Apple’s Fitness Plus soon won’t require an Apple Watch for signups

Apple announced on Wednesday that iPhone users will be able to subscribe to its premium Fitness Plus workout subscription service even if they don’t have an Apple Watch.

Previously, you couldn’t join the service without owning one of Apple’s smartwatches, which made signing up an expensive proposition. Since you need an iPhone to set up an Apple Watch, you’d have to own two Apple devices to join Fitness Plus. But with Apple bringing the Fitness app to the iPhone with iOS 16, no Apple Watch required, it makes sense that Apple would make Fitness Plus more easily accessible as well.

The update removing the Apple Watch requirement for Fitness Plus signups will be available later this fall, Apple says. I’m a happy subscriber to the service — I particularly like the Fitness Plus yoga workouts, which are great for a beginner like me — and I’m glad to see Apple is working to make Fitness Plus easier to get started with. Fitness Plus costs $9.99 per month, and you can also get it as part of the $29.95 per month Apple One Premier plan.

On Wednesday, Apple also announced some new content coming to the Fitness Plus service and a new yoga trainer, Dice Iida-Klein, who will replace trainer Dustin Brown following his departure announced earlier this week. (Dustin, if you’re reading this, thanks for the workouts.)