Apple’s new Exercise Buddy characteristic is intriguing—a voice out of your Apple Watch that offers you pep talks and stats as you train. However after I put in the WatchOS public beta (after studying and disregarding all of the warnings we’ve given about doing so), I found that my watch couldn’t run Exercise Buddy, although it’s a Collection 10, which needs to be supported.
And sure, I ought to have learn the positive print just a little nearer, however this specific caveat isn’t precisely being communicated loud and clear: Exercise Buddy arguably isn’t actually a characteristic of your watch in any respect, however a characteristic of your Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone. Should you don’t have at the very least an iPhone 15 Professional, you don’t get Exercise Buddy in your Apple Watch.
I discovered this out in probably the most embarrassing method, so be at liberty to snort: I accepted the project to check out the general public beta and report on Exercise Buddy; I realized easy methods to set up a public beta; I glad myself that I used to be OK with the dangers of doing so. I backed up my iPhone, then put in the beta on my cellphone, then put in the beta on my watch. Then I turned into operating garments, drove to the park the place I wish to run, slathered myself in sunscreen, and as I used to be about to start out my first run with my new Exercise Buddy, discovered that the choice wasn’t there. I triple-checked every thing. The beta was put in, I had the brand new exercise display view, I used to be trying within the appropriate menu…however I used to be carrying an iPhone 12 mini (the final cellphone Apple ever made that matches comfortably in my pocket, however that’s a rant for an additional time). And which means no Exercise Buddy for me.
Exercise Buddy wants an iPhone 15 Professional or 16 to work, and it must be with you the entire time
Should you’ve been paying shut consideration to Apple’s bulletins about Apple Intelligence, you would possibly know offhand precisely which iPhones it means when it says (within the sixth of six paragraphs on the characteristic) that “Exercise Buddy shall be out there on Apple Watch with Bluetooth headphones, and requires an Apple Intelligence-supported iPhone close by.”
What do you suppose up to now?
Me, I’m only a dumb jock, so checking the record of Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone variations didn’t happen to me. I simply observed that Exercise Buddy is listed among the many options of WatchOS, so I believed it was a WatchOS characteristic. However to get that peppy coach voice, your watch has to get your Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone to generate it. And Apple Intelligence generally sends requests off for cloud computing, which implies your Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone might must be linked to the web for this to work.
So even when you have the correct of iPhone, you possibly can’t use Exercise Buddy when you’re within the behavior of leaving it at dwelling (or in your fitness center locker) throughout exercises, and it might not work correctly in case your runs and walks take you to locations that haven’t any mobile sign—as lots of my path runs do. This makes it loads much less helpful than you would possibly suppose, even when you aren’t a dummy like me who forgets what sort of cellphone they’re carrying.
