How to: Install Xbox Game Pass on a Peloton Bike

Cloud gaming + Peloton = gaming on the go?

Cloud gaming, such as Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, is gaining popularity. These services allow for remote gaming of full-scale console games on mobile devices.

Your Peloton Bike runs a custom version of Android. With a few tweaks, you can be playing Halo 5 while rounding out 20km rides.

Update (February 2021)

It looks like Peloton is blocking some apps from their hidden app launcher menu, including the Xbox streaming app. A workaround would be to install an alternate app launcher like Nova, although this can be a more intrusive experience.

Caution

This may void your warranty or damage your Peloton. It probably won’t, but proceed at your own risk.

Table of Contents

• What you’ll need
• Prep your Peloton for new apps
• Install Xbox Game Pass
• Connect a controller
• Run the Xbox Game Pass app and ride!
• Questions

What you’ll need

• Peloton Bike
• Laptop
• Micro-USB to USB cable (you probably have one lying around somewhere)
• A Bluetooth-enabled controller (ideally an Xbox Wireless controller)
• An Xbox Game Pass subscription

and… no Xbox required!

Prep your Peloton for new apps

Peloton heavily customized their interface to create a better experience for their users, but under the hood it’s all Android. We need to tweak a few settings to enable new app installations.

1. Log in on Peloton. From the main page, access the Device Settings

2. Click on About tablet

3. Tap the build number 5+ times quickly (yes, really). You should get a message confirming Developer options are enabled.

4. Under Developer options menu, enable USB Debugging option

Install Xbox Game Pass

We’ll need a couple downloads to get started

• Download Android SDK Platform Tools
• Download Xbox Game Pass APK to your laptop— get the armeabi-v7a variant

These instructions will be for Mac users. PC users, adjust accordingly.

1. Connect your Peloton to your laptop via the USB cable. The connection is on the back of the screen, next to the ethernet port.

2. Open Terminal on your laptop

3. Enter super user mode

sudo su

4. Navigate to your Downloads folder (or wherever you unzipped your SDK Platform Tools)

cd /Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/Downloads/platform-tools/

5. Start the adb service. adb is a tool to send (‘sideload’) the app to your Peloton via USB.

./adb start-server

* daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037

* daemon started successfully

6. When prompted on the Peloton, allow the connection

7. Confirm that adb connected to the Peloton

./adb devices

List of devices attached

################ device

8. Install the Xbox Game Pass APK

./adb install /Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/Downloads/com.gamepass_2008.353.831-1924129760_minAPI23\(armeabi-v7a\)\(nodpi\)_apkmirror.com.apk

Performing Streamed Install

Success

Connect a controller

1. Open Device Settings → Bluetooth settings
2. Turn on pairing mode on your controller
3. Pair your controller with your Peloton

Run the Xbox Game Pass app and ride!

Because Peloton does not have an app menu, you’ll need to access a hidden feature to run installed apps.

1. Open the About page

2. Tap the lower right hand corner of the About screen ~10 times to open the hidden app launcher

3. Open Game Pass

4. Log in with your Microsoft credentials and start gaming! (make sure you have an active Xbox Game Pass subscription)

Questions

How well does game streaming work?

Pretty damn well, I would say. It’s clunky to get to the app, and the Xbox Game Pass app menu system is a bit choppy, but once inside the game stream everything runs very smoothly. Your network equipment and connection will probably have the largest impact on your experience.

What doesn’t work?

You can’t record rides while running another app, so you’re on your own for tracking. I ride with a smartwatch running Strava as an alternative means to record rides.

You can connect bluetooth headphones for audio, but there is a quarter/half-second of lag behind the video. As far as I can tell, this is a limitation of the Bluetooth protocol and the streaming service, and not something related to the Peloton equipment. Better to play audio through the Peloton speakers or via a wired audio connection.

Will this process work for other Android apps?

You betcha! Repeat to install Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, HBO, ESPN, etc. on your Peloton Bike.

Will this work on Peloton Bike+, Peloton Tread, and Peloton Tread+?

Probably, but haven’t been able to test.

Can I stream games from my local console to my Peloton Bike?

Yes, though currently it appears you’ll need to use a different app (Xbox Game Streaming) which may require a separate subscription.