Workout app gaining support for 2-way gym equipment sync, multiple workouts in a single session & more

Apple’s Kevin Lynch, who is in charge of the watchOS software, said at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference today that the stock Workout app for Apple Watch will be gaining some much-needed new features. For starters, you’ll be able to connect your watch with a number of gym equipment in use today.

With support for multiple workouts, users can easily start a workout session like an outdoor walk, then switch to another workout such as an outdoor run. Apple is working with major gym equipment manufacturers responsible for about eighty percent of equipment in use in gyms today.

watchOS 4 will feature two-way data change in real-time with supported gym equipment. Your watch will send things like your heart rate to, say, the treadmill machine, while getting info like the distance and pace from the machine.

The user interface for the Workout app has also been reworked to be easier to use, with bolder headings and easier to select workout sessions.

The Pool Swim workout now has auto sets, a feature that automatically marks each set that you’re doing. Calisthenics buffs will be pleased to learn that the Workout app in watchOS 4 will be gaining support for a new workout type: Hight Intensity Interval Training, the most popular workout in the world.

These new features will be part of watchOS 4, which will be released as a developer-only preview later today and this fall for public consumption.