How to Set a Daily Step Goal on Apple Watch

Your Apple Watch comes set up with three rings: Move, Exercise, and Stand. The Move ring is the one most people think of as a step goal, although Apple measures it in active calories burned rather than raw step count. When you first set up your watch, Apple guesses your goals based on your age and weight. Those guesses are often too high or too low for older adults. So it is worth taking a few minutes to adjust them to a number you can actually reach.

A goal that feels reachable is a goal you will hit. Hitting your rings, even small ones, gives you a small daily win and keeps you coming back. If your Move ring is set to 600 calories and you only ever close it once a month, the watch starts to feel like a nag instead of a friend. Drop it to 300, close it five days a week, and the whole experience changes. You can always raise the goal later as you get stronger.

The same idea applies to the Exercise ring (minutes of brisk activity) and the Stand ring (hours where you stand and move for at least one minute). The default Stand goal is 12 hours, which can be tough if you nap, watch a long movie, or spend an afternoon reading. Lowering it to 8 or 10 hours is perfectly reasonable.

You can change all three goals right from your wrist. And you do not need to dig through the iPhone settings. Apple updated this feature so the goals are flexible and can even be set to different values for different days of the week. Pick numbers that match your real life, not the life of a marathon runner. Your watch is there to support you, not judge you.