Your Apple Watch Just Got Smarter: 7 watchOS 11 Features You Need to Try Today

Master Your Apple Watch Health Tracking, Activity Rings & Hidden Shortcuts

Author

Christine Emmanuelle Bago
January 06, 2026

Hey there!

Apple just released watchOS 11, and it's packed with features that'll transform how you use your Apple Watch—especially when it comes to tracking your health and fitness. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or just want to get more from your watch, this guide breaks down everything you need to know in plain English. Let's dive into the features that actually matter for your daily life.

📺 WATCH THE COMPLETE VIDEO TUTORIAL

Why watch? This 15-minute tutorial walks you through every feature with live demonstrations on an actual Apple Watch—perfect if you're a visual learner or want to see exactly where to tap!

What You'll Learn in This Guide:

  • How the new Vitals app monitors your health overnight and alerts you to problems

  • The game-changing ability to pause your activity rings without losing your streak

  • How Live Activities bring your iPhone notifications to life on your wrist

  • Double tap gestures that let you control your watch hands-free

  • Setting custom move goals for different days of the week

  • The new Training Load feature that prevents over-exercising

  • Check-in features that keep loved ones informed during workouts

🏥 The Vitals App: Your Overnight Health Monitor

The brand-new Vitals application is watchOS 11's standout feature for health-conscious users. This app turns your Apple Watch into a comprehensive overnight health monitor that tracks five key metrics while you sleep.

Here's what Vitals tracks automatically:

  • Heart rate patterns

  • Respiratory rate (breathing)

  • Wrist temperature

  • Blood oxygen levels

  • Sleep duration

The brilliant part? Vitals learns your normal ranges over time. When two or more metrics fall outside your typical patterns, you'll get a notification about these "outliers"—giving you early warning that something might need attention.

🔍 Quick Tip: The Vitals app needs several nights of data before it becomes accurate. Wear your Apple Watch to sleep consistently for at least a week to build your personalized baseline.

To set up Vitals:

  1. Scroll to the bottom of your app list on Apple Watch

  2. Open the Vitals app (look for the four-sensor icon)

  3. Tap "Next" to review how it works

  4. Enable notifications for outlier alerts

  5. Start wearing your watch to sleep regularly

▶️ Try This Now: Open Vitals on your watch and check if you have enough data yet. If not, commit to wearing your watch overnight this week!

⚠️ Important Note: Vitals notifications aren't medical diagnoses. If you receive outlier alerts consistently, consult with a healthcare professional to discuss what they might mean.

🎯 Finally! Pause Your Activity Rings Without Guilt

This might be the most requested feature in Apple Watch history—and it's finally here. You can now pause your activity rings for rest days, injuries, or vacations without breaking your move streak.

Here's why this matters: Previously, taking a day off meant either pushing through when your body needed rest or watching your hard-earned streak disappear. Now you can be smart about recovery while maintaining your motivation.

How to pause your rings:

  1. Open the Fitness app on your iPhone

  2. Scroll down to the Activity section

  3. Tap "Pause Rings"

  4. Choose your duration:

    • Just today

    • Until Monday

    • Until a specific date

    • Custom (up to 90 days)

Your move streak continues uninterrupted, and you can resume anytime without penalty.

🔍 Quick Tip: If you don't want to pause completely, you can temporarily lower your move goal for specific days instead. Just tap "Change Goals" in the Fitness app.

📊 Set Different Goals for Different Days

Not everyone works out the same amount every day—and watchOS 11 finally acknowledges this reality. The new custom move goals per day feature lets you create a workout schedule that matches your actual routine.

Perfect for people who:

  • Train harder on weekends when they have more time

  • Follow a structured workout program (like 3 days heavy, 4 days light)

  • Have different schedules on weekdays vs. weekends

  • Want to push themselves strategically without burnout

To set custom daily goals:

  1. Open Fitness app on iPhone

  2. Tap your current move goal

  3. Select "Customize Days"

  4. Adjust each day's goal individually

  5. Tap "Set" to save your weekly pattern

For example, you might set 600 calories for Monday/Wednesday/Friday (workout days) and 300 for other days (recovery days).

▶️ Try This Now: Think about your weekly routine. Which 2-3 days do you naturally move more? Set higher goals for those days and give yourself a break on others.

⚡ Live Activities & Widgets: Information When You Need It

Live Activities transform how your Apple Watch displays time-sensitive information. Instead of always showing your watch face, your watch now shows the most relevant information automatically when you raise your wrist.

Here's how it works:

When you start a timer, call an Uber, or play music, that activity appears as a live widget on your lock screen. Flip your wrist up, and instead of seeing your watch face, you see the timer counting down, your Uber's ETA, or music controls.

Live Activities automatically appear for:

  • Active timers

  • Music/podcast playback

  • Weather alerts (rain warnings before you head out)

  • Uber/Lyft rides

  • Food delivery tracking

  • Any app that supports iPhone Live Activities

The genius is in the timing—if rain is forecast for your morning commute, the weather widget appears when you wake up. You don't have to open apps; the information finds you.

🔍 Quick Tip: You can manually scroll through all your widgets by raising your wrist and swiping down. Double-tap (on Series 9, Ultra 2, or newer) to navigate between them hands-free.

⚠️ Important Note: Live Activities only work with apps that have updated for watchOS 11. As more developers adopt this feature, expect to see more useful widgets throughout your day.

👆 Double Tap: Control Your Watch Hands-Free

Double tap debuted with Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, but watchOS 11 makes it exponentially more useful by opening it to all app developers.

What is double tap? Simply tap your index finger and thumb together twice (on the hand wearing your Apple Watch) to trigger actions—no screen touching required.

