A visually appealing way to get motivated
An Apple Watch is more than just a cutting-edge wearable device—it’s a smartwatch that serves as a sophisticated fitness tracker. It features functionality that encourages daily physical activity, nudging you to complete daily activity goals through a system of Activity Rings.
A feature of the Apple Watch series, the Fitness app records and interprets your physical metrics, helping you understand your health and progress towards your fitness goals.
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What Are the Activity Rings?
The Apple Watch Activity Rings are displayed on your watch face as three concentric circles or rings, each with a distinct color: red, green, and blue. The Move ring is red, the Exercise ring is green, and the Stand ring is blue.
The primary goal of these rings is to make your fitness goals more tangible and engaging. It’s easier to hit your goals when you can quickly check on your progress, after all. While the rings are easy to understand, let’s go over each one, so you can understand your daily progress at a glance.
The Move Ring (Red)
The red ring on your Apple Watch represents the “Move” goal. The Move ring measures active calories burned, a metric based on your heart rate and movement data throughout the day. Unlike resting calories your body burns naturally, active calories require you to engage in some form of physical activity.
Your move goal is set automatically based on your Apple Watch’s initial assessment, but it’s not carved in stone. You can change goals via your iPhone’s Fitness app (formerly the Activity app) or the Watch app itself. Adjusting your move goal to align with your changing fitness levels can help you maintain a healthy level of physical activity without becoming demotivated. When you find hitting your goal has become easy, you might consider increasing it.
The Exercise Ring (Green)
The green ring on your Apple Watch symbolizes your Exercise goal. It records the number of minutes you spend in brisk activity each day. The Exercise ring considers any activity 40% or above your resting heart rate as exercise.
The American Heart Association recommends at least 30 minutes of brisk activity every weekday. So, by default, your Apple Watch sets a goal of 30 daily exercise minutes. But remember, this is not a hard limit—you can change goals to set a personal exercise goal that suits your routine.
Also, if you haven’t been exercising regularly and are in poor shape (like your author is!) It’s a good idea to have a chat with your doctor first before starting any new form of exercise.
The Stand Ring (Blue)
The blue Stand ring on your Apple Watch stands for the number of hours in which you’ve stood and moved for at least a minute in different hours of the day. The stand goal is set at 12 hours by default (replaced by a roll goal for wheelchair users), reinforcing the health benefits of breaking up sedentary time with short bouts of activity. It’s designed to remind you to stay seated for only a short time and encourage a bit of movement each hour.
How to Close Your Activity Rings Every Day
Your Apple Watch will send you personalized notifications to help you close your rings daily. These reminders are usually timed to motivate you to achieve your daily goals more easily. Here’s how to close each type of ring.
Close the Move Ring
Closing your Move ring means meeting or surpassing your daily Move goal. It requires burning your target number of active calories through various forms of physical activity. This can include anything from a brisk walk to running, swimming, or using the Workout app for guided activities.
Your Apple Watch sends you personalized notifications throughout the day, nudging you to get moving. It can tell you how much you need to walk to close your ring or suggest a more intense workout to reach your goal faster.
Adding a bit of fun and rhythm to your workouts can make the process more enjoyable. Consider pairing your Apple Watch with your AirPods, and use music or podcasts to keep you occupied as you stay active and focus on closing your Move ring.
Close the Exercise Ring
Your green Exercise ring will close when you complete your daily exercise minutes. It’s not necessary to do a hardcore workout. A brisk walk can also contribute to closing this ring. As you exercise, your heart rate increases and the Apple Watch uses this data to add minutes to your Exercise ring.
You can start a workout by pressing the Digital Crown and then the Workout app bubble icon. Alternatively, start working out, and your Apple Watch should detect the elevated level of your heart rate, and ask you if you’re working out.
The good news is that any workout you do counts towards your Exercise ring and Move ring, so the calories you’re burning aren’t being ignored!
Close the Stand Ring
By default, the Stand goal is set to 12 stand hours. This doesn’t mean you must be on your feet for half the day. Instead, it’s about standing up and moving around for at least one minute during 12 different hours of the day.
The stand goal is set at 12 hours by default. This is based on health guidelines suggesting people should break up sedentary time as much as possible throughout the day. You can manually adjust this number to be higher or lower.
To close your Stand ring, you need to stand and move around for at least one minute during 12 different hours in the day. These don’t have to be consecutive hours, just 12 separate instances in the day.
When the Apple Watch detects that you’ve been sitting for almost an hour, it will gently remind you to get up and move around. This might mean taking a short walk, standing up while making a phone call, or stretching your legs for a few minutes.
Remember that it’s not about the intensity of the activity during these minutes. The goal is to break up periods of inactivity, so even light movement will help you close your Stand ring. If you really want to be a little more hardcore about standing, you could consider switching to a standing desk for part of your day.
How to Monitor and Adjust Your Goals
You can monitor your ring and activity progress on your Apple Watch and iPhone. The Fitness app on iPhone provides a detailed view of your Activity Rings. On your iOS or watchOS device, open the Fitness app and scroll down to see a detailed breakdown of your Move, Exercise, and Stand metrics.
Over time, you may change your goals. Your fitness levels may improve, requiring you to increase your Move goal, or you may want to push yourself to achieve more exercise minutes. To change your Move, Exercise, or Stand goals, open the Fitness app (not the Watch app) on your iPhone and go to Summary > Tap on the rings > Change Goals.
Now set your new Move, Exercise, and Stand goals.
Activity Awards
Activity awards on the Apple Watch are digital badges you earn when you reach certain milestones or challenges. These can range from meeting your daily Move goal to achieving a larger goal, like hitting your Exercise goal every day of a week or even an entire month.
These awards are split into five categories: Move, Exercise, Stand, Workout, and Limited Edition.
- Move Awards: These badges are earned several times when you achieve your Move goal. For instance, there’s an award for hitting your Move goal every day of a week and awards for reaching it 100, 365, or even 1000 or more times!
- Exercise and Stand Awards: You receive these awards for consistently meeting your Exercise and Stand goals. This includes hitting your goals every day of a week, reaching your Exercise goal twice in one day, and standing for at least one minute during 12 different hours in a single day.
- Workout Awards: These awards are for discrete workouts you do. There are awards for specific workout types, or being consistent, such as working out every day for seven days straight.
- Limited Edition Awards: These special badges are tied to specific time-bound challenges Apple periodically offers. These challenges may encourage you to double your Move goal or close all three Activity Rings daily in a particular month.
You can view your collection of badges in the Fitness app on your iPhone. Open the app, scroll down to Awards, select Show More.
You’ll see all the badges you’ve earned and the ones you can strive to achieve next.Tapping on a badge reveals the details of your achievement, such as the date you earned it and a brief description of what the award represents.
You can also view your awards on your Apple Watch itself. Just open the Activity app, and swipe left twice.
Apple Watch vs. Other Fitness Trackers
While other brands like Samsung also provide wearable fitness trackers, the Apple Watch stands out with its Activity Rings concept. The simplicity of the three-ring visualization makes it easy to understand your progress at a glance.
That being said, other fitness tracker brands, like Samsung or Amazon, all offer some variation on the Activity rings concept. Some simple graphical indication of where you’re at with different aspects of your day’s fitness goals. The biggest difference is that the Apple Watch
Apple Watch Activity Rings provide a visually appealing and motivational way to track your daily physical activity. Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast or simply looking to lead a more active lifestyle, closing your Activity Rings can be a fun and fulfilling daily challenge.
