This isn’t the first time people have taken to the Internet in anger at Peloton — remember that Christmas ad in 2019? This time, however, it’s not the marketing department that is the subject of the Internet’s ire.
Peloton recently announced it would be adding Tread Lock, a 4-digit passcode, to its Tread+ treadmills after numerous incidents of young children activating them, leading to injuries and one death. However, Tread Lock is currently only available with a Peloton membership, which costs $40 a month. Peloton owners can use their treadmills without a membership through the Just Run feature, but the company has revealed that Just Run won’t work without Tread Lock, meaning it can’t be used without a subscription.
While Peloton users who don’t have the membership are understandably angry about this, it appears as though the company was prepared for it. The company also revealed that all Peloton Tread+ owners would be given three free months of a Peloton membership. And a spokesperson said that the company is “working on updates to Tread Lock that will allow us to make Tread Lock and Just Run available without a Peloton membership,” so it sounds like the Just Run feature will be available once again by the time those three months are up.
