FitXR’s redesigned smartphone app introduces personalized strength, cardio and mobility workouts that can be completed without a headset, with members able to move workouts between mobile and VR.
FitXR is expanding its fitness platform beyond VR with personalized mobile workouts that can be completed without a headset.
The new Mobile Workouts beta is launching through FitXR’s redesigned app for iOS and Android, with short video workouts across strength, cardio and mobility based on a member’s goals and fitness ability.
The mobile workouts are integrated into FitXR’s Your Journey training plans. Once enabled, FitXR says they can begin appearing from a member’s next Journey checkpoint. Members can also manually switch an existing Journey workout between VR and mobile from the phone.
I tried the new mobile workout system at launch. During setup, FitXR asked what equipment I had available, offering options including dumbbells, resistance bands, loop bands and a chair, as well as bodyweight-only workouts. I could then select either Casey or Dane as my coach.
FitXR’s Atlas assistant says it will build sessions around a member’s goals, while the selected coach demonstrates each movement. Workouts can also be adjusted for length, difficulty, style and available equipment.
In my testing, FitXR generated a mobile workout based on the preferences I selected during setup. The workout used short exercise videos, with my selected coach demonstrating each movement and Atlas guiding me through the session. I was also able to adjust the workout’s length, difficulty, style and available equipment.
FitXR Mobile Workouts (beta) running on iPhone.
Your Journey Comes To Mobile
Speaking with UploadVR ahead of the update, FitXR CEO and co-founder Sam Cole said the company has historically given its mobile app less attention than its VR app.
“The headset is still the best place to work out we’ve ever built. What it can’t do is be in your pocket,” Cole said. “The phone is where people decide, plan, and adjust.”
Cole said FitXR remains heavily invested in VR while looking for ways to support members outside the time they spend in a headset.
The redesigned mobile app now lets members view their Journey progress, see upcoming workouts and make changes to their training plan from their phone. Those decisions carry back to VR, allowing members to plan a workout before putting on their headset. FitXR says it has also rebuilt the app’s navigation, class details, plan management and onboarding.
The mobile update builds on FitXR’s introduction of Your Journey earlier this year. Journey shifted the app toward providing members with an ongoing training plan, recommending workouts based on their goals and preferences rather than leaving them to choose every class themselves.
FitXR has continued iterating on Journey since launch, and Cole told UploadVR that community feedback has already influenced its roadmap.
A new Smart Intensity feature now asks members to rate how difficult a workout felt after each class. At each checkpoint, Journey uses those ratings to recommend increasing the intensity, holding steady or easing off.
The feedback prompt can be disabled, in which case FitXR says Journey will continue making recommendations based on recent workout results.
“We want our customers to feel like, ‘Oh wow, the system really knows and understands me and my goals,'” Cole said.
How FitXR Builds A Mobile Workout
FitXR describes its new mobile sessions as “made-to-order” classes. Instead of matching a member with an existing prerecorded class, the company says each session is assembled on demand around their goals, stated preferences and readiness to train that day.
Movement selection, sequencing, intervals and intensity can vary, meaning two members pursuing the same goal can receive different sessions.
The mobile onboarding process adds several other inputs. Members tell FitXR what equipment they have available and choose a coach before their first workout.
The workouts themselves are presented as short exercise videos. Atlas guides the session, while the selected coach demonstrates the movements. FitXR currently offers Casey, described in the app as “High energy, no BS,” and Dane, described as a “Daily mood booster.”
Photos: UploadVR
Members aren’t locked into the workout FitXR initially creates. An Edit Workout menu lets them change its length, difficulty, style and equipment, causing the workout to be adjusted around those selections.
The connection between mobile and VR also works in both directions. FitXR lets members change a scheduled VR workout to a mobile workout, while a mobile workout can be switched back to VR.
Switching between VR and Mobile workouts. Photo: UploadVR
FitXR VP of Product Rob Mayes says the company is launching Mobile Workouts as a beta so it can gather feedback from members before expanding the feature.
“Our best feature releases have all started as betas because our community is the most reliable source of truth we have,” Mayes said.
The Mobile Workouts beta is available as an opt-in for existing FitXR members at no additional cost, while some new users will receive access through an A/B test. The redesigned FitXR mobile app is available on iOS and Android. FitXR membership currently costs $12.99 per month, or $107.99 annually.
