How to Use Fitness App Without Apple Watch

One of the most exciting reasons to use an Apple Watch, other than living a healthier lifestyle, is to try and close those fitness rings every day. Unfortunately, this is something that was only possible for Apple Watch owners, as the Fitness app was not available as a standalone application.

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Instead, if you wanted to achieve something similar, you would have to rely on different third-party apps from the App Store. Thankfully, when iOS 16 officially launches, that will no longer be the case, as you can actually use the Fitness app without Apple Watch.

How to Use Fitness App Without Apple Watch

We’re not quite sure what made Apple decide to finally make the Fitness app available as a separate application for iPhone users. But regardless of the reasoning behind it, we’re still extremely excited to see that it’s finally possible to close those rings, even if you don’t have an Apple Watch.

The only “catch” here is that you will need to update your iPhone to iOS 16. It doesn’t appear as though Apple is making it possible to download the Fitness app if you are running older versions of iOS.

Here’s how to use Fitness App without Apple Watch on iPhone:

1. Download the Fitness app from the App Store (if it’s not already installed).
   1. Apple Fitness – App Store Download
2. Once downloaded, open the Fitness app.
3. Tap Continue on the Welcome to Fitness screen.
4. If necessary, enter the following pieces of information:
   1. Date of Birth
   2. Sex
   3. Height
   4. Weight
5. Once entered, tap the Continue button.
6. From the Your Daily Move Goal screen, set your daily goals based on “how active you’d like to be, each day”.
   1. You can adjust Daily Move Goal with the + and – buttons on either side of the Calories/Day section.
7. Once entered, tap the Set Move Goal button.
8. Tap Continue.
9. When prompted, tap Allow or Don’t Allow to provide your notification preferences from the Fitness app.

Now that you have gone through the initial setup process for the Fitness app, there are a couple of things that you’ll want to do in order to make the most out of your experience.

1. Open the Fitness app on your iPhone.
2. From the main Summary page, there’s a Trends section that gives you different ideas on how you can stay active throughout the day.
3. Tap the Get Started button at the bottom of the section.
4. Tap OK after reading more about Activity Trends.

Throughout your day, you might see different suggestions appear, or receive notifications from the Fitness app. These all aim to help you achieve the goals that you set when going through the initial setup process.

Enable Motion Calibration & Distance

The way that the Fitness app works with your iPhone is that it uses the various sensors built into your iPhone. This includes things such as the gyroscope and accelerometer in an effort to properly track your movements and steps throughout the day. However, if you are experiencing issues or inaccurate results, you might want to double-check and ensure that the proper System Services have been enabled.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap Privacy & Security.
3. Tap Location Services at the top of the page.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the Location Services page.
5. Tap System Services.
6. In the first section, tap the toggle next to Motion Calibration & Distance.

Once enabled, you can open the Fitness app on your iPhone in an effort to verify that your workouts are being tracked properly. In the event that you are still having issues, follow the steps above to turn off the Motion Calibration & Distance functionality. From there, restart your iPhone, and when your iPhone starts back up, follow the steps above to re-enable the functionality.