The Social Distraction
The Apple Watch features a highly social “Activity Sharing” system. This allows you to link your fitness data with friends and family members, creating a competitive environment. By default, the watch is extremely aggressive about broadcasting this data. If a friend finishes a 5K run or simply closes their daily “Stand” ring, your watch will vibrate and display a full-screen notification announcing their achievement. If you are linked to multiple active people, your wrist will buzz constantly throughout the workday with updates about their workouts. To regain your focus, you must mute these social alerts.
How to Turn Off Activity Sharing Notifications
You can permanently silence the social updates via the Activity settings.
- Open the Watch app on your paired iPhone.
- Ensure you are on the My Watch tab at the bottom of the screen.
- Scroll down the list of apps and tap on Activity.
- Look for the toggle switch labeled Activity Sharing Notifications.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position.
Silent Competition
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will completely sever the incoming social alerts from the notification center. You will still remain linked to your friends, and their workout data will continue to silently update in the background. However, your watch will never again vibrate or interrupt your day to announce that someone else just finished a workout. To check their progress, you must now manually open the Activity app.