Who Owns Apple Fitness+?

Apple Fitness+ operates on Apple's infrastructure, which the company states is powered by 100% renewable electricity globally. Apple publishes an annual Environmental Progress Report covering carbon emissions, water usage, and materials sourcing across all operations. Apple reported achieving carbon neutrality for its corporate operations in 2020 and has set a target to achieve carbon neutrality across its entire supply chain by 2030.

For health data specifically, Apple Fitness+ stores all Health app data encrypted on-device when the device is locked. The Burn Bar feature compares users' workout intensity anonymously using MET values, which Apple states are stored without any link to Apple IDs or personal data. Users can disable the Burn Bar at any time. For Activity Sharing, workout data shared between users running iOS 18 or later and watchOS 11 or later is encrypted end-to-end.

Apple shares song data from workouts with record labels for royalty accounting purposes. This is disclosed in Apple's privacy documentation for the service.

Apple Fitness+ workouts and instructors have been recognized through Apple's own App Store Awards. The service itself does not receive independent industry awards separate from Apple's broader brand recognition. Apple Fitness+ workouts have been highlighted in Apple's editorial selections for Best of the Year in health and fitness categories within the App Store, where the app is rated on the platform.

Independent fitness publications including Men's Health and Women's Health have reviewed Apple Fitness+ alongside Peloton, Nike Training Club, and Fitbit Premium. Most reviews note the Apple Watch integration as the service's strongest differentiator and cite the instructor quality as competitive with Peloton's lineup.

Apple Fitness+ has no product recalls, as it is a digital service with no physical components. There are no major reported safety incidents or regulatory investigations directly targeting the service.

Apple Watch Requirement Criticism: From the December 2020 launch through September 2024, Apple required users to own an Apple Watch to access Fitness+ content. Users who owned iPads or Apple TVs but not an Apple Watch were unable to use the service. This requirement was widely criticized in reviews as a hardware paywall that excluded potential subscribers. Apple removed the hard requirement in September 2024, though Apple Watch is still needed for live metric display.

Song Data Sharing: Apple's privacy documentation for Apple Fitness+ states that information about songs played during workouts is shared with record labels and music publishers for royalty accounting. This is an industry-standard practice but represents a disclosure that Apple identifies as data sharing with third parties, which some users have noted in the context of Apple's broader privacy marketing.

Limited Country Availability: Apple Fitness+ launched in only 10 countries and expanded to 21 by 2022, where it has remained as of 2024. Competitors including Nike Training Club operate globally without geographic restrictions. Users in countries not on the supported list have no access to the service regardless of their device ownership.