Nike has announced that users of its Nike+ Running app will now be able to pull data from fitness devices made by Garmin, TomTom, Wahoo Fitness, and Netpulse.
Users that own a Garmin, TomTom, Wahoo Fitness, or Netpulse device can download the Nike+ Running app and pair their device.
Nike updated other features in the Nike+ Running app, which is available on iOS and Android devices. For iOS users, Nike added an "armband mode" that makes it easier to control their experience while running and wearing the phone on their upper arm. Some features of armband mode include easier-to-use music controls and improved access to route maps. Android users now have updated shoe-tagging and a new auto-pause mode that automatically halts the session when the runner stops.
“We’re constantly looking to optimize every aspect of the Nike+Running experience,” Nike+ Running App Product Director, Michael Orenstein said in a statement. “By listening to the voice of the Nike+ Running community, our latest release features several enhancements designed to make running with Nike+ even better for our athletes.”
Less than a month ago, Nike updated its Nike+ Fuel app, adding connectivity with Apple HealthKit, new social sharing features, and, in keeping with a recent fitness band trend, the option to eschew the Nike+ FuelBand hardware entirely and track movement using the smartphone's sensors alone. The app also dropped “Band” from its name, further distancing the company from its device.
Nike has been moving away from its own hardware offering, the Nike+ FuelBand, since at least April 2014. While the Nike+ FuelBand is still available for purchase, the company hasn’t come out with a new edition in some time, and it laid off much of the device’s engineering staff last spring. At the time CNET reported, citing anonymous sources, that Nike has pulled the plug on all future iterations of the FuelBand and all future physical devices under development in its Digital Sports division. In a statement, Nike professed continued support for existing devices, but didn’t deny the charge.