Apple Vision Pro for fitness?
Apple have found success with it's Fitness+ service, but how will this translate to Apple's Vision Pro headset (AVP) when it's finally in the hand of consumers?
Let's take a look.
Pucker up
One of the first potential issues doing a workout with AVP on your face is the battery puck that is designed to wear on a belt clip on your waist, much like the Magic Leap 2 AR headset.
Now, my own personal opinion, I think this is the best place for it, in an already pretty heavy HMD, having a hot battery on your head as well, is no fun.
Though, the obvious elephant in the room, is why didn't they move some of the compute there too, maybe too obvious, maybe Apple thought people would potentially knock the puck against objects around the house or office? Maybe, but that would get costly, hitting expensive M2 and R1 chips.
But let's get back to the potential problem with having a wired headset connected to your belt for fitness use cases.
One of the biggest issues before the invention of bluetooth in-ear speakers like Apple's own Ear Pods was that when you plugged in the cable from the old style wired earphones into your phone, you were forever un-trapping the wire from your collar, coat, whatever, this was hellishly annoying.
Ever tried using wired earphones to an iPhone for your morning workout music?
Yeah, me too, it just doesn't cut it in 2023.
So, maybe 'the Puck, won't kill Zuck' when it comes to VR Fitness, but, I am damn sure with all the discourse around this topic on Twitter et al, that companies like BOBOVR and others, won't already be making a chest or back strap to mount the puck in an elegant and functional form factor.
Problem easily solved.
No sweat bro.
I love the form factor of the head (back) strap and what looks to be a devilishly comfortable face pad on AVP, but it looks like it will act like the preverbial sponge when you get into your fitness stride. This will get grubby and smelly pretty fast.
Eww.
Will we be able to buy a second set so we can have one in the wash and one connected at all times, or will they have a second rubber type unit to use with their Fitness+ service?
Again, I potentially see the aftermarket guy's plugging this gap rapidly if Apple don't at time of launch.
Spatial Fitness+ ?
We've taken a look at some of the potential hardware issues, that quite frankly are minor, easily solved and in turn, quite cheap to remedy. So what about Fitness + itself, what do we expect..
- An immediate continuation of the flat video format within accessed from within the ipad style app interface, but with a little trickery and spatial audio.
- They go all in on sterioscopic video that plays within windows of the app.
- They create a 'choose your avatar to train with' and the avatars once user chosen will appear as full augmented reality objects within your room
- The above but in a choice of VR type backgrounds, that can be made opaque using the top dial or when a person enters your proximity
The times, they are a changing
For fitness enthusiasts everywhere, these are rapidly changing and exciting times, Fitness+ is a great 2D fitness service that the non immersive (normal lol) people love and use daily. Connect with your Apple Watch for up to date health stats, heart rate and blood pressure monitor, it's all good.
All that juicy data we'll create with our movement that can be funnelled back to us in the Matrix (our watches and phones).
Push notifications to get yo lazy ass back wearing the AVP to train again
Oh joy!
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Mark Nicoll