Activity Streaks on iOS are a great motivator to keep going and close those rings. But they can sometimes also become a pressure point and you end up forcing yourself instead of giving yourself a break, which can be damaging. However, with iOS 18, you can pause the streaks for your activity rings without losing them.

You can pause your Activity rings in iOS 18 for a day, the rest of the week or the month, or choose a custom time. Pausing your rings will mute coaching and goal tracking and maintain your Move streak at the same time.

  1. Open the 'Fitness' app on your iPhone running iOS 18.
  2. Then, tap on 'Activity Rings' at the top.
  3. Next, tap on 'Pause rings' after scrolling down a bit.
  1. Then, select the time for which you want to pause your rings. The options include 'For Today', 'Until Monday', 'Until [Next Month]', or 'Custom'.
  2. If you select Custom, you can select from a time period of 1 to 90 days to pause your rings. You'll be able to see the date the rings will resume on based on your selection below the wheel. Tap on 'Set' in the upper-right corner to proceed.
  1. Once you've paused your rings, they'll turn grey. Tap on 'Edit pause' to make any changes to the pause schedule. Tap on 'Resume rings' to resume activity streak at any time.

Things to know:

  • iOS 18 is in beta at the time of this writing but will be released to the public this month.
  • The ability to pause your rings so you don't lose your streak is also coming to watchOS 11, which is currently also in beta.