Apple’s goal rings finally care about my real-world schedule

Aside from their rounded square cases, there’s no visual more iconic about Apple Watch than the line’s famous activity rings. Users have been chasing Apple’s ring streaks and closures since the feature’s debut in 2015. As easily motivated as the best of them, I’ve had my own long-term relationship with the activity app, too. But thanks to watchOS 11, it’s finally a healthy one.

Before I celebrate the recent changes brought to this core Apple feature, let’s review the purpose of Apple’s activity rings. These represent three unique wellness metrics, each closely tied to fitness tracking:

• Move: The pink ring represents the active calories you burn through movement throughout the day.
• Exercise: The green ring represents the minutes of exercise you complete, with anything equal to or more intense than a brisk walk contributing to the pot.
• Stand: The blue ring represents how many times you stand for at least 1 minute during 12 different hours of the day. It sounds slightly pathetic, but sedentary lifestyles are, unfortunately, the rage, and simply standing once an hour can lead to major health benefits. If closing that ring is a breeze for you, consider it a gimme from Apple.

Each of these rings features a daily goal and fills in as you make progress toward that specified total throughout the day while wearing your smartwatch. If you complete thirty minutes of exercise, for example, the green ring will close and reward you with a tiny onscreen animation akin to a sparkler — yay. If you keep exercising like a show-off, the ring will overlap itself and continue filling so you can finish the day appropriately satisfied and smug.

If, however, you don’t hit Apple’s dictated goals, you won’t close the relevant ring, and both your animation and your heart will be left unfulfilled. You will lose any streak you’ve built, as well as the respect of your peers. If you’ve unwittingly tied your self-worth to your Apple rings like me, you’ll wonder where you went wrong in your physical development and how you can be so below average as a human being…

At least, that was the case before watchOS 11. For the first time, users can now pause Move, Exercise, and Stand rings, be it for a day, a week, a month, or even longer. If I wake up sick and don’t want to lose my Move streak, I can simply take the necessary time off. Likewise, if I have a long travel day coming up and I know dedicated exercise beyond airport laps is very unlikely, I can pause my rings until I reach my destination and get settled. Or if I try a friend’s motorcycle and immediately wipe out in their driveway, again (who hasn’t been there?), I can go ahead and pause all three rings for a week while my shin skin grows back. Whatever the reason, it’s finally possible for Apple’s rings to accommodate the irregularities (and unpredictabilities) of real life.

Likewise, you can also now customize all three goals on a day-to-day basis or set a new daily goal permanently. In other words, if you can squeeze out 30 minutes of exercise and don’t want to be taunted every single day or if you only want to have to stand 6 times instead of 12, Apple won’t judge you (I kind of will, though). Again, the ability to modify these goals shows Apple’s willingness to support personal wellness journeys instead of only offering a one-size-fits-all approach. The reality is that some athletes will even increase their goals compared to Apple’s baselines. The update isn’t only about making it easier to hit streaks and earn rewards, but about tailoring it to what your personal goal is.

I am thrilled to see Apple continue to tailor its wellness platform to users’ specific needs and lifestyles. This is a growing trend within the wearables market in general. As the devices continue to collect more detailed data about each user, it only makes sense that analysis, insights, and guidance be equally personalized.

• Ensure that your Apple Watch is running the latest watchOS 11 software.
• Open the Activity app on your Apple Watch and tap the rings
• Tap Pause Rings.
• Select the duration for which you want to pause your rings or set a custom timeframe.

• Ensure that your Apple Watch is running the latest watchOS 11 software.
• Open the Activity app on your Apple Watch and tap the rings, or use the digital crown to scroll down to each data page and tap the icon in the bottom right corner (the ring with the plus and minus sign inside).
• Tap Change for Today or Change Daily Goal.
• Tap the plus or minus symbol to update your goal, then tap Set.