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LG has unveiled plans for a home workout app for its TVs called Fitness Candy, alongside companion devices like smart cameras, exercise bikes and resistance bands.
Subscription app details and the South Korean company’s plans for companion hardware devices suggest LG is looking to compete with the user’s living room TV workout tools, such as Peloton Guide and Apple. FitnessPlus.
The new app is expected to be available on smartphones as well as LG smart TVs, and will use data from yet-to-be-announced smart bands, cameras and exercise devices.
Described as a “comprehensive lifestyle platform – with related content, services and products – to help people meet their health and fitness needs at home”, Fitness Candy offers a range of exercise programs covering six categories.
These include strength training, core strengthening, high intensity interval training, dancing, stretching and meditation, with new sessions added weekly, while the app is also set to offering sports shows and documentaries, as well as stress relief and diet content. It’s all done with “a variety of new devices that can be linked to its app, allowing users to enjoy content more efficiently. One of them is a device that can recognize and track users’ movements through the inclusion of LG Camera AI and IoT Platform”.
This AI-enabled camera is like Peloton Guide, which tracks the quality of your moves to fill up a gauge as you copy the on-screen coach. LG also mentions plans for smart bands and indoor bikes, signaling another clear move into the Peloton space.
On board as app partners is Korean music company SM Entertainment, home of K-Pop stars such as WayV and Red Velvet, which is expected to provide content for the service featuring the roster of artists. of the society.
The service has so far only been confirmed for South Korea, with the app expected to launch in September.
Analysis: LG must train hard to get fitness fans on board
LG’s entry into the home fitness tech game comes at a time when one of the major players in the field is struggling.
Peloton couldn’t keep up with demand for its expensive treadmills and bikes during the height of the pandemic, but the group is now struggling to sell them now that people are returning to their local gyms. Now that the Peloton guide has come out with an AI camera to help track your movements, LG seems to be following suit. During our testing, we felt that this kind of technology was exactly what was missing from home workouts, but it also feels like a device that should have been launched at the height of the pandemic, when everyone embraced the technology. ‘humble YouTube training, rather than during its decline.
LG also faces a battle from Apple, which has slowly begun to dominate the interactive workout space since the Cupertino company launched its partnership with Nike in 2006. Its subscription workout service, Apple Fitness Plus , which was introduced in late 2020, seamlessly integrates with the company’s hardware products such as the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple TV 4K.
The ties to K-Pop stars will help separate Fitness Candy from those rival services, but it’s the kind of integrated, sleek experience offered by Apple that LG will have to match to get workout fanatics on board. LG’s reputation for innovation along with its promise of companion devices for Fitness Candy might not be enough to ensure the service is a contender.
