I wasn’t precisely offered on the thought of getting a “buddy” cheering me on throughout a exercise when Apple first introduced its Exercise Buddy characteristic in WatchOS 26. The exercise companion I had in thoughts was extra of a no-nonsense coach; somebody to push me out of my consolation zone and into peak efficiency. Apple’s model, as a substitute, is an AI-powered voice that dishes out reward as you run (or as you do any variety of actions). However after testing it myself and speaking in-depth with Apple about the way it works, I am beginning to suppose the corporate undersold it on function. Exercise Buddy is far more than only a hype man, and it represents an important turning level in Apple’s well being journey.
Exercise Buddy turns your Apple Watch right into a pleasant voice that lauds your achievements throughout exercises. The WatchOS 26 characteristic is not a full-blown health coach that may information your coaching plan, however that does not imply Apple is not headed there. In actual fact, Exercise Buddy will be the clearest sign but that Apple is laying the groundwork for one thing a lot greater by way of health instruments and AI.
At a time when buyers and fanatics are vital in regards to the firm’s AI efforts, particularly in comparison with opponents like Samsung and Google, Apple has an opportunity with Exercise Buddy to point out how its strategy is completely different in a significant method. After the lukewarm debut of Apple Intelligence on the iPhone, Exercise Buddy is the primary time we’re seeing what Apple can do with AI on the watch.
The general public beta model of WatchOS 26 is out. I just lately examined Exercise Buddy within the developer beta of WatchOS 26 and was genuinely stunned by the way it made me really feel after a stroll. I spoke with Jay Blahnik, Apple’s vp of health applied sciences, and Deidre Caldbeck, senior director of Apple Watch product advertising, to get extra readability across the characteristic, and unpack the tech and philosophy behind it. And the sense that I acquired from them is that Apple’s marathon towards personalised, clever teaching is just getting began.
Do not name it a coach… but
When Apple launched Exercise Buddy at WWDC in June, many Apple Watch followers (together with myself) had been fast to critique Exercise Buddy for being extra of a hype man/lady, than a coach. In comparison with opponents akin to Fitbit, Garmin and just lately Samsung, all of which already provide some type of AI-powered adaptive teaching plan, Exercise Buddy with its real-time suggestions is extra like a cheerleader than a strategist.
It is simple to miss what Apple set in movement, by specializing in what Exercise Buddy is not. The characteristic is designed to be a motivating presence throughout your exercise, not a drill sergeant. It delivers contextual, personalised encouragement that is dynamically generated in actual time throughout eight supported exercise varieties: indoor/out of doors walks and runs, out of doors biking, HIIT, Useful Energy Coaching and Conventional Energy Coaching.
“We did not need it to be only a professional software,” Blahnik advised me. “We wished it to be accessible to as many individuals as potential.”
Exercise Buddy requires you put on headphones. I am a no-frills runner, who’d relatively use 2 further minutes to work out than spend them looking for a headset and selecting the proper playlist (WatchOS 26 will quickly deal with this too). So I wasn’t offered on the thought of utilizing Exercise Buddy relatively than simply monitoring my common tempo and coronary heart charge alerts on the wrist with my Apple Watch. And whereas I am nonetheless not totally onboard with the entire audio gear requirement, I did not thoughts having the Exercise Buddy model of my alerts in my ear reminding me that I would reached my cruising vary (that’s, my goal coaching zone).
Enabling Exercise Buddy within the developer’s beta of watchOS 26.
Once I launched my first stroll exercise, I toggled Exercise Buddy on and was greeted with a fast abstract of my week up to now. “That is your fourth stroll this week,” it jogged my memory, and framed it within the context of how shut I used to be to closing my rings. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it surely was surprisingly useful to have that context delivered in a conversational tone, relatively than buried in a graph someplace.
“It is not a coach, however it’s designed to take your knowledge and attempt to ship it to you on the proper time,” defined Blahnik, “in a method that evokes you and does not get in the best way.”
My Exercise Buddy did begin to get a bit of too chatty although once I hit some hills throughout my stroll and my coronary heart charge began spiking. As a result of my HR was continuously teetering above and dipping beneath my goal, the alerts had been hitting my ear each few seconds. Fortunately, you’ll be able to tweak or disable HR alerts solely for every particular person exercise. My private candy spot concerned eradicating simply the excessive HR alert.
A decade of sweat fairness and a workforce of trainers
Exercise Buddy was not simply Apple’s whimsical creation made to show that the corporate can do AI for well being and exercises. It is the results of a decade of health knowledge, an inspiring workforce of Health Plus trainers, and the technical raise of Apple Intelligence, Caldbeck advised me.
“This was such a good time for it to occur as a result of three issues got here collectively,” Caldbeck stated. “Ten years of sweat fairness, your private health knowledge. Our Health Plus trainers. And Apple Intelligence, which gave us the technical capabilities to push it ahead.”
I might really feel all three within the ultimate product. The voice I heard is not just a few generic audio immediate, which is what I used to be used to from all these options on different units. It is a generative mannequin skilled on the voices of 28 precise Health Plus trainers. The tone, power, and phrasing feels intentional and private.
