Your rings shouldn’t be arbitrary. They should reflect your lifestyle and fitness goals.Samar Haddad / The Verge
Apple makes a big deal out of closing your rings, but sometimes we all need a little help doing that. Whether you’re injured and need a rest day or want to challenge yourself, you can edit your fitness goals directly from your Apple Watch or iPhone.
The three rings Apple uses are the red Move ring, the green Exercise ring, and the blue Stand ring. When you set up your Apple Watch, your Move goal is automatically set based on your demographic data, such as height, weight, age, and gender. The default Exercise and Stand goals are 30 minutes and 12 hours, respectively. These rings used to be limited to Apple Watch owners, but starting with iOS 16, Apple’s making the Fitness app available to all iPhone users.
These are fine goals, but they may not be realistic for where you’re at in your fitness journey. It’s much more helpful to set achievable goals if you’re a beginner so you stay motivated. Meanwhile, if you’re someone who trains a lot, changing your goals can be a “hack” to avoid losing streaks when you’re sick or to help you build back up safely once you’ve recovered. Either way, adjust your goals to fit what suits your lifestyle best.
Here’s how to get started.
On the watch
- Open the Activity app.
- Scroll all the way down and tap Change Goals.
- You’ll first be prompted to change your Move goal. You can do this by hitting the minus or plus icons on either side of your goal number. Once you’re done — or if you don’t wish to change this goal — tap Next.
- Repeat the same steps for the Exercise and Stand goals.
Related
- Apple’s Fitness app will be included with iOS 16, no Apple Watch required
- How to set up sleep schedules in iOS
On the iPhone
- Open the Fitness app on your phone. You’ll need to have at least iOS 16 installed if you don’t have an Apple Watch.
- Tap your profile picture in the upper-right corner.
- Tap Change Goals.
- You’ll first be prompted to change your Move goal. You can do this by hitting the minus or plus icons on either side of your goal number. Once you’re done — or if you don’t wish to change this goal — tap Change Move Goal.
- Repeat the same steps for the Exercise and Stand goals.
Join the conversation
Most Popular
Elon Musk is offering the generous opportunity to invest in Twitter at $54.20
John Carmack is leaving Meta
Anker’s Eufy deleted these 10 privacy promises instead of answering our questions
Epic is giving away free games daily for the holidays — again
The golden age of the streaming wars has ended
Verge Deals
/ Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox daily.
Email (required)Sign up
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
The Apple Watch's fitness and activity tracking features are one of its main selling points. Since its release, it's become a go-to accessory for hikers, swimmers, joggers, and more.
When you first set up your Apple Watch, it'll ask for some basic vital information, and then lets you set your "activity goals." The Watch will track these goals for you every day, and let you know when you reach them.
But if you set your activity goals and then later find that they don't fit, you can change any of them. Here's how.
How to change your Apple Watch's activity goals
To change your activity goals, you need to use the Activity app on your Watch.
1. Open the Activity app on your Apple Watch — its icon looks like a red, green, and blue ring.
2. On the first page, scroll down and tap Change Goals.
Select the "Change Goals" option.William Antonelli/Insider
3. Change and confirm your new Move, Exercise, and Stand goals. You can use the plus and minus icons to raise or lower your goals.
You'll change all three of your goals separately.William Antonelli/Insider
How to change your Apple Watch's activity notifications
Your Apple Watch tracks your activity goals and will send you notifications when you reach them. It also gives you suggestions on how to reach your goals, notes when you've hit a record, and more.
These notifications can be helpful, but if you want to turn them off, you can do so through the Watch app on your iPhone.
1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap Notifications.
2. In the list of apps, tap Activity.
3. Use the options to choose which notifications you want, and which you want to mute. You can also tap Notifications Off to mute everything at once.
Flip switches to the left to turn them off.Apple; William Antonelli/Insider
Abigail Abesamis Demarest
Abigail Abesamis Demarest is a contributing writer for Insider based in New York. She loves a good glazed donut and nerdy deep dives into the science of food and how it's made.
Read more Read lessWilliam Antonelli
Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews
William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation.