When you’re using the Workouts app, your Apple Watch will display live metrics as you’re working out like heart rate, elapsed time, and the energy you’ve burned. If the default stats aren’t what you want to see, you can customize the display to show the ones you want.

How to Access Workout Customization on Your Apple Watch

You may not be aware that you can customize the stats displayed when you’re tracking a workout on your Apple Watch. That’s because the “Preferences” button is usually hidden at the bottom of the screen, making it easy to miss. This is the button that allows you to change the stats that are displayed during your workout so that you choose the metrics you want to see and hide the ones you don’t.

It used to be that you could only customize the live stats displayed in the Workout app using the Watch app on your iPhone. However, it’s now possible to do so directly from your Apple Watch, even if your iPhone isn’t nearby.

Open the Workout app on your Apple Watch. Tap the “…” ellipsis icon for the workout that you want to customize. Swipe down or rotate the Digital Crown and tap “Preferences.” Tap “Workout Views” to see and edit the metrics that are displayed during the workout.

Choosing the Metrics You Want to See

Each workout in the Workout app has a set of default metrics that are displayed on the screen while you’re working out. However, the defaults selected by Apple may not be the metrics you’d like to display. The good news is that, aside from the elapsed time, you can change all other displayed metrics and switch them out for something else.

The metrics you can select are grouped by categories such as Heart Rate and Duration, but not all metrics are available in all workouts. For example, Outdoor Cycling includes metric categories for cadence and elevation, but these are not available to select in workouts where they don’t apply, such as Tennis.

Follow the steps in the section above to access the Workout Views. Tap the pencil icon next to the current metrics. Tap one of the metrics that you want to change. Scroll through the list of available metrics and select a replacement.

Repeat the process with any other metrics you want to replace. For some workouts, you may have some empty blocks by default; you can select these and add additional metrics to your display.

If you only want one or two metrics displayed, select the others and choose “Off” from the top of the list. When you’ve made your changes, tap the cross icon to close the editing screen and save the changes.

Adding Additional Stats Screens to Your Workout

If the number of slots on your workout screen isn’t enough to display all the metrics that you want to see, you can add further screens to your workout. These additional screens can then be accessed during a workout by turning the Digital Crown or swiping the screen. You can add multiple additional screens, edit what each one displays, and even change the order in which your screens appear.

Access the Workout View for the workout you want to edit following the instructions from the first section of the article. Swipe up or rotate the Digital Crown until you see the “Metrics 2” section. Enable the “Include” toggle beneath this section on to have the additional screen display during your workout. Tap the pencil icon to edit the metrics that are displayed on the “Metrics 2” screen as explained in the section above.

Repeat the process to add further additional screens to your workout. Further down, you will find screens such as Heart Rate Zones, Segment, and Activity Rings which you can also add to your workout by toggling “Include” on.

Some workout types will offer additional screens such as Split, Elevation, and Power Zones. To change the order that the screens appear when you swipe or scroll through them, scroll to the very bottom of the screen and select “Reorder.”

You can then drag the screens up or down using the three-line icons to change them to the desired order.

Getting Alerts During Your Workouts

As well as customizing the stats displayed during your workouts, you can also customize the alerts that you receive when working out.

For example, you can receive an alert when your heart rate passes a specific value, or when you’ve worked out for a set amount of time. Some workout types also offer additional alerts, such as alerts when you hit specific values for pace, cadence, or power, or when you reach a split distance.

Open the Workout app and tap the three-dot icon for the workout you want to edit. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap “Preferences.” Under “Alerts,” tap one of the alerts that you want to edit.

For some alert types, select “Value” to receive an alert when a metric hits a specific value, or “Range” to set a range for the alerts. Choose from “Current” or “Average” to get alerts for the current value or the average over the workout so far. Tap “Value” to set a value or tap “Lower Limit” or “Upper Limit” to set the extremities of your range.

For heart rate zone alerts, select one of the default ranges. Alternatively, tap “Custom Range” to create your own.

Why Customize Your Apple Watch Workout Stats?

There are a number of reasons why you might want to change the metrics that you can see during a workout.

For example, tracking your heart rate zone can help to stay within the zone you’re targeting. Lower heart rate zones are better for building endurance and cardio fitness, for example, while higher heart rate zones are better for building speed and strength.

If you’re training for a 5K and working towards beating your personal best, you might want to see not only your average pace, but also your current pace, so you can keep track of whether you’re maintaining your pace, slowing down, or speeding up.

One of the key reasons why I changed my metrics was that I have a life insurance policy that gives me rewards for keeping healthy. I can gain points towards rewards by working out for 30 minutes at 70% of my maximum heart rate.

By default, most workouts on the Apple Watch don’t display the average heart rate, which is what I wanted to track, but I was able to change the displayed metrics so that I can always see if I’m on track to earn my points or need to start working a little harder.

Being able to customize the live workout stats on your Apple Watch means that you can see exactly the metrics you want when you’re doing a workout. In the past you needed to make these changes on your iPhone, you can now do it all from your Apple Watch.

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