Stay active in the new year with Apple Watch

January 2, 2026

UPDATE

Stay active in the new year with Apple Watch

Fitness+ offers an exciting new lineup of programs, Artist Spotlight workouts, and Time To Walk episodes to support users in reaching their goals

New research from the Apple Heart and Movement Study shows participants with Apple Watch keep up their exercise levels well into the new year

Apple Watch is the ultimate fitness and health companion to support users in reaching and maintaining their goals in 2026. And this month, new programs are coming to Apple Fitness+, the award-winning fitness and wellness service, to help users stay active.

Apple Watch offers daily fitness motivation to millions of people across the globe, along with powerful insights into their workouts, training, and health. A new analysis of data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study identified participants with Apple Watch consistently increase their exercise levels in January and maintain them well into the new year. For additional motivation, Apple Watch users can earn the Ring in the New Year limited-edition award and participate in an Apple Watch “Quit Quitting” Challenge on Strava this month.

Starting January 5, Apple Fitness+ introduces four brand-new workout programs that offer users weekly training plans to help take the guesswork out of how to reach their goals. The Artist Spotlight series launches new workouts with full playlists featuring KAROL G and Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show superstar Bad Bunny. And this season of Time to Walk features new episodes with Penn Badgley, Mel B, and Michelle Monaghan.

Apple Watch Helps Users Stay Motivated and Consistent in the New Year

Many people give up their New Year’s fitness resolutions by the second Friday in January, also known as Quitter’s Day. A new analysis of data contributed by approximately 100,000 participants in the Apple Heart and Movement Study over four years identified participants with Apple Watch consistently keep up their exercise levels through Quitter’s Day and beyond.

Each year, following a decrease in average exercise minutes during the November and December holiday period, the average daily exercise minutes of Apple Watch users in the study not only rapidly increased in January, but also continued to progress into the spring. During the first two weeks of January, over 60 percent of Apple Watch users increased their daily exercise minutes by over 10 percent from their December average. Notably, many Apple Watch users kept up those exercise levels through Quitter’s Day and into the following months. Nearly 80 percent of those who increased their exercise minutes maintained those increased exercise levels through the second half of January, with 90 percent of that group also maintaining elevated levels through February and March.

The analysis included study participants who elected to share Activity data and consistently wore their Apple Watch over multiple years. The Apple Heart and Movement Study, conducted in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the American Heart Association, and Apple, included over 250,000 people across the United States who consented to participate.¹

Get and Stay Active with an Apple Watch Limited-Edition Award and Challenge in Strava

To kick off the new year, Apple Watch users can earn the Ring in the New Year limited-edition award when they close all three Activity rings for seven days in a row in January.

For the first time, Strava users with an Apple Watch can also participate in a special “Quit Quitting” challenge in the Strava app throughout the month of January to help motivate them to stay active and committed. After joining the challenge, users who log 12 workouts anytime within the month will earn an Apple Watch badge in the Strava app.

New Fitness+ Programs to Restart, Refocus, and Recommit

Fitness+, now available in 48 countries and regions around the world, is introducing a new series of multiweek programs designed to help build momentum and stay consistent in the new year. For users looking to return to working out, the Make Your Fitness Comeback program features three popular workout types: Strength, HIIT, and Yoga. The four-week plan features three workouts per week — one of each type — for just 10 minutes. Every week builds on the previous week to help users progress in their journey to return to fitness.

The Build a Yoga Habit in 4 Weeks program is designed to help users add yoga into their fitness routine. These workouts are designed to increase flexibility, cut down on stress, and build strength and stability. Every week, users will get two 10-minute flows — one slow and one energetic — that complement their existing workout routines and help build a habit.

The Back-to-Back Strength and HIIT program provides three 20-minute workouts pairing these two popular workout types on Fitness+: 10 minutes of Strength and 10 minutes of HIIT, three times per week, over the course of three weeks. The workouts are designed to be done one right after the other with no break in between.

Strength training is one of the fastest-growing workout types in the world, and the Strength Basics in 3 Weeks program helps users who are new to strength training learn the fundamentals, while those returning to a strength routine, they can brush up on solid technique for common moves. The program launches January 12 and consists of three workouts per week, each one focusing on a different body area, to learn and practice common strength moves to build confidence and improve users’ technique.

Music That Moves and New Guests in Time to Walk

The Fitness+ Artist Spotlight series returns with new workouts featuring music from world-renowned artists. New workouts include the music of Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter KAROL G, and dropping February 2, Fitness+ adds new workouts to the Bad Bunny Artist Spotlight series, celebrating the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show.

The award-winning Time to Walk series — where guests share stories, photos, and songs that shaped their lives — brings new episodes starting with actor and producer Penn Badgley; Spice Girls member, singer, songwriter, and TV personality Mel B; and actor Michelle Monaghan to follow later this year.

More Ways to Keep Moving with Apple

• Fitness+ is available anytime, anywhere, on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. When users have Apple Watch or AirPods Pro 3, the experience is even more motivating with their personal metrics displayed onscreen during a workout — including real-time heart rate and calories burned.^2,3

• Users can follow a premade, personalized Custom Plan or create their own Custom Plan by selecting workout days, preferred activities, durations, trainers, and music. Fitness+ then provides a personalized schedule of workouts with reminder notifications to help maintain consistency.

