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Technology has firmly established itself into the health and fitness world with an explosion in the number of fitness-based mobile apps available. With so many choices, the search for the right exercise app to meet the specific or special needs of a user can be further complicated by sometimes hefty monthly subscription costs and commitment.

The Peloton Digital app has strongly emerged in the exercise app market.

The Peloton company currently offers two pieces of home gym equipment, a stationary spin bike (the “Peloton”) and a treadmill (the “Tread”). Promoted as a “boutique studio experience in your own home,” both the Peloton bike and the Tread have tablets as screens that stream “live” classes and display metrics such as cadence/speed, resistance, output and heart rate. These live classes are available throughout the day and feature a Peloton instructor who leads classes by incorporating music and instructions for a defined workout. Included on the tablet display is a “leaderboard”. This leaderboard lists other Peloton users who are currently taking the class. Tapping on a username during a workout gives a virtual “high five” to a fellow Peloton user.

Once live classes are completed the workouts are added to a library of recorded, closed-captioned classes available on-demand. And here’s the interesting thing about the both the live and the on-demand Peloton classes: they are all available to anyone, even without purchasing the Peloton-brand bike or Tread, via the Peloton Digital app.

In addition to the extensive selection of spin and treadmill classes, the Peloton Digital app also includes yoga, meditation, cardio, boot camp, outdoor walking and running, stretching, and strength training classes as part of its guided exercise content. The app includes a search function to facilitate finding the right workout to fit the user’s needs based on length of time, type of activity, intensity level or impact, music genre, and instructor. There is an option to filter out workouts that may contain explicit content.

A spousal caregiver and her family trialed Peloton Digital. The caregiver felt very comfortable initially giving the app a try because of the 2 week free trial period. This did not require giving any credit card or payment information or beginning a difficult to cancel commitment. She commented that the Peloton classes have been an important part of her self care. She needs the positive and encouraging tone of the instructors, likes earning the various “badges” and enjoys completing the monthly challenges- all of which contribute to her success with maintaining a daily exercise routine. Her husband, who is hemiplegic and has cognitive impairments is learning to follow along with the Peloton classes and instructions on an adaptive stationary recumbent bike. There are 5 and 10 minute classes available that match his level of endurance and provide structure and framework to complete his rides.

Another caregiver, who is a parent of a child with special needs, exercises to reduce her level of anxiety and feels stronger and proud of her accomplishment every time she finishes a Peloton class. She has joined a private Facebook group called Special Needs Parents of Peloton where she has found a supportive and encouraging community. There are many other Peloton Facebook communities that have been formed for specific support such as the Mental Health Peloton Riders, Peloton ADHD Tribe, Recovery Riders - Peloton and the Peloton Military and Veterans.

BridgingApps sees value in Peloton Digital as the content can be used with various adaptive equipment, as needed for the individual user. It makes a high-quality exercise class setting available to people who can’t easily participate in an in-person exercise class, from caregivers to those they care for so that everyone can experience the benefits of physical exercise.

January 2021 Peloton Accessibility Update

Peloton Bike Accessibility: TalkBack Screen Reader

TalkBack, a screen reader developed by Google, allows Members to receive spoken feedback from the Bike touchscreen. When TalkBack is enabled, you hear elements spoken when you tap them, and can then double-tap anywhere on the screen to activate them.

Find out more in Peloton's blog post.

This feature is currently available on the Peloton Bike and Bike+. For additional information on Accessibility options on the Peloton Bike+, click here.

ENABLING TALKBACK ON THE PELOTON BIKE

Click the Settings icon in the top-right corner of the touchscreen.
Tap “Device Settings”, then click “Accessibility”.
Toggle “TalkBack” on/off.

Alternatively, you can hold the lower volume key for 3 seconds to activate “TalkBack”. The first time you try this, you may need to confirm this setup in a confirmation modal.

RECOMMENDED SETTINGS

TalkBack ‘Suspend And Resume’ Shortcut

For an uninterrupted experience, we recommend toggling this shortcut feature off. The TalkBack ‘suspend and resume’ option is on by default. To change the setting, proceed to the following steps:

Click the Settings menu in the top-right corner of your touchscreen.
Tap “Device Settings”, and “Accessibility”.
Select “TalkBack” and click “Settings” in the top-right corner of the screen.
Scroll down to locate “Talkback ‘suspend and resume’ shortcut” and toggle off to opt-out.

Audio Ducking

Audio ducking helps to reduce class volume when TalkBack is speaking. Opting in to this setting turns down instructor and music volume while Talkback is in use. By default, this setting is turned on. To switch it off:

Click the Settings menu in the top-right corner of the touchscreen.
Tap “Device Settings” and click “Accessibility”.
Select “TalkBack” and click “Settings” in the top-right corner of the screen.
Scroll down to locate “Talkback suspend and resume shortcut”. Toggle off to opt-out.

BASIC USE

When TalkBack is enabled:

Tap on an element to hear spoken feedback.
When you hear a button element through spoken feedback, you can double-tap anywhere on the screen to activate it.
A TalkBack tutorial is available on the Bike touchscreen.
- Click the Settings menu in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Select “Device Settings” and locate “Accessibility”.
- Select “TalkBack” and click “Settings” in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Scroll down to locate the TalkBack tutorial.

NAVIGATION TIPS

A navigation bar is available on the bottom of most views. This navigation bar includes a "Classes" button that you can use to navigate to the Classes view.
The Classes view has class thumbnails arranged in a grid. You can also filter options to help you select a class.
When you select a class thumbnail, you will navigate to the class's details view with more information about the class. Select the START button to initiate your class.

ACCESSIBILITY SITE

For more information on recent updates on accessibility, please visit our accessibility page.

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