iOS 27 Turns iPhone + AirPods Into a Gym Workout Tracker
For years, the pitch for tracking a gym workout properly has boiled down to one thing: buy an Apple Watch. That’s a real barrier for people who like the idea of connected fitness but don’t want another device on their wrist. iOS 27 quietly chips away at that barrier.
According to 9to5Mac, iOS 27 effectively turns your iPhone and AirPods into an Apple Watch at the gym. It extends the GymKit idea — the feature that lets your device talk to compatible cardio machines — beyond the watch, so your phone and earbuds can pick up the slack. For a lot of people, that’s a small revolution.
Here’s what’s changing, why it matters, and whether you can finally leave the smartwatch at home.
A quick refresher on GymKit
GymKit has been one of Apple Watch’s smartest fitness tricks since 2017. The concept is elegant: you tap your device to a compatible piece of gym equipment, and the two share data. Your device sends your heart rate to the machine, and the machine sends back richer metrics like distance, incline, pace, and calories.
The result is more accurate tracking than either device could manage alone — the treadmill knows the belt speed, your device knows your heart. Until now, that handshake required a watch.
What iOS 27 changes
With iOS 27, that capability expands to the iPhone and AirPods combination. In practical terms:
- Your AirPods handle the sensing — modern earbuds can contribute biometric data, filling the role the watch used to play.
- Your iPhone handles the connection and display — tapping in and reviewing your session moves to the phone.
- You get machine-synced metrics without a watch — the richer treadmill and cardio data becomes available to non-watch owners.
It’s a clever bit of reallocation: take a feature that was locked to one device and spread it across two you might already own.
My take: this is Apple removing its own gatekeeper
Here’s the opinion I find most interesting. Apple didn’t have to do this. The Apple Watch is a huge business, and GymKit was one of its quiet selling points. Extending that value to iPhone-and-AirPods owners slightly undercuts one reason to buy the watch.
But it’s the right call, and here’s why: meeting people where they are always wins in the long run. Someone who gets a taste of connected fitness through their AirPods is far more likely to eventually want a watch than someone who never experiences it at all. Lowering the barrier grows the whole ecosystem. It’s generous and strategic at the same time, which is my favorite kind of feature.
Does this mean you can skip the Apple Watch?
Let’s be honest about the limits, because a good buying decision needs them:
- For gym cardio machines, largely yes. If your main goal is accurate treadmill, bike, or elliptical tracking, iPhone plus AirPods now covers a lot of that ground.
- For all-day tracking, no. A watch still wins for continuous heart rate, sleep, step counting, and the ambient health data that only a wrist-worn device gathers around the clock.
- For convenience during a run outdoors, a watch is still less fiddly than carrying and interacting with a phone.
So this isn’t the death of the smartwatch. It’s a genuinely useful option for people whose fitness needs center on the gym floor rather than 24/7 monitoring.
Who benefits most
This is for you if you already own AirPods, work out mainly on gym cardio equipment, and never wanted a watch in the first place. You just gained a feature you’d have had to spend hundreds to access.
This is for you if you’re a casual exerciser who wants better data occasionally, without committing to another gadget and another charger.
Stick with a watch if you want comprehensive, all-day health tracking, outdoor workout convenience, and the full suite of fitness features. The iPhone-and-AirPods route is a strong complement, not a total replacement. If you’re still weighing whether a smartwatch is worth it, our look at what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 lays out the case for the wrist.
The verdict: iOS 27 bringing GymKit to the iPhone and AirPods is exactly the kind of software update I love — it adds real value to hardware you already own, no purchase required. If the gym is your arena, you may have just gotten a free upgrade.
For more on getting the most from Apple’s earbuds, see our take on what camera-equipped AirPods could mean for everyday life.
Sources
According to 9to5Mac, iOS 27 expands GymKit-style tracking to the iPhone and AirPods, sharing heart-rate data with compatible gym equipment and receiving metrics like distance, incline, pace, and calories in return.
Source: 9to5Mac