How to Enable Autopause for Workouts on the Apple Watch

Some people use the workout timer on their watch so that they run for a specific period of time. Others will use it to try and beat their best times for a certain distance walk or run. In either event, you may not want the timer to continue running if you aren’t moving, such as when you stop at an intersection, or if you start talking to one of your neighbors.

Fortunately there is an autopause setting for the workouts on your Apple Watch that will pause automatically when it senses that you have stopped moving. Our tutorial below will show you how to find and enable this setting directly on the watch.

 

How to Make the Apple Watch Pause Automatically When You Stop Moving

The steps in this article were performed on an Apple Watch 2 using the 4.2.3 version of WatchOS. When you enable this setting your Apple Watch will pause automatically when it senses that you have stopped moving. This will work for indoor and outdoor running workouts.

Step 1: Press the crown button on the side of the watch to get to the app screen.

 

Step 2: Tap the Settings icon.

how enable autopause workouts apple watch

 

 

Step 3: Select the General option.

make workout pause when you stop moving

 

 

Step 4: Scroll down and choose the Workout option.

apple watch workout autopause

 

 

Step 5: Tap the button to the right of Autopause to enable it. I have turned it on in the picture below.

how make workout pause automatically apple watch

 

 

Did you know that you can set up your Apple Watch so that it starts playing a playlist when you begin a workout? Find out how to set the workout playlist on an Apple Watch and use one of the playlists you have created in the Music app on your iPhone.