“It is not a recording,” Caldbeck emphasised. “There was no script. It is generated within the second utilizing your exercise knowledge and the voice mannequin, and it’ll sound completely different each time.”
Once I first arrange Exercise Buddy on my Apple Watch Collection 10, I used to be prompted to select from considered one of three distinct voices. They weren’t the tough-love coach I would envisioned would whip me into the very best form of my life, however they did sound like somebody I would belief to assist me get there. Authoritative, energetic and unusually human. A far cry from the telemarketer-style robo-coach voices I’ve encountered in different packages.
There was a second when Exercise Buddy tipped its hand as one thing being lower than human. It got here throughout a mile-mark check-in, proper after I would crested what I thought of a steep hill. It reported my stats: “One mile in, 230 ft of elevation achieve.” Then it paused and declared, “That is a delicate elevation achieve!” The tone was so emphatic, you’d suppose I would just scaled Everest. It wasn’t the message that stood out; it was the supply. An actual individual would’ve stated “delicate” matter of factly. However this was delivered with such over-the-top cheer that it nearly felt like sarcasm. However the mismatch between tone and achievement made it sound like my wrist was gently roasting me for doing the naked minimal.
Personalization, with privateness on the core
The personalization is not nearly your knowledge, it is about the way it’s delivered. Exercise Buddy can adapt to your habits, preferences, and even time of day.
“There’s one thing actually exceptional about realizing that no matter they’re saying is exclusive to that second, and that you simply’re not simply going to set off that very same sentence in your run once more the subsequent day, even in case you’ve completed the identical factor,” stated Blahnik.
On the finish of the stroll, Exercise Buddy summarized my stats, distance and energy. And it shared one significant nugget: My stroll was my quickest tempo in 4 weeks. That hit me tougher than I anticipated. I have been coming off a knee damage that is stored me from working for 5 weeks, and listening to that small achieve was the second I noticed I may be on the mend. It was the sort of contextual perception I would often need to dig out alone, on this case surfaced in my ear with out having to consider it.
Below the hood, Apple is balancing Exercise Buddy’s intimacy with its long-standing privateness strategy. The characteristic makes use of a mix of on-device processing (on each your watch and iPhone) and personal cloud computation to generate responses in actual time. None of your private health knowledge is shared externally.
“We all know that is your most private knowledge,” stated Caldbeck. “So we wished to deal with it appropriately, however nonetheless offer you highly effective insights.”
This cautious strategy issues. Belief would be the basis for any future well being teaching Apple delivers by AI.
Apple’s acquired a brand new AI-powered coaching companion for you.
A imaginative and prescient that is simply on the beginning line
Whereas Exercise Buddy is just out there to these with Apple Intelligence-supported iPhones, all Apple Watch customers will nonetheless profit from different updates in WatchOS 26. The limitation is not about exclusivity, it is about processing energy. Producing real-time, personalised voice suggestions requires the sort of on-device efficiency that present Apple Watch {hardware} alone cannot deal with. No less than not but.
The Apple Watch’s Exercise app has the largest navigation overhaul because it launched in 2015. Core options like interval coaching and tempo alerts, beforehand buried in menus, are actually entrance and middle. Media integration additionally improved, with dynamic Apple Music options primarily based in your typical exercises that may play as quickly as you begin your exercise.
“We stored our give attention to making these options as private and simple to make use of as potential,” Blahnik stated, “pushing the exercise app additional than it is ever been.”
That framing, centered on simplicity, accessibility and personalization, is vital to understanding Apple’s technique. Whereas different firms rush to launch full-blown AI health coaches, Apple is taking a extra deliberate path: It is constructing the infrastructure to deal with your knowledge and translate it into significant, real-time steerage.
Apple’s been right here earlier than with including native sleep monitoring to the Apple Watch. The corporate waited till it had a scientific motive and subsequently a reliable implementation with Sleep Apnea alerts, even whereas opponents had lengthy provided fundamental sleep monitoring options.
“We nearly all the time begin our options to be actually welcoming and inclusive and easy to make use of. We predict that there is a actually vivid future for the place this could go as properly,” Blahnik advised me.
Apple’s lengthy sport
After all Apple won’t ever inform us the place its sights are set subsequent, however you do not have to be a rocket scientist to attract the connections of the place that is all headed.
“After we take into consideration the long run, all of the methods with which we will push this characteristic to be much more personalised, we predict its actually, actually thrilling,” Blahnik famous.
Exercise Buddy could seem light-weight now, but it surely proves that actual time knowledge evaluation is already a chance on the Apple Watch, and it may well ship them in a method that feels motivating and deeply private. Extra importantly, it is testing the waters. It is accessible, pleasant, and non-threatening; one thing even a newbie may be inclined to make use of.
It is setting the stage for what might be subsequent: an AI-powered coach that helps you make sense of all of your knowledge past simply the Exercise app to assist encourage you and lead you to construct more healthy habits that may result in measurable enhancements. If Apple performs this proper, the lengthy sport may very well repay. As a result of constructing belief, delivering actual insights and assembly folks the place they’re is the way you win the marathon.
