Can You Use Apple Watch With Peloton Bike?

If you have an Apple Watch and don't want to get a new heart rate monitor for your Peloton, you might want to sync the two.

The Apple Watch has heart rate monitoring and workout logs. The peloton app can curate workout suggestions based on your personal activity and health data. But manually doing this can be time-consuming, and you don't want to give up on keeping track of key metrics altogether. Fortunately, you don't have to.

You can use Apple Watch with the Peloton bike to monitor your heart rate during your workouts, get personalized workout suggestions, and have your exercise data logged into your smartwatch's activity record. For this, you need an Apple Watch with a heart rate monitor and good internet connectivity.

In this article, we will get into the specific features you can expect from the Peloton-apple connectivity and whether the smartwatch's heart rate monitor is reliable. You will also learn which apple watch series feature a heart rate monitor and whether there are cheaper alternatives.

The content in this post draws from Apple and Peloton's own resources regarding heart rate monitoring and apple compatibility, respectively. We also cite a Cleveland clinic paper on the accuracy of heart rate tracking and discuss its implications on your peloton workouts. Let's get started.

‍What Can Apple Watch Do With the Peloton Bike?

Peloton bike's latest Apple Watch integration is something the fitness company is excited about. In a post detailing what Apple users can expect from the Peloton, here are the key things Peloton assures one can do with an Apple watch.

Monitor Heart Rate

The first advantage of an Apple watch integration is that users can get their heart rate monitored during exercise without a wired heart rate monitor. Of course, one can monitor their heart rate independent of a peloton integration, but having the peloton equipment recognize and communicate with the apple watch allows one to make use of their personal health data.

Personal Strive Score

This is the score that Peloton assesses based on personalized metrics. It is a heart rate score mid-activity, and knowing this can help you speed up or slow down your activity to get the optimal aerobic exercise on your Peloton.

Log Workouts Intothe Activity App

Finally, an Apple integration ensures that you don't miss out on logging your workout activity. If you keep track of your exercise, then peloton-apple integration automates this for you, reducing the likelihood of forgetting, exaggerating, or under-estimating your daily activity.

Are any of these advantages worth getting a new Apple watch? Not really. But if you already have an Apple watch, the connectivity between your fitness wearable and your exercise equipment does make your life easier. Heartrate monitoring remains the crown jewel of this integration.

However, the accuracy of wearable technology in monitoring heart rate is questionable. Research has shown that the Apple watch, alongside other smartwatches, can get inaccurate heart rate readings. The study was conducted by Cleveland Clinic academics and is fairly reliable, but it should not discourage you from using your Apple Watch on your Peloton.

The findings show that your heart rate reading on Apple Watch is off by a consistent factor. In other words, if your heart rate is shown as one beat lower than it is, it is always shown as one beat lower. Since Peloton comes up with a strive score based on this consistent data, it can be used as a goal for your workouts because the strive score is also one beat lower.

That said, if you're looking to buy the apple watch as a heart rate monitor, you might as well get an actual heart rate monitor for Peloton. The apple watch can be trusted as an input for the strive score and as an activity log. It cannot be taken seriously as an objective heart rate monitor.

Which Apple Watch Has a Heart Rate Monitor?

Since the biggest data point communicated between the apple watch and the peloton bike is your heart rate, there is no point in connecting an apple watch that does not have a heart rate monitor. Here are the apple watch series that feature heart rate monitoring functionality.

• Apple Watch Series 4 - All series 4 watches have the ability to monitor users' heart rate.
• Apple Watch Series 5 - Apple Watch Series 5 can track your exercise and resting heart rate.
• Apple Watch Series 6 - Series 6 watches are capable of measuring your heart rate more accurately.
• Apple Watch Series 7 - Apple Watch Series 7 can track your heart rate and blood oxygen levels.

Apple Watch Series 3 is the only smartwatch that can and cannot measure your heart rate depending on the model you own. If you get the series 3 watch from a used gadgets marketplace, you need to locate the heartrate app to confirm that your smart watch can indeed be used for tracking your heart rate.

An earlier iteration of series 3 had a downgraded model that didn't track heart rate. New series 3 apple watches have heartrate monitoring capabilities. If you got your apple watch as a brand new product in the last 3 years, it will work with Peloton and will track your heart rate.

How To Set up Apple Watch With Peloton?

1. Download and install the peloton app on your iPhone - This should be done from the app store on your iPhone. Remember, you cannot set up your Apple Watch without an iPhone.
2. Download and install the peloton app on your Apple watch - Open the peloton app on your iPhone and tap "more," followed by "Apple Watch" to get the option to install the peloton app on the Apple Watch.
3. Connect your Apple Watch's peloton app with your health app - Once again, go to "more" on the main peloton app interface on your iPhone. Then, click "set up" on the Apple watch option.
4. Give the Peloton app access to all your Apple Watch health data - Tapping "setup" will give you multiple options. You should choose "Connect to Health App." You will get a prompt to choose which data to sync between the health and the peloton app. On the top, there will be an option to "Turn on All." Tap this for the best cross-device functionality.
5. Give the Peloton app the ability to send you notifications - On your apple watch, open the peloton app. The app will ask for permission to send notifications. Turn on the notifications, and you're ready to use the apple watch with your Peloton bike.

Apple Watch vs. Fitbit for Peloton

If you have not bought your apple watch yet and want to get wearable tech that works with your Peloton bike, the leading alternative is Fitbit, which started the wearable fitness tracker revolution long before the Apple Watch leaned into fitness.

Fitbit is cheaper than the Apple Watch and equally capable of heart rate monitoring and activity logging on Peloton. It can connect with your Peloton bike/app and automatically sync your activity data. If you don't own an iPhone, getting Fitbit makes more sense.

Here are the key things to keep in mind before making a decision:

• The wearable you own is better - If you already have an Apple Watch, you do not need to buy a Fitbit.
• Fitbit is cheaper for the same fitness functionality - Fitbit trackers that can monitor your heart rate are cheaper than apple watch models that can do the same.
• Fitbit can also work with an iPhone - Apple Watch needs an iPhone, and without one, you cannot even set up the smartwatch. Fitbit works with Samsung smartphones as well as iPhone sets. The Fitbit app is available on the android marketplace (Google Playstore) and apple's app marketplace (The App Store).
• Apple Watch has battery problems - Apple smartwatch has low battery life, especially when you turn on the heart rate monitor. This isn't a big issue if you already own the apple watch. But if you're getting a new wearable, better get the Fitbit that has better battery life.