Bad news if you stream classes from Peloton's app on your phone while using a more affordable indoor cycle or treadmill from a different brand. Starting today, this popular method of "hacking" a Peloton experience will become more expensive.
The company today kicked off a brand refresh and debuted new membership pricing tiers, and a significant new feature for its mobile app called Peloton Gym. This new tool, designed specifically for the gym, offers self-guided workout plans rather than interactive classes.
Peloton previously offered just one app membership option that included unlimited access to its content library for $12.99 per month after a 30-day free trial. Going forward, there will be three Peloton app membership tiers: App Free ($0), App One ($12.99 per month or $129 per year), and App+ ($24 per month or $240 per year).
As part of this week's announcements, Peloton said Row classes are now headed to the app for the first time. The new Peloton Gym feature is available exclusively in the app, across all tiers. Here's a breakdown of what's included in each tier:
- The free tier offers a rotating selection of 50 classes across 12 fitness modalities, giving newbies a taste of the Peloton experience with no investment. Those modalities include: Cycling, Running (Indoor), Walking (Indoor), Outdoor (Walking & Running), Strength, Yoga, Mediation, Cardio, Stretching, Barre, Pilates, and Boxing.
- The App One tier offers access to "thousands" of classes across nine of Peloton's 16 fitness modalities. Members on this tier will have unlimited access to the following types of classes: Strength, Yoga, Meditation, Outdoor (Walking & Running), Cardio, Barre, Pilates, Boxing, and Stretching. Here's the big caveat on the App One tier: members can take up to three hardware-based classes per month across the following modalities: Cycling, Running (Indoor), Walking (Indoor), Rowing, Bike Bootcamp, Tread Bootcamp, and Row Bootcamp.
- The App+ tier offers unlimited access to Peloton's entire workout library, with the exception of Lanebreak and Scenic classes. It includes all of App One's offerings, plus "thousands" of equipment-based cardio classes you can pair with any indoor bike, treadmill, or rower.
Needless to say, the new app tiers are an unfortunate change for the many people who recreate a Peloton-like experience on the cheap by pairing the company's app with a different brand of indoor bike or treadmill. Now, if you want to take more than three hardware-based Peloton classes per month, you'll need to update to the $24-per-month App+ tier.
If you own a Peloton machine, your pricing is not changing. The new tiers announced as part of its brand relaunch only apply to app memberships.
Peloton will continue to charge Bike, Tread, and Row owners $44 per month for an All-Access membership, which gives you unlimited access to the company's entire workout library on your machine and the Peloton app. All Access members can compete on Peloton's in-class leaderboards, the main limitation of an app membership. It also includes exclusive content like Peloton's Lanebreak fitness game and Scenic workouts.
Peloton also offers a $24 monthly Guide membership for use with its strength training camera if you don't own any other Peloton hardware. If you own a Guide and another Peloton machine, the All-Access membership covers both.
The Peloton app is available on iOS and Android phones and tablets, TV platforms including Roku and Amazon, and on the web. The Peloton Watch app, which lets you use your smartwatch as a heart rate monitor during Peloton classes, is available for Apple Watch and WearOS devices.
If you use the Peloton app with a different-brand bike or treadmill, will you continue doing so when the price goes up?