Apple Fitness+ disconnecting from device

I've experience the same problem. About half of my workouts get interrupted this way. It's very frustrating to say the least.

Apple, the UI around this disconnections is terrible and way below your standard. At minimum, you should:

1) Allow workouts to continue where they were interrupted. Right now, you must start again from the beginning.

2) Allow fast-forwarding of the workout video using the AppleTV remote. Why isn't this supported?

You have a killer product here, just get the fine tuning patch done ASAP!

Thx!

I have been able to replicate this pretty easily and it happens every time.

Apple Tv 4th Gen (Hd)

Apple Watch 6

AirPods Pro

Before this process started, my AirPods were in my ears listening to music from my iPhone.

• open fitness app
• connect Apple Watch
• find workout
• start workout
• slide up on trackpad and switch to “audio” section and select AirPods
• Music stops from iPhone and hear connection sound in AirPods when connecting to Apple TV.
• Wait 4-5 seconds, Apple Watch stats start erroring (time no longer increment if)
• Apple TV heart rate stops updating along with time into workout stops incrementing
• Wait 2-3 minutes and get “disconnected” message.

I feel that we need to mass Feedback Form this to Apple, and not depend on the community board to be something they pay attention to. This is obviously affecting everyone posting here, and the masses who think it's their fault and don't even get on the forum to see what's what. I am filling out the problem as Apple Watch, and including a link to this discussion.

Here is the Apple Watch link to make everyone's life quicker

https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html

Hi, with the 14.5 issue and a full reset (unpaired, set up as a new watch, not from backup) of my Apple Watch, the issue is now gone for me. I set up my Apple Watch as a new watch and I deleted the old watch pairing from the Apple TV (https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/watch/apd619078d99/watchos). I’ve been able to complete a few workouts now using my AirPods without issue.

There was also an AirPods firmware update with the latest batch of updates, make sure you put them in your case, then plug in your case to a power cable and bring it close to your phone (https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/update-airpods).

Hope this helps.

Here's what's working for me, about a dozen workouts now with no issues.

1. I don't change any settings on my phone, bluetooth remains on.
2. Just before the workout I connect my AirPods to the AppleTV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Bluetooth -> My AirPods -> Connect Device
3. Then, from the Fitness app on the phone, I select the workout, AirPlay it to the AppleTV, and go.

I've had zero issues with this approach. I hope it helps.

I worked out;

for phone/TV/watch time outs:

1. turn off Bluetooth on phone
2. Start fitness + from aTV.
3. connect this to your watch, when prompted
4. (also I had a protective cover on my watch which I had to remove for some reason)
5. Then press play on watch.

basically only allow one Bluetooth item to “talk” to aTV. Switch everything off (only for the initial setup…after that…doesn’t matter)

Yesterday I used my apple watch series 6 for a core training paired with an Apple TV 4K and everything worked fine. Today I tried two separate indoor cycle classes with my apple watch series 5 paired with an Apple TV 3 and my watch disconnected 6 or 7 minutes in to each workout. I was unable to finish my workout on Apple Fitness +.

I had the same problem again today. I suspected that having 2 Bluetooth devices (Apple Watch and air pod pros) connected to the Apple TV at the same time may be part of the issue. I disconnected my AirPod pros and restarted the workout with just the watch connected and was able to complete a 30 minute workout with no issues. I hope to be able to connect both in the future because I workout very early when my family is still sleeping.

There are lots of good reasons to buy a new Apple TV 4K. But if you're considering buying one only to fix the AirPods and Apple Fitness+ issues try this first to see if it works for you. This has been working flawlessly for me on my older Apple TV HD (probably 15 workouts now):

1. I don't change any settings on my phone, bluetooth remains on.
2. Just before the workout I connect my AirPods to the AppleTV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Bluetooth -> My AirPods -> Connect Device
3. Then, from the Fitness app on the phone, I select the workout, AirPlay it to the AppleTV, and go.

I've had zero issues with this approach. I hope it helps.

dhruvb14, it's good of you to post that. Hopefully Apple is paying attention. If you're looking for a workaround, this has been working for flawlessly for me on my older Apple TV HD (probably 20 workouts now):

1. I don't change any settings on my phone, bluetooth remains on.
2. Just before the workout I connect my AirPods to the AppleTV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Bluetooth -> My AirPods -> Connect Device
3. Then, from the Fitness app on the phone, I select the workout, AirPlay it to the AppleTV, and go.

I've had zero issues with this approach. I hope it helps you and others.

Here's what's working for me:

1. I don't change any settings on my phone, bluetooth remains on.
2. Just before the workout I connect my AirPods to the AppleTV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Bluetooth -> My AirPods -> Connect Device
3. Then, from the Fitness app on the phone, I select the workout, AirPlay it to the AppleTV, and go.

I've had zero issues with this approach. I hope it helps.

@vicentefromaustin, I agree 100% and Apple needs to fix this. With that said, if you're still at all interested in staying with the service, this has been working for me (and I think others), flawlessly:

1. I don't change any settings on my phone, bluetooth remains on.
2. Just before the workout I connect my AirPods to the AppleTV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Bluetooth -> My AirPods -> Connect Device
3. Then, from the Fitness app on the phone, I select the workout, AirPlay it to the AppleTV, and go.

I hope it helps.

@riche348 I agree 100% and Apple needs to fix this. With that said, if you're still at all interested in staying with the service, this has been working for me (and I think others), flawlessly:

1. I don't change any settings on my phone, bluetooth remains on.
2. Just before the workout I connect my AirPods to the AppleTV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Bluetooth -> My AirPods -> Connect Device
3. Then, from the Fitness app on the phone, I select the workout, AirPlay it to the AppleTV, and go.

I hope it helps.

I FOUND A SOLUTION!

It seems that the bug is in the pairing process between the aTV and the Watch. The trick is to bypass the step when the Fitness+ app on the aTV asks you to choose which Apple Watch to connect with.

Here are the steps....

1. Turn on your aTV and pair your Airpods to the aTV (do not open the Fitness+ app on the aTV)
2. Open Fitness+ on your iPhone or iPad.
3. Select the workout you want to do and get it queued up to the screen where you can hit "play" on the screen or on your watch - but do not hit play yet
4. In the lower-right corner of the screen, tap the airplay icon (it's the rectangle with the little "up" arrow at the bottom of the rectangle)
5. In the airplay menu, select your aTV. Your i-device (iPhone, iPad) should now show a black AirPlay screen that says your workout is playing on your aTV. (Note: if you get a message that says "Unable to Connect to Apple TV" then you need to restart your Apple TV.
6. Hit the "play" button on your watch

That's it! The workout should start on your aTV and your Watch and you should hear the audio through your Airpods. The Watch data should continue to display on your aTV and it should not disconnect. I've done 3 workouts with this method (up to 45 minutes) and the Watch stayed connected the entire time.

If this worked for you, please click the "helpful" button below my post so it can be elevated to the front page so others can find this solution.