- Apple has patented a new training method for training tracking
- It says the technology can capture body movement data and decide what exercise you are doing
- It can also count how many reps you have done, possibly paving the way for improved training tracking or online class participation
While we have heard that Apple is preparing a fairly significant upgrade of health app for 2025, the company has also patented a new type of training tracking technology that could run improved training on many of the best iPhones in the future.
A new Apple patent, published on April 3 and seen by Techradar, called ‘Training Tracking Method’, Apple reveals new technology for training tracking. It relates to “predicting and counting repetitions of physical activity” using trapped image data of a body in motion.
Apple’s patent aims to overcome some of the limitations of predicting and tracking the activity of a person in real time.
To this end, Apple’s technology can take image recording data and predict what activity you are performing while in progress and potentially providing feedback about it.
It could be done using a camera on any type of electronic device, including a phone, tablet, computer or even a laptop like an Apple Watch (which is tilted to get a camera one day). There are heavy shades of Peloton Guide here, but it seems that Apple is trying to take the technique a step further with more accurate tracking.
Apple exploring this technology could point to a variety of implementations and upgrades for users, especially about using Apple devices to track real-time training or when participating in a more collective version of an online Apple Fitness Plus class.
Apple explores training detection
The best Apple Watches, Apple Health apps and devices such as iPhone Excel in certain implementations of health and wellness tracking; However, an obvious lack of feature is to run training using Rep counting and tracking.
Even Amazfit Active 2, a $ 99 Smartwatch, we evaluate as one of the best cheap smartwatches on the market, has a built-in rep tracker for strength and conditioning training,
If Apple could crack training and Rep tracking, it would be a big boost to the company’s health and wellness ambitions, and using its device cameras could be a key to getting the upper hand.
Powerful features like Lidar would be much more accurate than accelerometers when it comes to tracking form and reps in a training participant, giving Apple potentially unique accuracy in this regard.
Given how generally cumbersome and often antisocial filming in the gym can be, it seems that this kind of technology would make it easier to use at home.
I can definitely imagine a service like Apple Fitness+ leaning on training tracking data to give users more clinical insight into their progress, and tracks on screen in real time during a workout.
Although not mentioned here, there is also no reason to believe that this technology could not be further developed to deliver feedback and tips on form and posture.
At this point, the technology is only an idea on paper. If Apple ever releases a feature like this, it is likely to be a year or two away from consumers. So don’t expect an Apple Watch Ultra 3 with a camera that can track your workouts.
More instantly, we know that Apple is planning a large blood pressure monitoring upgrade to the aforementioned Ultra 3 and the Apple Watch series 11, both of which are expected later in the year.
Last rumors point the rumors of a new health app overturning, filled with an AI agent designed to repeat your doctor and arrive as early as 2026.
