How to set goals and view progress in Activity for Apple Watch

How-to
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The built-in Activity app on your Apple Watch makes it easy for you to choose a "move" goal — how many calories you'd like to burn each day and view all your recorded progress, in multiple formats, whenever you like.

How to adjust your calorie goal with Activity for Apple Watch

While the exercise and stand goals can't be changed, you can adjust your calorie goal whenever you'd like.

  1. Launch the Activity app from your Apple Watch's Home screen.
  2. Press firmly on the screen.
  3. Tap on Change Move Goal.

Open Activity, press firmly on screen, tap Change Move Goal
  1. Adjust your goal using the - and + buttons.
  2. Tap Update.

Tap + and - buttons, tap Update

How to view your Activity progress with the Activity app for Apple Watch

Inside the Activity app, you can view how close you are to meeting each of your goals. In order to meet all three goals, you'll have to stand for at least one minute each hour for 12 hours, exercise for 30 minutes, and meet your calorie goal for the day. You can check your progress with the Activity app whenever you'd like.

  1. Launch the Activity app on your Apple Watch.
  2. Scroll down using your finger or the Digital Crown in order to view breakdowns of each activity.

Scrolling down will give you access to view your data in a few different ways rather than just looking at the rings. You can also find the same information in the Activity app for iPhone, just swipe all the way to the bottom.

How to view your Activity weekly summary on your Apple Watch

You do get a weekly summary on your wrist every Monday, letting you know how your past week went. Did you know you can also view that weekly summary at any time on your Apple Watch?

  1. Open the Activity app.
  2. Firmly press on the display to bring up the contextual menu.
  3. Tap Weekly Summary to bring up your summary so far for the week.

Open Activity, firmly press on screen, tap Weekly Summary

How to check your step count on your Apple Watch

If you're coming from a conventional fitness tracker, you may notice that counting steps isn't the top priority of the Activity app. Luckily, Apple Watch does still track steps per day and you can view it anytime.

  1. Launch the Activity app on your Apple Watch.
  2. Use the Digital Crown or your finger to scroll down all the way to the bottom.

How to view your progress history in Activity

Although your Apple Watch will only show your progress of the current day, you can always use the Activity app on your iPhone to view your past progress.

  1. Launch the Activities app from your iPhone's Home screen.
  2. Tap History in the lower-left corner.
  3. Tap the specific day you would like to view your progress and history.

How to save an image of your progress history in Activity

If you have a particularly good day

  1. Launch the Activities app from your iPhone's Home screen.
  2. Tap History in the lower-left corner.
  3. Tap the specific day you would like to view your progress and history.

Launch the activities app, tap history in the lower left corner and tap the specific day.

  1. Tap the Share button in the upper right corner. It looks like a red box with an arrow coming out of it.
  2. Tap Save Image

Tap the share button and then tap save image.

Tap the share button and then tap save image. (Image credit: iMore)

The Trends tab in the Activity app is new to iOS 13 and will let you get a better idea of how your performance on closing your rings is doing over time. The tab shows whether the trends are up or down for the three rings by comparing the last 365 days of data to your past 90 days of records. If the last 90 days of activity shows a downward trend relative to the last 365 days, the Activity app offers tips and coaching for ways to get your rings closed. Here's how you can see that information.

  1. Launch the Activity app from your Home screen.
  2. Tap the Trends tab.
  3. Tap the category you want, if you want to see a more detailed breakdown.

How to view Awards in Activity

To help you stay motivated, Activity has achievements you can earn by completing your daily goals on consecutive days or exceeding your daily goals. You can check out what achievements you've already received and view what you need to do to get new achievements in the Activity app on your iPhone.

  1. Launch the Activity app from your iPhone's Home screen.
  2. Tap Awards tab at the bottom of the screen. It looks like a star.
  3. Tap on any Awards symbol to see what it is.

Lauch the Activity app from your Home screen, Tap the Awards tab at the bottom of the screen, Tap n any Awards symbol to see what it is.

How to turn off Stand reminders, award alerts, and other Activity notifications

  1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap My Watch if the app doesn't already open to that screen.

Open the Watch app, tap My Watch
  1. Tap Activity.
  2. Flip the switches next to Stand Reminders and any of the other types of notifications you want to turn off, which include daily coaching, goal completion, special challenge, and activity sharing notifications.

Tap Activity, flip switches

Questions?

Did you find this helpful? Do you have any other questions about setting activity goals? Let us know in the comments below!

Updated January 2020: Updated for iOS 13 and watchOS 6.

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Luke Filipowicz
Luke Filipowicz
Staff Writer

Luke Filipowicz has been a writer at iMore, covering Apple for nearly a decade now. He writes a lot about Apple Watch and iPad but covers the iPhone and Mac as well. He often describes himself as an "Apple user on a budget" and firmly believes that great technology can be affordable if you know where to look. Luke also heads up the iMore Show — a weekly podcast focusing on Apple news, rumors, and products but likes to have some fun along the way. 

Luke knows he spends more time on Twitter than he probably should, so feel free to follow him or give him a shout on social media @LukeFilipowicz.