Move over teenage gamers – women wanting to get fit are the new frontier for VR headsets

• Some women wanting to get fit are turning to VR headsets, one firm told The Washington Post.
• Apple plans to incorporate workout content and Fitness+ into its Vision Pro headset.

Virtual reality app creators are finding ways to reach a broader audience than teenage gamers.

Sam Cole created FitXR, a VR exercise app available on Meta's headset, in 2018. Back then, VR headsets were mainly marketed to young men, but some women in their mid-thirties and older are now taking an interest in the gaming headsets, Cole told The Washington Post.

"These were people who were buying a headset to use it as a piece of fitness equipment, rather than a gaming console," he told the newspaper.

"Sometimes you don't notice you're working out," one female user of FitXR told the Post.

VR headsets have long been known for providing immersive gaming experiences — including a deadly version made by the Oculus creator — but the new tech has received mostly mixed reviews.

In March, Meta announced it was slashing the price of its VR headsets after "underwhelming" sales.

Influencer Clarke Peoples, who's known for lifestyle and beauty content, shared her own VR workout recommendations to her nearly 500,000 followers in August. In a review, Insider compared the Supernatural workout game to the Peloton of the metaverse.

Apple unveiled its own Vision Pro headset for $3,500 in June, and revealed plans to incorporate Fitness+ and virtual workout content into the headsets capabilities, Bloomberg reported.

However, the tech giant has experienced issues with physically smaller testers unable to wear the headset for more than 30 minutes.

Cole told the Post his company plans to make a version of FitXR for Vision Pro users in the hopes that the Apple device will reignite wider interest in VR headsets.