How to Set Daily Fitness Goals by Day in iOS 18

With the release of iOS 18 and watchOS 11, Apple introduced a long-requested update to the Fitness app: the ability to schedule Activity ring goals by day of the week. Instead of maintaining a rigid target every day, users can now assign specific Move, Exercise, and Stand goals to individual days to accommodate rest days, heavier training sessions, or schedule variations without losing their activity streaks.

How to Customize Activity Goals by Day

To adjust your daily fitness targets on an iPhone running iOS 18:

1. Open the Fitness app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Activity rings card near the top of the Summary tab.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Change Goals.
4. Choose the metric you want to adjust: Move Goal, Exercise Goal, or Stand Goal.
5. Tap the schedule option (often displayed as Every Day) to open the dropdown menu.
6. Select Schedule or By Day of the Week.
7. Tap on the specific day (e.g., Monday, Sunday) you want to modify.
8. Use the plus (+) and minus (–) buttons to raise or lower the target for that specific day.
9. Tap Change [Move/Exercise/Stand] Goal to save, then repeat the process for any other days or metrics.

Additional Flexibility: Pausing Activity Rings

In addition to day-specific goals, iOS 18 allows you to pause your rings entirely. If you are sick, injured, or taking an extended break, you can pause your rings for a day, a week, a month, or a custom duration without resetting your active award streak.

To pause your rings, tap the Activity rings in the Fitness app, select Change Goals, tap Pause Rings, and select your desired duration.