22 August 2023
Apple has quietly added power meter and cadence data to your completed workout data in Apple’s Fitness+ cycling workouts, which is their coached platform where trainers iterate through structured workouts. This addition is supported in the latest public betas of WatchOS10 and iOS17 (and iPad, and probably other platforms I haven’t tested). These beta updates will typically become production-level and pushed to everyone in mid-September or so, usually after Apple’s annual September event announcing new phones and watches.
The current iteration/beta will automatically record any power meter or cadence data source that’s enabled ahead of time in the Bluetooth control panel of your Apple Watch (this does require an Apple Watch). This follows Apple adding power meter support as announced back at WWDC in June, and in the public betas from last month. Any Bluetooth power meter source is supported, including Bluetooth Smart trainers, which is actually what I used today (a KICKR Bike). Props to DCR reader Nathan for catching this new addition.
Oh, and for those not familiar, Apple Fitness+ is their subscription workout service, which includes a variety of workout types/sessions/instructions. Sorta like Peloton, except sorta different too. It’s also bundled with their Apple One+ service, so if you’ve got that because you have too many photos like me, and need the extra storage, then you’ve Fitness+ for free in there. I wrote a thing when it first came out a few years ago, but it’s a bit dated now.
In any case, to get started on the power geekery, it’s pretty easy. First, ensure that you’ve got your Bluetooth power meter source paired in the Bluetooth control panel on your watch, just as if cycling outside/inside with a power meter. If you’ve already done that, you can skip this step. Once you wake-up your power meter it’ll automatically connect to it.
(I generally use/prefer Apple Watch Ultra over the Series 8, but the above watch is paired to the public beta, versus my Ultra is paired to the developer beta.)
Next, go off and pick an Apple Fitness+ workout within the cycling category as you usually would. It doesn’t matter what you choose, but obviously, you have to choose something in the cycling realm:
Then, press start as usual. At this point the session starts, it connects to your Apple Watch, and you’ll soon see your heart rate data on the screen from your watch. All of this is the same as before:
However, what you won’t see but is secretly happening behind the scenes, is the recording of your power meter data – both cadence and power, as well as speed (if on a smart trainer). Unfortunately, at this time you won’t see that data on either the watch or Apple Fitness+ during the workout. Nor can you customize the Apple Watch data page/screen to show said data either as a new page. In a Fitness+ workout you only get the single page/screen shown above.
This leads to the somewhat awkward reality that in order to follow the class instructions (such as cadence targets), you need another non-Apple device to show said data from your power meter/trainer/bike. Thus, in my case I had another watch displaying my actual power/cadence levels so I could iterate through the workout appropriately:
Of course, to state the obvious: Apple has actually done the hard part here. The hard part was getting all the data flowing. The easy part is simply adding another data page on the watch (or phone/etc app) that shows power/cadence. Hopefully they do that, as that’s a very core differentiator (or lack thereof) when compared to Peloton for those using Peloton cycling workouts.
Albeit, I haven’t actually shown you the main thing here – which is that this data was recorded. So, once you end your workout you’ll get a summary screen in Fitness+. That too won’t show the data yet:
Instead, you need to tap over to the regular ‘Workouts’ page and you’ll see the workout listed there. Finally, you’ve got power data recorded:
And just like any other Apple WatchOS 10 cycling workout, you can see all your power stats in more detail for both laps/splits, as well as various timeframes. Further, all this data is dumped into Apple Health, so compatible apps can pull it in as well. In this case I’m using a beta version of the HealthFit app, which can see the power data and upload/export it to sites like Strava, Dropbox, etc…
And thus, my work here is complete.
Albeit, I’d like to see Apple complete the workout and just add a second data page on the watch that simply has: Heart Rate, Cadence, and Power. Time if they really want. Donuts or cookies earned too. And then ideally, add cadence/power to the Apple Fitness+ screen as well, so I don’t have to look at my watch constantly. Hopefully that’ll happen between now and production launch – as that would be a huge jump up for the platform. Obviously, there’s other tidbits that one can associate with adding, like summary screens/etc, but hey, baby steps. Or, closing the ring I guess.
With that – thanks for reading!