Ad: Yoga Studio App
Targeted: not personally, but definitely towards the state of the nation
Hello from quarantine!
I've spent the past week at home, where I'm lucky enough to be able to work from, and I miss interacting with people so much! Since everyone is having to stay in their houses this is a great time for online resources like streaming services, exercise apps and delivery companies to help us fill that void in our new lives, so I'm going to the App Store to see what it wants to advertise to me.
I recently updated my iOS for the first time since getting my phone (in 2016 - I know that's bad but I didn't know how much of an effort it was going to be so I put it off for years...) and the App Store in 2020 is pretty different to what I was used to. It looks almost like a magazine with little features each day recommending different types of app.
Unsurprisingly, today's 'top story', if you will, is alerting me to the fact that Disney+ is finally here. A streaming service owned by Disney, which means it has the classic cartoons and Disney Channel content but also Marvel, Star Wars and The Simpsons content, it's impossible not to know that the app has arrived in the UK this week. I've seen TV ads and news stories about it, but mostly I know it's out there because almost every British person I follow on social media has been posting about it. Now, I love a Disney cartoon as much as the next girl but I can definitely do without Marvel movies and I'm not a Star Wars person either (in fact, I watched it for the first time the other week). I've already said that one TV/movie subscription service is more than enough for me to be getting on with so I won't be signing up for this one.
The next item is called "Find Your Zen" and it's all about meditation, yoga and relaxation apps. It recommends 10 different apps in this category, some of which have an upfront cost and others that feature 'in-app purchases'. The first app on the list is 'Yoga Studio', and now that I'm trapped in the house for at least three weeks along with the rest of the country, it seems like a good time to download an app like this - in fact, my friend text me earlier today suggesting we take up yoga.
I do the occasional yoga class on YouTube (shout-out to Yoga With Adriene) although not nearly as often as I think I should. It looks like this app is going to send me notifications to try to get me to practice, which might be a good thing. The first question asks what sort of level I'm at and I'm still very much a beginner. As soon as I was done registering it tried to sign me up for a year's subscription which is not a commitment I want to make with them right now so I somehow made that go away and I was presented with a list of all of the different videos they offer.
The first 'collection' advertised on the homepage was called 'Beginner Essentials' and features 10 different videos. First, 'Beginner Balance' which is a 30 minute practice. I thought it would be a case of clicking on the image and starting a video but in actual fact you have to download each practice and all of the different poses that it includes (this one has 114 poses) and only then can you hit Play. I was disappointed to find out that there was no Chromecast connectivity for the videos, only mirroring to Apple TV (I have an iPhone but none of the other Apple products), which means watching the poses on my tiny phone screen. Nevertheless, I gave it a try.
The session was narrated by a soothing American female voice which might have been a real person but had that slightly creepy AI vibe. I managed to get through the entire 30 minutes of poses, but some of them were not very well-described so after peeking at the screen I realised I was way off. Of course over time as you learn the poses alongside their names this will get easier but as a beginner some of them were a little confusing. The other complaint I have is that there wasn't enough time to breathe in between some of the poses. I think the videos might be stitched together poses rather than filmed as one continuous practice which might explain why there isn't enough of a break between some of the exhales and inhales but it did mean that the experience felt a little bit rushed in places. At one point I was instructed to 'take a few deep breaths' in a pose but there was only really time for one inhale and exhale before it was time to move.
I think it's fair to call this a beginner's exercise as there were no poses that I really couldn't do. There were a few, like Tree Pose, that were a bit wobbly but the narrator suggested ways to stay balanced which helped. I made it through the whole session without having to sit out any of the moves so I'd consider that to be a success even if there were times when I thought about quitting and watching the other half tomorrow. I'm going to keep the app for at least a few days to see what sort of notifications it sends me but if I'm asked to start paying for it (and I have a feeling I only have a 7 day free trial before I'm going to be asked to subscribe) then I'll be getting rid of it.
Overall the Yoga Studio seems like a good resource for doing some exercise from home but I think I prefer the personal touch offered by YouTube yoga teachers like Adriene who are doing the routine from start to finish along with you. I recognised a lot of the tips on Yoga Studio from Adriene's videos (like imagining a string pulling your leg towards the sky) so I don't know who stole from who but if you want to take up yoga I'd recommend YouTube over paying for an app subscription.
This app wasn't targeted towards me specifically but Apple have clearly placed wellness apps on their homepage to help people cope with lockdown and I think that's a good thing, even if they're profiting from the horrible circumstances we've found ourselves in at the moment. Of all of the things that the internet has made me try so far, this is probably one of the ones that's healthiest for me as a person and I appreciate that.
