Peloton App Review

How does the Peloton App work?

The Peloton App is available on Android, iOS, and most smart TV platforms. It offers a 30-day free trial; after that, its digital membership costs $13 a month. (The all-access membership specifically for use with the bike, tread, or rower costs $44 a month, which unlocks the competitive leaderboard and other equipment-specific features.)

I downloaded the app to my iPhone and was surprised that, unlike some other fitness apps I’ve tested, it didn’t prompt me to take a quiz or even ask my body stats like height and weight when I signed up. It also didn’t suggest any classes or programs, so I was left on my own to toggle through its offerings and add in my height and weight on my own. (A quiz has since been added, but only to ask workout and music preferences, not fitness goals.) You may also opt to pair your own heart rate monitor for a better gauge on your effort during classes as well as a more accurate count of calories burned at the end of each session.

Of course, the Peloton App offers many types of classes and some multi-week programs that I thought were easy enough to scroll through and figure out. Peloton’s workout categories include indoor cycling and treadmill instruction (of course), as well as yoga, strength training, cardio, outdoor running, and boot camp classes. The 10 programs that I saw combine a variety of classes that build on each other over time. The app also has monthly challenges you can opt into, in which you aim to take a certain number of classes or run a set number of miles in that month.

But the Peloton App’s most-touted feature is its live classes, in which a trainer leads a session that you can stream onto your phone or device. You select a live class from the schedule tab on the app, which sorts the live offerings by workout category, and sign up for them in advance—which means Peloton sends you a push notification 10 minutes before the class starts—or join at any time it’s airing. When you join a live class, you see the usernames of the other people in the class in a sidebar window, plus a number that shows how many people are there. The instructors also call out some members if they’re celebrating something, like a class milestone or a birthday.

What we like about the Peloton App

The workouts are plentiful and motivating

Peloton adds new workouts daily—mostly by “archiving” the previously aired live workouts. That means there were more than enough for me to pick and choose the workout class I wanted to do without feeling like I didn’t have many options left. I didn’t try a ton of live workouts—the ones I wanted to take almost never seemed to be offered at the times that worked for me—but when I did, it was cool to know that there were other people getting that full-body burn along with me. I also didn’t find that the experience of pre-recorded classes differs all that much from live ones. The people currently taking the class are displayed no matter what and, if you don’t mind potentially missing an instructor shoutout, you won’t notice the difference.

The instructors are top-notch

I also found the instructors to be universally charismatic, energetic, and overall fun to exercise with. If you join a Peloton Facebook group, you may see that there are some clear standout favorites among users, but I took classes taught by a variety of instructors in almost every workout category and enjoyed the experience with all of them.

The audio-only workouts are a special treat

My favorite thing about the Peloton App, though, is its audio-only outdoor running and walking sessions. In these, an instructor guides you through a 20- to 45-minute walk or run, prompting you to accelerate or give yourself a recovery and advising you on how to pace yourself. These are set to music playlists, too—some of my favorites include a 30-minute Y2K fun run and 45-minute hip-hop run. The app also uses your phone’s GPS to track and display your speed, mile splits, elevation gained, and calories burned during the workout, which helped me push myself faster and farther than I typically do during runs.

What we don’t like about the Peloton App

You may feel some gear envy

It’s not hard to use the app without a stationary bike or treadmill—the cardio, yoga, stretching, outdoor running, meditation, and strength workouts are all fair game without one—but I felt envious of the people who own one the whole time I was using it. Peloton favors its cycling and spinning classes, adding up to 10 new live classes to its cycling category every day and two for the treadmill. Peloton’s boot camp-style classes, updated about every other day, also require a treadmill for half of the class.

This makes sense. Peloton sells (pricey) bikes and treadmills, and charges more per month for app access for the equipment owners, so it’s reasonable to cater to the customers that shell out the big bucks. Still, if you start using the Peloton App for access to fitness classes without having a treadmill or stationary bike, you may find yourself more tempted by one (or both) of the machines than you were before you started—which, of course, may just be part of Peloton’s grand plan.

The instruction doesn’t always come across on a small screen

Some other minor complaints: The instructors tend to give clear but brief directions, and the way videos are formatted sometimes made it hard to follow if I wanted to keep an eye on a more complicated move, particularly for yoga classes. On my phone screen, rather than a tablet or TV, the images looked a little squished. Exercise demos were harder to discern, especially in wide-angle camera shots that captured the on-screen class participants as a group.

You’re beholden to Peloton’s music choices

You are also bound to the music the Peloton instructors pick for the classes—this is great for being exposed to new tunes and working out to something with an appropriate BPM, but not so great if you want to pick your own music or don’t like working out with music at all. You may preview the playlists for all workouts, though, and even with my beloved outdoor running classes, I found myself avoiding some sessions that I otherwise may have enjoyed because I didn’t want to listen to the playlist.

Is the Peloton App worth it?

Yes, if you like to choose your own workouts—and have some cardio equipment

If you have any exercise bike or treadmill, you will surely join the legions of people who worship at the altar of the fitness conglomerate without any sense of irony; Even with non-Peloton equipment, you'll be able to explore all the classes at your leisure. As someone without either of those things, I still liked and benefited from the app, but I felt like I wasn’t doing everything that could be done with it (because, well, I wasn’t).

On the other hand, if I hadn’t known about the classes I wasn’t able to do, I don’t think I would have missed them, thanks to the variety of other workout options offered, which are excellent and plentiful. Do you need to pay $13 a month for quality app instruction? Not necessarily—the Nike Training Club App has a solid (if not as vast) library of programming and it’s totally free.

That said, the Peloton App offers a one-month free trial before its monthly fee kicks in, so I think it’s worth a try if you are looking for a new way to exercise at home without sinking a ton of money into it at first. Just be warned: If you’re already feeling tempted to order the Peloton bike or treadmill, the app won’t make it any easier to resist.

Try the Peloton App

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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.