If you want fewer Apple Watch Activity/Fitness alerts for one day, first distinguish between a temporary notification-silencing need and permanently disabling Activity reminders. A Focus mode can quiet notifications temporarily, while Activity settings control whether particular coaching alerts are generated at all.
Temporarily silence Apple Watch notifications
- Open Control Center on the Apple Watch using the gesture/button appropriate for your watchOS version.
- Choose a Focus mode such as Do Not Disturb when you want broad temporary quiet.
- Select a duration if watchOS offers one.
- Remember that Focus affects more than Activity notifications, so review which people and apps are allowed through.
Turn off a specific Activity reminder instead
Open the Watch app on the paired iPhone and review Activity/Fitness notification settings. Options can include stand reminders, coaching, goal completions, special challenges, and summaries. Disable only the category you no longer want.
Do not disable health and safety alerts accidentally
Activity coaching is separate from many heart, medication, fall-detection, emergency, and other health notifications. Broadly silencing the watch can affect alerts beyond exercise progress, depending on Focus and notification settings.
Use the right tool for the goal
If you simply do not want motivational interruptions during a meeting or event, temporary Focus is easier to reverse. If one Activity alert annoys you every day, change that notification category instead.
Apple has changed Control Center gestures and Activity/Fitness terminology across watchOS releases. Use the controls shown on the currently supported software rather than relying on an old screenshot. If a paired iPhone and Watch can receive current supported updates, install them for security and compatibility.
To hide notification details, see notification privacy on Apple Watch.
Kermit Matthews is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than a decade of experience writing technology guides. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science and has spent much of his professional career in IT management.
He specializes in writing content about iPhones, Android devices, Microsoft Office, and many other popular applications and devices.