The Social Interruption
The Apple Watch features a built-in social network for fitness called “Activity Sharing.” If you have added friends or family to this network, your watch will forcefully buzz your wrist every single time one of them finishes a workout, closes their activity rings, or earns an achievement. While intended to be motivating, having your wrist vibrate at 8:00 AM on a Sunday just because your coworker finished a 5K run is incredibly intrusive. If you want to keep your friends on the list but refuse to be bombarded with real-time updates about their gym habits, you must silence the social engine.
How to Turn Off Activity Sharing Alerts
You can permanently sever the connection between your friends’ workouts and your notification feed via the Activity settings.
- Open the Settings app directly on your Apple Watch (the grey gear icon).
- Scroll down and tap on Activity (this app is sometimes labeled Fitness on newer watchOS versions).
- Locate the master toggle switch labeled Activity Sharing Notifications.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position (the green background will disappear).
A Silent Fitness Tracker
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will completely block the incoming push notifications from Apple’s fitness servers. Your friends will remain on your sharing list, and you can still manually open the Fitness app to see their progress whenever you choose. However, the operating system will never again proactively buzz your wrist or display a banner when they complete a workout, ensuring your watch only alerts you about your own personal health metrics.