How to edit your activity goals on apple watch

Whether you're hitting your activity goals on the Apple Watch a little too easily or not at all, you can always switch up those target metrics whenever you'd like.

The Apple Watch lets you easily alter your move, exercise, and stand goals with just a few simple taps.

Here's how to change your fitness goals on your Apple Watch.

The three rings

How to edit your activity goals on apple watch

As you can see, I have not filled out my rings. Credit: screenshot / apple

How to edit your activity goals on apple watch

The rings represent your goals. Credit: screenshot / apple

The Apple Watch uses rings to help you visualize how far along you are in hitting your goals. Once a ring is completely filled in, it means you've successfully reached your goal for the day.

So before we dive in to how to change your goals, let's quickly breakdown what those three rings mean:

  • Move Ring: The Move ring tracks how many active calories you've burned throughout the day. So anything from walking around the house to standing up from your desk count towards this goal.

  • Exercise Ring: Thisring tracks the amount of "brisk" activity you've completed. Basically, any workout that gets your heart rate pumping will count towards the Exercise ring.

  • Stand Ring: All you have to do to fill in this ring is stand and move around for one minute per hour at the very least. Your goal depends on what you set it to — you can set it as low as six hours or as high as 12 hours.

Now, let's change those goals

You can access your goals through the Activity app. Credit: screenshot / apple

How to edit your activity goals on apple watch

Scroll down to the bottom until you see "Change Goals." Credit: screenshot / apple

To change your goals, you'll have to use the Apple Watch. Tap on the Activity app, scroll towards the bottom of the display, and select "Change Goals."

How to edit your activity goals on apple watch

To change your goals, you can cycle through each ring. Credit: screenshot / apple

From there, you can use the plus (+) and minus (-) icons to increase or decrease each goal. To cycle through to the next goal, hit "Next" underneath it. Once you're done, tap through to the Stand goal and hit "OK" to save your changes.

That's all there is to it. You can change your goals whenever you'd like by following those steps above.

As soon as you strap on an Apple Watch, you're entering into an interesting symbiosis with a surprisingly complex piece of Apple technology. The Apple Watch becomes the center of your quantified self, recording movement, activity, heart rate and more.

If you're an Apple Fitness user, your day revolves around meeting your Watch's demanding requirements for activity. In that sense, it's a lot like a little dog -- always demanding more activity. In Apple Fitness parlance, it's all about closing your rings.

There are three rings:

  • Movement: Measures your overall activity throughout the day. 
  • Workout: Measures the time and intensity of your workouts. 
  • Stand: Measures how often you get up off your duff and move around. 

When you get your Apple Watch, movement defaults to about 500 calories, Workout requires 30 minutes, and Stand requires 12 stands across 12 hours. Initially, you could only modify the Movement calorie value. But that changed in a recent iOS release, and now you can set your goals for all three.

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Do this by loading the Activity app on your Watch:

You'll see your three rings for the day. It's after midnight as I write this, so I haven't recorded much activity yet.

Also: What is Apple Fitness? Here's what it can do for you

Flick your finger up on the Apple Watch face until you see the Change Goals menu.

Tap it once, and you'll be shown your Movement fitness goals (Movement is red).

Also: The best fitness trackers: Improve your health with 24/7 data

Tap the plus or minus buttons to choose your burn rate. If you're not sure what goal to set, check with your doctor or your trainer. Then, press Next. You'll see the green Workout goal:

I like to do 30 minutes, but I don't always do it all at once. Sometimes I use workout times to break up my day. Sometimes I do different kinds of workouts. But 30 minutes a day is a good goal for me. Again, check with a medical professional to understand what numbers you should choose.

Finally, let's set the Stand setting. Click next to move to the cyan settings screen.

As with Movement and Workout, tap plus or minus to change the number of hours where you must stand. Remember, stand requires you to stand once an hour for the number of hours you specify.

And that's it. Tap OK, and you've changed your fitness goals. Now, go out there and make yourself proud.


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How to edit your activity goals on apple watch

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