Apple trims Fitness+ team in second layoff in two months

Apple has reportedly conducted its second layoff soon after reducing the size of its Siri and Vision Pro teams last month. This time, the company has cut a handful of jobs in the audio section of its Fitness+ models, that features audio and video workouts.

Amid concerns over job losses due to the rise of artificial intelligence and automation, Apple joins other tech companies in laying off workers. This time, employees who were working on audio features like Time to Walk and Time to Run were affected by the company's second round of downsizing. These features were accessible on Apple watches, helping users get audio guidance without watching a video.

Although the reports do not suggest the discontinuation of Fitness+, there would be less frequent new audio releases.


The August layoff

In August, Apple cut around 200 jobs across teams responsible for the Siri digital assistant and the Vision Pro headset. The company also laid off employees in Intelligent Systems Experience, a team within its software engineering organisation responsible for some of the AI features on its devices.

Among the 200 jobs cut, about 100 positions were eliminated from the Vision Pro division and another 100 from the Siri and software teams.

Apple justified the layoff as an attempt to realign some teams "to evolve our business to deliver the best experiences for our users," and said this would affect a limited number of roles.

Changes in Fitness+

Although the layoff reports do not signal the discontinuation of Fitness+, it is assumed that Apple may be bringing structural changes to the service.

Reports suggest a future integration of Fitness+ with the Apple Health app. The company is planning to include videos in the Health app.