Meta axes beloved VR fitness app to chase the AI dream

Key topics:.Meta Platforms Inc. winds down Supernatural to refocus on AI and hardwareFans mourn Supernatural as no new content will be addedLina Khan calls it a warning on Big Tech acquisitions.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Dave Lee.As it seeks to build AI tools many users don’t want, Meta Platforms Inc. has sacrificed a high-quality product adored by droves. Supernatural, the virtual reality fitness app, is being wound down as part of the company’s cuts to its Reality Labs division.Meta has never disclosed how many people use the app, which is available through a $9.99-a-month subscription. A Facebook group for users has more than 100,000 members. Many were in a state of mourning this week when they learned that while the app’s content will remain available for an unspecified period, no new content will be added. Presumably the app will gradually lose content as music licenses expire, though the company declined to confirm that.The cuts are part of Meta’s plan to divert more resources to its smart Ray Ban glasses, production of which may double this year. “I hate you Mark Zuckerberg and I hate AI,” one outraged Supernatural user wrote. “Your glasses are stupid and nobody wants them.”Supernatural’s demise is especially notable because it comes less than three years after Meta closed its acquisition of Within, the studio that created the app, for an undisclosed sum. The deal was in defiance of the Federal Trade Commission’s concerns that it would harm competition, warning the company could raise the price of the app (it didn’t). Meta argued Within was “promising but fragile” and needed the help to grow.Lina Khan, the former FTC chair who sought to block the deal, saw this week’s news as an I-told-you-so moment. “This is exactly what the antitrust laws are designed to prevent,” she told me in an email statement. “A dominant platform eliminating choice by buying up the competition and then abandoning the market when corporate priorities shift.”She added: “Courts and enforcers should learn from this cautionary tale, especially as they evaluate Meta’s acquisitions in artificial intelligence and other emerging markets.”I’ve written glowingly about Supernatural before. Reputable studies showed its innovative and impeccably executed blend of Guitar Hero and Wii Fit was a bona fide workout. It had a rare quality: Users underestimated how long they’d been exercising — surely something of holy grail for any fitness activity.Some users are now wondering whether their pleas to Meta might prompt a U-turn (very unlikely). Others are asking whether Meta might be talked into making the app open source for future updates (don’t hold your breath). Some have asked whether the app can return to its independent state before Meta ever got involved (almost certainly not). Meta declined to offer further details, nor did a spokesman wish to respond to Khan’s comments. Somewhere at the company is a dreary little spreadsheet that justifies this move. It likely says it wasn’t driving quite enough sales for the Quest headset, which is now less of a priority anyway. That the decision makes sense to Meta doesn’t make it any less of a shame. I can’t think of any other part of Meta’s business that is measurably good for its users’ health. It’s a low-cost home workout option that was compatible with the lives of busy parents and families who are pressed for time and square footage in their homes. It appealed to people who may have been intimidated by going to the gym but could instead start their fitness journey in more comfortable confines. It was tremendous fun.But it wasn’t AI, so I guess it had to go..© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Meta axes beloved VR fitness app to chase the AI dream

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