Peloton Might Release A Heart Rate Monitoring Armband For Use With Its Bikes

After making a name for itself with its smart treadmills and stationary bikes, Peloton is now looking to enter the wearable market with a heart-rate monitor. Evidence of the monitor was found in code for the Peloton iOS app, suggesting it may not be that far off from release.

Peloton released its first in-home bike in 2014. In the years since then, it’s quickly become one of the biggest names in the fitness niche. The New York-based company now offers multiple variants of its bikes and treadmills, a mobile app with access to thousands of on-demand workouts, and live classes that can be streamed directly on the Peloton Bike and Tread.

Now, it appears that Peloton is getting serious about wearable fitness tech. A report from Bloomberg first highlighted the code revealing Peloton’s unannounced heart-rate monitor, saying, “The basic contours of the Peloton Heart Rate Band are buried deep inside the code of the company’s iPhone and iPad app. Details and images of the device indicate that it will come in small and large sizes and will pair wirelessly with Peloton’s bike and treadmills, along with phones, tablets and televisions running the company’s app.” It’s further reported that the Peloton Heart Rate Band will support tracking of multiple heart-rate intensities, with the app code reading, “Track the intensity of your workouts from Zone 1 (lowest effort) to Zone 5 (maximum capacity). The Heart Rate Band will go into a sleep mode when not in use, and through OTA software updates, Peloton will be able to patch bugs/add new features remotely.

Why Peloton Is Apparently So Interested In Wearables

It’s important to note that this isn’t the first heart-rate monitor from Peloton. The company already sells a chest strap monitor for $49, the Peloton Bike and Tread are both compatible with any third-party ANT+ monitors, and users can track their heart-rate using Fitbits and Apple Watches. That means the appeal of the Peloton Heart Rate Band could be fairly limited, though Peloton is likely banking on a couple of things that’ll get people to buy anyways — specifically, detailed heart-rate zone tracking and seamless integration with the rest of the Peloton ecosystem.

As some readers might recall, this isn’t the first wearable gadget from Peloton that’s been rumored this year. It was revealed this past March that Peloton had purchased smartwatch company Atlas. While nothing has been confirmed yet, it’s highly suspect that Peloton purchased the company to develop its own self-branded smartwatch of sorts. Between that and now the Peloton Heart Rate Band, it’s clear that Peloton has plans to enter the wearable niche in a big way. The Peloton app for the Apple Watch is great, but if Peloton can get its users to swap it out for wearable devices of its own, that’ll tie them even deeper into the company’s ecosystem — thus making it more difficult to leave.

For right now, however, it remains unclear when Peloton plans on launching the Heart Rate Band. It being referenced in the iOS app suggests Peloton could be preparing to release it fairly soon, but as with all things in the tech space, those plans could change at any time. Stay tuned.

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