GymKit has been one of the smartest fitness features on Apple Watch since its launch in 2017. All you have to do is wave your watch over a compatible gym machine, and the Apple Watch will share your heart rate while the machine sends data such as distance, incline, speed, and calories burned. With iOS 27, Apple is expanding this feature to other devices besides the Apple Watch.

According to “9to5mac,” the new GymKit on iPhone and AirPods Pro 3 with a compatible treadmill allows you to experience fitness tracking similar to that of the Apple Watch without needing the watch. This could be useful in many situations.

How can phone and headphones rely on iOS 27?

You can wave your iPhone over the treadmill, select indoor walking, then start exercising from the treadmill. With GymKit, exercise data is stored privately on the iPhone and deleted from the machine.

Once you begin exercising, the treadmill receives heart rate data from AirPods Pro 3 headphones while simultaneously receiving distance, speed, incline, and calories burned data from the fitness app on your iPhone. The treadmill recognizes details that neither the iPhone nor the AirPods can determine alone, especially the precise slope and distance between the belt.

AirPods Pro 3 becomes a heart rate monitor, and the iPhone acts as an exercise computer that you can view during workouts. The treadmill provides device data while offering a walking or running surface.

However, Apple Watch features more accurate tracking of treadmill exercises as part of watchOS 27. Nonetheless, GymKit remains the gold standard for precise data.