Need some motivation to get moving? A new Apple Fitness+ feature called Time to Walk aims to help you get outside and reach your step goal.
Launched Monday, Time to Walk is designed to make you feel like you're on a jaunt with celebrities like Dolly Parton, NBA star Draymond Green, musician Shawn Mendes, and Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba. Each 25- to 40-minute episode features a different celebrity, who will help pass the time on your walk by sharing stories and songs, along with photos that will show up on your Apple Watch screen.
The feature lives inside the Workout app on your Apple Watch, and requires AirPods or another set of compatible Bluetooth headphones. To access it, just tap the Workout app, and you should see the latest Time to Walk episode at the top. Tap the small menu icon on the right side to scroll through all the latest episodes, which are automatically downloaded to your Apple Watch with a Fitness+ subscription so you can access them without Wi-Fi. You can also browse episodes in the Fitness+ tab in the Fitness app on your iPhone.
Apple is launching the feature today with four episodes featuring the aforementioned celebrities, and plans to release a new one every Monday through the end of April. The company specifically picked guests who are both good storytellers and actually enjoy walking. At the start of each episode, the featured celebrity sets the scene by telling you where they're walking and the benefits they get from this type of exercise, for instance.
The celebrity then tells two to three stories about their life. The stories are sometimes humorous and other times inspirational. At just the right moment in the story, you'll hear a ding, and a photo will show up on your Apple Watch to illustrate what the person is talking about.
During Dolly Parton's episode, she tells the story about a statue built in her honor. When she talks about the statue, a photo will come through on your watch so you can see it.
During the second half of each episode, the celebrity will share three of their favorite songs, and explain why they chose that tune. During Dolly's episode, for instance, she tells the famous story about how she played her acrylic nails on the song "9 to 5."
The experience is, of course, fully integrated with the Apple Watch Workout app so all your stats are saved. When you start an episode, your Apple Watch will automatically start tracking the Walk workout. If you use a wheelchair, Time to Walk is instead called Time to Push, and starting an episode automatically starts an Outdoor Wheelchair Walk Pace workout.
This new feature adds value to the Fitness+ membership, and is especially useful in light of COVID-19, given that many people still feel unsafe going to the gym. Walking outside is among the safest activities you can do at this time, so it's nice Apple is offering this new content aimed at motivating people to get in their steps.
Fitness+ earned an excellent rating in PCMag's review for its intuitive interface, good class selection, diverse trainer team, and quality music playlists. The service costs $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year, and requires an Apple Watch and iPhone.
Editors' Note: Editors' Note: This story was updated at 11 a.m. ET with more details from Apple.
Original StoryEnjoy long walks on the beach at sunset? Apple may have a new Fitness+ feature just for you.
The function, called "Time to Walk," has not been officially announced, but is expected to go live on the Apple Watch "soon," as the watchOS 7.3 beta wraps up. As MacRumors reports, it was spotted first by Twitter user Othmane, explaining that the upcoming workout is "an audio experience in the Workout app where guests share inspiring stories as you walk."
Subscribers will be able to launch the program from their wrist to choose from a library of stories, which, based on a screenshot of the since-removed Apple promo video, includes a tale by singer Shawn Mendes.
"From the video my understanding was that it was something that'll be dropping from time to time," Othmane tweeted on Sunday, citing the "initial lineup" as entertainer Dolly Parton, NBA player Draymond Green, Orange is the New Black actor Uzo Aduba, and Mendes.
You'll be able to opt in for automatic downloads of fresh Time to Walk stories as they become available; narratives appear when the Apple Watch is connected to power and near a paired iPhone, and are deleted upon completion of the workout. It's unclear whether the stories will be one-off accounts or episodic readings. Apple did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.
Settings for Time to Walk began appearing "weeks ago" in earlier watchOS 7.3 betas, according to MacRumors, suggesting a public launch "when the software updates are publicly released, likely this coming week." Apple's at-home exercise program Fitness+ launched last month. For $9.99 per month (or $79.99 for one year), the platform displays studio-style workouts over an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV device. It also integrates with Apple Watch to highlight real-time stats on your body, such as heart rate and calories burned.
At launch, Fitness+ features 10 workout types, including high intensity interval training (HIIT), strength, yoga, dance, core, cycling, treadmill (for running or walking), rowing, and mindful cooldown, with new routines arriving each week.