• Strava subscribers can receive up to three months of Fitness+ at no cost.⁴ Users can also share a Fitness+ workout to Strava, and the Strava app will display rich details to track their fitness journey and share with their community on Strava.

Apple Watch is the world’s most popular watch, and throughout the year, Apple Watch offers users motivating and actionable insights that break down barriers between users and their fitness and health information. Users can also:

• Track a wide range of workouts with scientifically validated custom heart rate and calorie algorithms in the Workout app, which uses a powerful AI and ML model for motion — trained on 50 million hours of activity data — to provide advanced metrics for running, cycling, swimming, hiking, and more.

• Stay motivated with Activity challenges and sharing, keep an eye on their progress with weekly summaries and trends, and monitor key fitness metrics like training load, cardio fitness, and cardio recovery.

• Track their sleep, receive insights on heart health, track their menstrual cycle, manage their medications, monitor environmental noise levels, and more.

• Benefit from a suite of third-party app experiences like Strava and Runna for runners; Golfshot and 18Birdies for golfers; and more.

The Apple Watch lineup supports everyone’s goals in the new year:

• Apple Watch Series 11 offers the most comprehensive set of health features yet with hypertension notifications and the ECG app, longer battery life, an even more durable cover glass, and 5G cellular capabilities, all in its thinnest and most comfortable design.

• Apple Watch SE 3 offers remarkable health, fitness, connectivity, and safety features, and the powerful capabilities of the S10 chip including an Always-On display and fast charging, at an incredible value.

• Apple Watch Ultra 3, the ultimate sports and adventure watch, features Emergency SOS via satellite, the largest display ever in an Apple Watch, 42-hour battery life, and powerful health insights.

Pricing and Availability

• Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $399 (U.S.), Apple Watch SE 3 starts at $249 (U.S.), and Apple Watch Ultra 3 starts at $799 (U.S.). Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch Series 11, and Apple Watch SE 3 require iPhone 11 or later with iOS 26 or later.

• Apple Fitness+ is available as a subscription service for $9.99 (U.S.) per month or $79.99 (U.S.) per year, and can be shared with up to five other family members.

• Apple Fitness+ is included in the Apple One Premier plan, which, where available, also gives customers access to Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and iCloud+ with 2TB of storage, and can be shared with up to five other family members.

• New subscribers to Apple Fitness+ may get three months free when they purchase any new Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV capable of running the latest operating system software, AirPods Pro 3, or Powerbeats Pro 2 from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller.

• Apple Fitness+ requires iPhone 8 or later with iOS 16.1 or later, or Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 7.2 or later paired with iPhone 6s or later with iOS 14.3 or later.

• Eligible users of Wellhub can access Fitness+ at no cost, and an Anytime Fitness membership includes access to a Fitness+ subscription. Prospective members who try Anytime Fitness can also get up to two months of Fitness+ for no cost.

About Apple Fitness+
Apple Fitness+ is an award-winning fitness and wellness service with workouts and meditations that are welcoming to all, wherever they are in their fitness and wellness journeys, and help users live a healthier day. Subscribers have access to the largest library of fitness and wellness content in 4K Ultra High Definition, all led by a welcoming and expert team of trainers. Fitness+ also has workout programs with custom content designed to support users through a season of life or help them prepare for important moments; an Artist Spotlight series with entire playlists by world-renowned music artists; and Collections, which include curated content from the Fitness+ library to help users go after their goals or find inspiration. Fitness+ is available for iPhone users to subscribe to and enjoy in 49 markets as of January 21, 2025, and those with an Apple Watch or AirPods Pro 3 can take their experience to the next level with real-time metrics that display onscreen on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. With Fitness+, users can also get moving with inspiring audio experiences, including Time to Walk, featuring some of the world’s most interesting and influential people, and Time to Run with each episode focused on a popular running route in some of the world’s most notable and iconic locations. Apple Fitness+ is available in English with subtitles in Brazilian Portuguese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish, with Japanese becoming available as of January 21. The service also offers select episodes digitally dubbed with a generated voice based on the actual voice of each Fitness+ trainer in Spanish, German, and Japanese. More information is available at apple.com/apple-fitness-plus.

1. To learn more about the Apple Research app, visit apple.com/ios/research-app.
2. Heart rate sensing with AirPods Pro 3 and Powerbeats Pro 2 during workouts is available in the Fitness app on iPhone with iOS 26, iPad with iPadOS 26, and Apple TV with tvOS 26 when also paired with iPhone.
3. Apple Watch users can also see their Exercise and Stand rings onscreen. Starting a workout in Fitness+ will automatically start the workout on Apple Watch, syncing metrics automatically.
4. Strava subscribers can redeem two months of Fitness+ in addition to the free one-month trial offered to new Fitness+ users, for a total of three months. Strava (free) users can redeem one month in addition to the free one-month trial offered to new Fitness+ users, for a total of two months. These offers are available in Australia, Canada, the UK, the U.S., Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. See strava.com for details.

Press Contacts

Clare Varellas

Apple

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Nikki Rothberg

Apple

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Apple Media Helpline

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