Peloton

Peloton bought Breathwrk and folded it into its subscriptions as a free add-on. Peloton acquired the breathing app Breathwrk for about $2.2 million per its SEC filing, announced October 1, 2025. It kept the product and onboarding but made it free for All Access and App+ members, with Peloton instructors and classes on the home screen.

Peloton members authorize their account and use the app with no paywall; the paid funnel applies only to non-Peloton users. Steve P. Young notes this limits Breathwrk's revenue and makes it look like an add-on rather than its own bigger product: "Feels like a more of an add-on product to Peloton versus them trying to make this into its own bigger app."

App Masters▶ 1:19

Peloton uses weekly streaks because daily workouts were too much. During COVID, a workout every day proved too demanding for users, so Peloton built its streak around weeks instead of days.

Duolingo's Jackson Shuttleworth cites it as proof that a streak only works on a core loop people already want, at the cadence they naturally use the app: "Streaks work best when they're sitting on top of an app that users care about."

Lenny's Podcast▶ 1:15:00

Define the target behavior with numbers and timing, never as login. Kristen Berman's example for a Peloton PM: within seven days of starting, do two 10-minute workouts with two different instructors.

It is step one of Irrational Labs' 3B framework, used with Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn. Pick a concrete action rather than an outcome, and expect the team to argue over it, since without a defined behavior you cannot name the psychology affecting it. "The only wrong answer here is log in."

Lenny's Podcast▶ 19:15

Instructor shout-outs get riders to class for the wrong reason. A live shout-out from a Peloton instructor is an immediate, unrelated reward that gets people to do something good for them, alongside streaks that also pull riders into class.

Berman groups it with pizza at voting lines and vaccine lotteries as "doing the right thing for the wrong reason." Use such motivators only when the end result benefits the customer.

Lenny's Podcast▶ 42:03

Music is so central to Peloton that changing it sparks backlash. Peloton invests heavily in music, and changes to it have caused a brand uproar among users.

Lauren Puffpaf cites it as evidence of how much music drives engagement and retention in fitness apps.

App Masters