iOS 14 Will Come with New Fitness App Offering Guided Workout Videos, Improved OCR Capabilities for Apple Pencil

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 10 Mar 2020

Apple is working on a new fitness app for iPhones, Apple Watch, and Apple TV that will let users download guided fitness-related videos so that they can do the workouts without having to go to the gym. Codenamed “Seymour,” the app could be named Fit or Fitness when it is released with iOS 14 later this year.

New Fitness App for iPhone, Apple Watch, & Apple TV

Apple will launch this new fitness app in iOS 14, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7 at the same time. This will be a standalone app that will be available alongside the existing Activity app. There are quite a few apps that let users download guided exercise videos and Apple also seems to be jumping on the bandwagon with its new app. The videos will presumably be available as a free download, with the app not having any kind of IAPs at the moment though this can change before release.

iOS 14 Fit app

Apple will provide users with access to a variety of fitness and exercise videos and provide relevant guidance with it. The videos could be downloaded and watched on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. The Apple Watch will be used to track the progress of the workout routine. As the icon above shows, some of the exercise videos that will be available in the new Fit app include cycling, indoor running, rowing, stretching, core training, strength training, yoga, and more.

New OCR Capabilities in iOS 14

Apple could include a new PencilKit feature in iOS 14 that will automatically convert any handwritten text using Apple Pencil into standard typed text. This could allow users to write a reply to an iMessage using Apple Pencil on their Apple Watch. The message will then automatically be converted into standard text before being sent.

The PencilKit feature will work across all text input fields in iOS so it will work with all major apps like Notes, Reminders, Calendar, Mail, etc. To activate the mode, users will have to tap the text input field using their Apple Pencil which will then bring up a floating interface. Apple will presumably also make PencilKit available to third-party apps.

The company is also working on a “Magic Fill” feature that will allow users to draw a rough shape and iOS will automatically convert it into the relevant shape.

It is unclear as of now if Apple will roll out PencilKit as a part of iOS 14 or not. So far, rumors point to Apple focusing on major stability improvements with iOS 14 instead of adding new features to it. A leak from yesterday also revealed that iOS 14 will have system-wide cursor support. PencilKit does not really seem like a massive new feature, so my bet is that Apple will include it as a part of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14.