New things you can do with double tap in watchOS 11:

  • Bring up your Live Activities and widgets

  • Navigate between widgets by tapping repeatedly

  • Pause or resume timers

  • Dismiss alarms

  • Control music playback

  • Stop workout check-ins

  • Interact with third-party apps (as they add support)

This feature shines when your other hand is busy—carrying groceries, pushing a stroller, or mid-workout.

To use double tap:

  1. Make sure your watch screen is on

  2. Tap your index finger and thumb together twice quickly

  3. The action depends on what's currently on screen

▶️ Try This Now: Set a 10-second timer on your watch. When it goes off, try double-tapping to dismiss it instead of touching the screen.

🔍 Quick Tip: Double tap works best when your wrist is up and the screen is already on. If the screen is asleep, lift your wrist first, then double tap.

🏋️ Training Load: Prevent Over-Training

The new Training Load feature tracks how hard you're working over time and tells you if you're pushing too hard, slacking off, or maintaining a healthy balance.

After you complete several workouts, watchOS 11's algorithm analyzes your patterns and displays your training load status:

  • Below - You're taking it easy (maybe too easy)

  • Well Below - Significantly less active than your baseline

  • Steady - Maintaining consistent effort

  • Above - Pushing harder than usual

  • Well Above - Potentially over-training

You'll see Training Load data in both the Vitals app and the Fitness app, showing daily trends and weekly patterns.

How to rate your workout effort:

  1. Complete any workout on your Apple Watch

  2. When finished, you'll see the effort rating screen

  3. Select how hard it felt (1-10 scale):

    • 1-3: Easy (light walk, gentle yoga)

    • 4-6: Moderate (steady jog, regular workout)

    • 7-8: Hard (intense training, pushing limits)

    • 9-10: All Out (maximum effort, competition)

  4. Tap the checkmark to save

Your Apple Watch suggests a rating, but you can adjust based on how you actually felt.

⚠️ Important Note: Training Load requires consistent data. Wear your watch during workouts and rate your effort for at least 1-2 weeks before the feature becomes accurate.

🔍 Quick Tip: Be honest with your effort ratings. The more accurate your input, the better the Training Load algorithm can prevent burnout and optimize your fitness journey.

📍 Check-In: Safety Feature for Solo Workouts

Going for an early morning run or late-night gym session? The new Check-In feature lets you automatically notify a trusted contact when you safely complete your workout.

How Check-In works:

  1. Start any outdoor workout

  2. Swipe to the additional workout screens

  3. Tap "Check In"

  4. Select when to notify (usually "when workout ends")

  5. Choose your contact

  6. Start your workout

When you finish and end the workout, your chosen contact automatically receives a message confirming you completed your activity safely.

Perfect for:

  • Solo runners, especially early morning or evening

  • Trail hikers in remote areas

  • Anyone who wants family members to feel reassured

  • Workouts in unfamiliar neighborhoods

▶️ Try This Now: Think about who you'd want to check in with during workouts. Add them to your contacts and test the feature on your next outdoor activity.

🔍 Quick Tip: You can cancel the check-in mid-workout if plans change. Just swipe back to the check-in screen and tap "Cancel Check In."

🎬 READY TO SEE IT ALL IN ACTION?

Watch the complete video tutorial now to see every feature demonstrated step-by-step on an actual Apple Watch. Perfect if you want to follow along on your own device!

📌 Top 3 Takeaways

  1. The Vitals app is your new health guardian - It tracks five key metrics overnight and alerts you when multiple measurements are unusual, giving you early warning signs to discuss with your doctor.

  2. Pausing activity rings changes everything - Finally take rest days without guilt or losing your streak. You can pause for up to 90 days and customize different goals for different days of the week.

  3. Live Activities make your watch actually intelligent - Information appears exactly when you need it, whether that's a timer, weather warning, or Uber ETA. Combined with double-tap controls, it's like having a smart assistant on your wrist.

❓ Common Questions & Troubleshooting

Q: Which Apple Watches support all watchOS 11 features? Most features work on Apple Watch Series 6 and newer. However, double tap requires Series 9, Ultra 2, or Series 10 (released in 2024). Check Settings > General > About to see your model.

Q: Why isn't my Vitals app showing any data yet? Vitals needs several nights of sleep data (typically 5-7 nights) to establish your baseline ranges. Keep wearing your watch overnight, and the data will populate automatically.

Q: Can I pause activity rings for just part of a day? No, ring pausing works in full-day increments. If you want partial credit for the day, consider lowering your move goal instead of pausing completely.

Q: My double tap isn't working consistently. What's wrong? Double tap requires your screen to be on and unlocked. Make sure you're wearing your watch snugly (not too loose), and tap your index finger and thumb together firmly but quickly. It works best when your wrist is raised and the screen is already active.

Q: Will Training Load work if I don't rate every workout? The feature works best with consistent effort ratings, but Apple Watch will estimate if you skip some. For most accurate results, rate at least 80% of your workouts.

Q: Do Live Activities drain my battery faster? Live Activities use minimal additional battery since they replace your watch face temporarily. Most users won't notice significant battery impact.

Q: Can I customize which apps can use Live Activities? Currently, any app that supports Live Activities can display them on your watch. You can't selectively disable them per app, but you can disable the entire widget stack in Settings if needed.

Ready to become a watchOS 11 power user? Start with just one feature from this guide today—we recommend setting up Vitals if you care about health tracking, or trying the new pause rings feature if you're focused on fitness.

Got questions about watchOS 11? Reply to this email or drop a comment on the video. We read every single one!

Stay smart,
The AppFind Team