed, compared to others who have done this exercise) appears on the top left of the screen.
At the top right is the clock activity cycle and sometimes relevant information. When you change songs or the teacher asks you to check your heart rate, everything appears in the top right. Here too, we are fans. Apple Fitness + makes classes interactive using real video. This is much nicer than a simple tutorial you can find on YouTube.
In contrast, Apple did not think you wanted to shine with your friends or Social networks, it is impossible to take screenshots or screen recordings to send to a friend, Apple saves everything with DRM …

Overall, we have always greatly enjoyed the courses offered by the platform. The teachers are all excellent, giving the impression of talking to their students when they are in a studio and the practice that is offered is intense.
All texts end with a phrase “Don’t forget to close your rings”, Just to remind us that Apple Fitness + is above all the promotional products of the Apple Watch.

Actually, Fitness + has only two faults in our opinion. Search by filter is very limited, for example it is impossible to request a lesson without an accessory (when after 10 minutes, the teacher says bring the dumbbell, you feel a bit stupid), and it has no history. .
We happened to start a course without realizing what we had already done.
We would also like Apple to launch programs lasting 30 days with one or two daily exercises, so that we don’t have to start a random class every day. Other than that the service is really excellent.

Apple locks fitness + too much

On the form, however, we are much more divided. If the quality of the images is excellent (all lessons are filmed in 4K HDR, this is the first time that we do wonders in gym colors), Apple makes the mistake of using fitness + much more complex.

Actually, as we told you earlier it is impossible to start a course without Apple Watch. It is a great pity, especially to be recognized, that the clock you are using must be logged into the same iCloud account the device you are using while logged into the same iTunes account Being done (but it may not be the same) …
Taking courses with many is also impossible, with Apple Fitness + prohibiting its use for a single athlete. Another user can follow the session, of course, but their Apple Watch is useless. This is very bad.

When it comes to device compatibility, the outright limit for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV doesn’t matter to us, especially since not every device works the same:

• On iPhone, applications Form Appears automatically if a clock is created. On the other hand, if you have another iPhone in your family, then in the case of family sharing, it is impossible to install the application on it without any other clock attached to it.
• On iPad, you have to download Form From the App Store … but the app only appears when an Apple Watch is connected to your iCloud account. Otherwise, the App Store will tell you that your iPad is not compatible.
• On Apple TV, the application automatically appears on the home screen, but if your iPhone is not connected to the correct account, it is impossible to start a session. Apple TV will ask you to subscribe, even if you already have it.

This big bullshit often made us want to leave our session. We would also have liked a Mac app and a web version to be available to watch a course on a computer instead of the iPhone’s small screen.

Finally, the easiest way to use Apple Fitness + on your TV is to start a class on your iPhone / iPad and use AirPlay to send it to your big screen.
On Apple TV, you will get all the hints from Apple Watch. On connected TVs (Samsung, LG, Sony etc.), you will only have video (so there is no heart rate).
Apple should really review its way of doing things and why not, make Apple Watch + accessible to everyone who wants it, with or without Apple Watch. When you pay for a service, why is it so complicated to use?

Apple Fitness +, one day in France?

Today, Apple Health + speaks only English. Undoubtedly for this reason the service is not available in France, even though, thanks to our Canadian friends, all courses are already French subtitles.
We don’t really imagine that coaches’ instincts are snapped up by hiring VF voice actors, which makes us think that Fitness + isn’t going to take off either soon or will be satisfied with subtitles. Unless Apple will recruit teachers in French theaters?

We can’t wait to see Health + Land in France. 9.99 euros per month or integrated into an Apple One bundle (30 euros with iCloud, music, arcade, TV and another service)? Apple’s game service 2.0 actually has something to appeal to many.
We love the service it provides, although we hate it too much about the way it is done. But by broadening the scope of Fitness +, Apple potentially holds its future bestseller.