Fitness giant Peloton is preparing a wearable heart rate tracking device to use on its home workout platform.
That’s according to a Bloomberg report, which references mentions in the company’s iOS app code.
According to the report the company is prepping a heart rate monitoring armband, which would sync to its bikes and treadmills. It would have a small screen to show battery levels, but other than that would keep things fairly simple.
The device would also connect to the company’s iPad and iPhone app, which could mean a future closer to Apple Fitness+.
This is all pretty unsurprising after it emerged earlier this year that the company had bought Atlas Wearables, which had produced the Atlas Wristband aimed at gym users.
The Atlas Wristband from 2016
That device was an awkward, unwieldy tracker of gym reps – so its technology and manufacturing seems as if it would be the bedrock for a reimagined device.
However, it will be interesting to see what kind of features a potential Peloton wearable adds to the platform.
Peloton already sells a basic heart rate monitor. And if that was the sum of its ambitions, buying a wearables company and developing a device seems an expensive way to do things.
We suspect that Peloton has designs on the 360 degree health of its users, and start to offer insights into things such as recovery, stress and wellness.
These kinds of insights, alongside the main course of hard sweat on the company’s spin bikes and treadmills, would make the platform stickier – and encourage people to stay within the ecosystem.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.