Fitness + has already been launched in English-speaking countries, including the US, UK, and Australia. It’s still not mentioned when it will start in the Netherlands and Belgium, but luckily you can try it out already. You need a US iTunes account with enough balance to pay for the first month. You will also need to switch app store accounts. It’s not complicated if you want to put in some effort. You can read about everything in this guide. With January and good intentions on the way, it looks like the time to start is now!
Essential for Apple Fitness + app in the Netherlands
To use Fitness + in the Netherlands, you need the following:
- An iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV running at least iOS 14.3.
- Apple Watch with at least watchOS 7.2 (recommended, not necessary)
- A US iTunes account or one of the other countries.
- Minimum $ 9.99 in valid US credit or payment method.
If you want to use Apple TV, you must also sign in with a US iTunes account, otherwise it will not work. You can also cast content from your iDevice to TV screen using AirPlay.
Instead of an account in the US, you can also use an account in one of the other supported countries, which are Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom. So your payment method should be suitable for this country.
How do you get app store credit? We bought credit at livecards.nl for $ 10, but that was a fairly random choice. Make sure you’re working with a trusted party, as there are also many fake service providers out there. Unfortunately, well-known titles like Startselect only offer Dutch iTunes cards. You must have a valid gift card in one of the mentioned countries, for example the US App Store.
But the trial month is free, isn’t it?
That’s right, but in order to be eligible for the free month trial, you must sign up for a follow-up subscription. Make sure to watch the expiration date of your subscription so that you can cancel in time at the end of the trial month. Apple will also send you a reminder. You can also cancel immediately after the trial month ends, but it may also terminate the trial month. We haven’t been able to test this yet so if you want to cancel now, you are doing so at your own risk.
Log in and start Fitness +
Once you’ve taken care of everything, you’ll need to switch App Store accounts. This is how it works:
- Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Click on your account picture at the top.
- tap on Media and procurement.
- tap on Logoff.
- Log in with your US account (this is the second option, Not “your name”).
- Do you have an iPad then download the Fitness app from the App Store. On iPhone, you open the Fitness app, which is already there by default.
- An additional tab will now appear at the bottom of the app called Fitness.
Are you getting an error? We also suffered from it many times. Restart the application or your device to be able to connect to the server.
We didn’t have to tweak regions, language settings, or addresses for everything to work. The US Apple ID is of course at a US address and the US iTunes Gift Card or payment method is attached to it, but if you have already set this up correctly for your account, you don’t need to do anything. You also don’t have to adjust your Apple Watch settings.
Exercise with Fitness +
Fitness + offers you a variety of options. At the top of the screen you can see the various sports that you can choose from. All content is of course in English, but that is exactly the reason why Apple has not yet officially released it in the Netherlands and Belgium. Select a sport or scroll down to view Beginner Workouts. You can also filter by duration and trainer name.
Practice with your Apple Watch
Are you wearing an Apple Watch? Then it will automatically start recording your workout when you start a fitness video. This worked flawlessly for us with a cycling exercise, but we still haven’t been able to test this with all variants.
You can see your current heart rate on the iPhone or iPad screen. If there is an interval where you have to spend an extra 30 seconds, for example, you will see a timer on all of your screens, such as iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and / or Apple Watch.
Multiuser Fitness +, is this possible?
We only have one US iTunes account, and it’s not part of a family. This made it possible for both of you to do their own exercises, without each other being bothered. This is because you already use two Apple IDs: the US Apple ID to purchase the subscription and your Personal Apple ID for your personal information and progress. While using Fitness +, you can see from the account picture the active person.
If you want to use Fitness + on a shared iPad, you run into trouble. It is best if each one uses your own device.
Fitness + supports family sharing, so if you already have an American iTunes account with all family members, you can use it with 6 people. But then you probably didn’t need this guide.
Disadvantages of using Fitness + “informally”
There are two downsides to using Fitness + before its official launch:
- Everything is in English, but that wouldn’t be a problem for a few people.
- You should always switch to your iTunes account in the US if you want to work out.
You can always keep your account signed in to the US, but any purchases you make will go through your US balance. Services you already subscribed to like Apple Music and Apple Arcade will suddenly stop working. So you will have to switch app store accounts every time. What still works is making iCloud backups via your own account.
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