I hate running much less than running, but little is more exciting than spending an hour outside in the boring blah of suburbs. Give me hills, trails, water – everything but asphalt and walk past six different Starbucks over three blocks. And while Apple can’t grow trees and lush landscapes out of nothing, the company’s new “Time to Walk” audio stories at least reduce the monotony.
I’ll get rid of the bad news first: these audio narratives, which are meant to accompany your walk like your favorite orchestra or podcast can do, are exclusive to Apple’s Fitness + service. So you will not hear Dolly Parton calm you down to practice with brilliant stories unless you pay $ 10 / month (or $ 80 / year). Or, well, unless you sign up for her award-winning podcast, which I fully endorse.
It is not only the country queen who appears in Apple’s new “Time to Walk” series. You will also find stories from Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, musician Shawn Mendes and actress Uzo Aduba. There’s nothing against these three, but I’m not sure if anything can capture the squeaky, sometimes clumsy conversational style of the ever-enthusiastic Dolly.
To check one of these audio narratives, turn on your Apple Watch – a requirement – and pull the Fitness app on your iPhone or iPad. Scroll down to the new Time to Walk section:
G / O Media can get a commission
Test rainbow umbrella
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet autis irure dolor in reprehe nderittur adipissmod tempor dolore magna aliqua.
Tap a person, and you’ll see the option to add their Time to Walk episode to your Apple Watch:
Each of these episodes is a mix of music and chats – some are about 50-50 split, others heavier than the music (which is usually just three songs). Once it’s transferred to your watch, you can not start it on your iPhone or iPad. Instead, you will launch the Workout app on your Apple Watch, where you will see Time to Walk episodes under your normal fitness routines:
Oddly enough, the sound narrative didn’t start as soon as my walking exercise started; I had to swipe left, which showed the usual music ministries. It could also be a stimulus from my AirPods Pro connection, which has been tricky lately; so, once you hear nothing, you should know that you may need to start the Episode Time to Walk yourself.
Besides, sit back and enjoy the mini-monologue. Apple will release one new Time to Walk episode every week from Monday to the end of April. This gives you enough time to find the next big distraction you need to keep up with your healthy habits.