Tempo Move is an affordable home gym that gets you fit through your iPhone

Fitness subscription services are a great way to stay in the shape from the comfort of your home, but even big success stories like Peloton have their limitations. Nothing is quite the same as having a qualified fitness instructor on hand to ensure you’re getting the most out of your workout, which is where the latest bit of home gym kit from Tempo could come in handy.

The Tempo Move is essentially a set of free weights housed within a discreet corner cabinet unit designed to blend in with the rest of your home furnishings. Beyond that, it’s simply an iPhone dock that connects your phone to your TV and beams out workout routines for you to follow. So what’s all the fuss about?

Where it’s clever is that it makes use of your iPhone’s camera array to track your body movements, using the front infrared Face ID technology found on iPhones since the XR/XS generation, and for maxiumum accuracy the rear lidar of the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro.

• Related: read our iPhone 13 Pro review

I like to move it, move it…

By analysing your body movements, Tempo Move provides real-time form feedback on a range of workouts from strength training and dumbbell routines to yoga and cardio, with kettlebell and barbell support promised for next year. In theory, this means you can exercise just as safely and effectively on your own, as you would in a gym with a qualified fitness instructor to hand.

Unlike the first Tempo offering, now being sold as Tempo Studio, Move is relatively affordable and discreet. Gone is the unavoidable giant display and $2500 (£1835) price tag, with the much more subtle Tempo Move yours for just $395 (£290). Alternatively, you can pay monthly ($33 a month for 12 months), though note that there’s also a $39 monthly membership fee to contend with on top of the cost of the gear.

Lastly, a major caveat exists for anyone outside the US – the Tempo Move isn’t for you, at least not yet, as shipping is currently restricted to the States. That’s also still the case with the more expensive Tempo Studio, which was unveiled last year, so the omens aren’t good for international markets.