How to set up the new iOS 16 Fitness app on your iPhone
The only new app debuting in iOS 16 is actually an old app that is now more useful for more people.
iOS 16 Fitness was previously a way for Apple Watch wearers to monitor their activity data on their iPhone, but with iOS 16 Apple is opening up the app to everyone, no smartwatch required. Now you can track how much you move on any given day and set goals to lead a more active life. But first you need to know how to set up the fitness app.
Getting started with Fitness on iOS 16 is pretty easy, with just two panes to activate. In our guide to setting up the fitness app on your iPhone, we explain what information you need to provide the app and how to make sure your activity trends are being logged. We can also show you how to share your activity with others if you’re looking for extra motivation to keep moving.
Follow these steps to set up the fitness app on any iPhone running iOS 16.
1. Launch Fitness and tap Next on the welcome screen.
2. Enter your personal information. You will be asked to provide your date of birth, gender, height and weight. Tap Next when done.
3. Set your daily exercise goal how many calories per day you want to burn. You can choose to be light, moderate or very active. Fitness recommends minimum values for each level, but you can set your own goal by tapping the plus and minus buttons.
4. When you have set the desired goal, Tap Set move target.
5. You will be prompted to do so Set up fitness notifications. These will ping you throughout the day to alert you when you’re on track to meet your daily movement goal.
And that’s all there is to it. Fitness is now set up and will start tracking the steps you have taken and the distance you have covered and converts this information into calories burned during the day. Close your ring and you can start earning badges and awards that appear on the main page of the fitness app.
Fitness can do more than just count how many steps and how far you walk on any given day. It can also track how you’re doing in four categories – your movement goal (in terms of calories per day), the distance you walk each day, your walking pace, and your running pace. Fitness does this by comparing your last 90 days of activity against the past year, and it starts after you’ve tracked 180 days of activity.
But first, you need to give the fitness app permission to do all these tracking. It’s just a few clicks.
Here’s how to let the fitness app track your activity
1. On the Fitness Summary screen, scroll down to the Trends section – it’s just below Activity – and Tap Get Started.
2. On the next Activity Trends screen Tap OK for the fitness app to monitor your progress over time.
How to share your activity with others
In addition to following your movement trends, you can share your movement data with other iPhone users who have updated to iOS 16 and set up the fitness app if you think this motivates you to reach your goal.
1. To share data with others, Tap Share bottom right of the screen and then click on “Get Started”. on the following start screen.
2. Tap the button in the upper-right corner to invite people to share activity data With. By tapping the plus button you can enter email addresses or select people from your contacts.
3. When you have added enough people, click Submit in the upper right corner.
The people you invite to share will receive a notification of your invitation.
And that’s all you have to do to start fitness. From there, all you have to do is walk each day to reach your activity goal and close your ring. And if that kind of increased activity inspires you to try the Apple Watch, check out our guide to the best Apple Watches.
As for iOS 16, be sure to visit our iOS 16 features guide for more tips and tricks on new iPhone features. Among other things, we can show you how to edit text in News, how to set up My Sports in News, and how to create a multi-stop route in Maps.