How to Pause Apple Activity Rings in iOS 18

With the release of iOS 18 and watchOS 11, Apple introduced the long-awaited ability to pause Activity Rings for rest days, illness, or injury recovery without breaking active streaks. This article explains how the feature works, how to pause your rings using your iPhone or Apple Watch, and how to customize your daily fitness goals.

Yes, users can officially pause Activity Ring tracking in iOS 18. Previously, missing a day due to sickness, travel, or scheduled recovery would break your continuous award streaks. The updated system allows you to take necessary time off while keeping your streak intact.

How to Pause Rings on iPhone

  1. Open the Fitness app on your iPhone running iOS 18.
  2. Tap the Activity Rings area at the top of the Summary tab.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and tap Pause Rings.
  4. Choose a duration: For Today, Until Next Week, or select a Custom date range.
  5. Tap Done to confirm.

How to Pause Rings on Apple Watch

  1. Open the Activity app on your Apple Watch running watchOS 11.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the main screen.
  3. Tap Pause Rings.
  4. Select whether to pause for today, for a set number of days, or for a custom duration (up to 90 days).

How Pausing Affects Streaks and Awards

When your rings are paused, your streak does not advance, but it does not reset to zero either. The streak remains frozen at its current count until the pause duration ends or until you manually resume tracking. Weekly and monthly challenges will also adjust accordingly to account for the paused period.

Resuming or Adjusting Early

If you recover early or decide to resume tracking ahead of schedule, open the Fitness app on your iPhone or the Activity app on your Apple Watch, scroll to the bottom, and tap Resume Rings.

Additionally, iOS 18 allows you to customize your Move, Exercise, and Stand goals by specific days of the week. If you prefer active recovery over completely pausing your rings, you can lower your target goals specifically for rest days instead of halting ring tracking entirely.