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How to pause Activity Rings on the Apple Watch

Closing your Activity Rings is one of the easiest ways to stay on top of your fitness goals with the Apple Watch. 

The feature consists of three rings: Move, Exercise and Stand. The red ring represents Move and shows how many active calories you’ve burned that day. The green ring is Exercise, telling you how many minutes of brisk activity you’ve done. Finally, the blue ring is Stand, tracking how many times a day you’ve stood and moved for at least one minute every hour. For wheelchair users, Stand is replaced with Roll. Once a ring closes, you’ll know you’ve hit your goal. 

So, what if you need to take a break but don’t want to risk interrupting your streak? That’s what the pause option is for. Keep reading to learn how to pause your Activity Rings for up to 90 days without breaking your streak. 

What you’ll need 

  • An Apple Watch 

The Short Version 

  1. Open the Activity app on your watch 
  2. Tap on the rings 
  3. Hit Pause Rings

How to pause Activity Rings on the Apple Watch

  1. Step
    1

    Open the Activity app on your watch

    This is the icon with three coloured circles. How to pause Activity Rings on the Apple Watch

  2. Step
    2

    Tap on the rings

    Tap anywhere on the rings. How to pause Activity Rings on the Apple Watch

  3. Step
    3

    Hit Pause Rings

    You can also change your goals from here. How to pause Activity Rings on the Apple Watch

Troubleshooting

How to resume Activity Rings on the Apple Watch

To resume your Activity Rings, simply tap the Activity Rings again and hit Resume Rings.

How to edit the duration of your paused Activity Rings

If you want to edit the duration of your pause at any point, simply tap on the Activity Rings, select Edit Pause and turn the Digital Crown to set your duration. Then, tap Done.

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