By Jason Snell

March 11, 2020 2:31 PM PT

Quick Tip: Customize Apple Watch workouts

Note: This story has not been updated for several years.

How long have I been doing workouts with the Apple Watch? A long time. And yet until today when I was walking my dog, I had never really considered that some of the information that appears on the face of my watch when I’m walking or hiking is completely irrelevant to me. I’m not interested in a calorie count or my average speed. In fact, all I’m really interested in is the elapsed time, distance, and my heart rate.

“Surely there must be a setting for this,” you might be saying to yourself, and of course there is. I’m compelled to document it here mostly because I suspect a lot of people never bother to consider customizing their workout screens. You should do it! It’s much better when you can have it the way you want it!

In the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tap Workout, then Workout View, and then the name of the workout type you’d like to customize. Tap the Edit button and you’ll be able to choose from numerous statistics related to that workout type. In my case, I gave some consideration to Current Elevation or Elevation Gain, but decided in the end that I’d rather have the three main elements (and the current time) display in large type, instead.

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