Apple’s Fitness app on iPhone started out as a companion to the Apple Watch’s Activity rings. But recently in iOS 26, Fitness expanded in several ways, including for users who don’t own an Apple Watch. Here are three recent changes that can help complement your new year’s goals.
#1: Apple Fitness+ workout plans, global expansion
I consider Apple Fitness+ a hidden gem in the Apple One service bundle.
Apple has a team of excellent trainers publishing high-quality video workouts every week for users of every experience level.
Whether you’re brand new to exercising, or a seasoned veteran, the combination of likable coaches, easy-to-follow instructions, energizing music, varied difficulty levels, and heart rate integration make Fitness+ an all-around great product.
In iOS 26, Fitness+ added a Custom Plans feature and also expanded to a bunch of new languages:
Fitness+ automatically creates prebuilt Custom Plans based on your favorite activities. Use Get Started to help you build a routine, then keep it up with the Stay Consistent or Push Further plan — or build your own. Find it all in the Plans page.
Plans can be especially handy when you’re trying to form a new habit, like many are about to do to kick off the new year. And thanks to the new languages, more users around the world can give Fitness+ a try.
Apple Fitness+ is available for $9.99/month, or you can get it as part of the Apple One bundle.
#2: Logging workouts manually
iOS 26.1 brought a new feature to the Fitness app that could have saved my Activity ring streaks in years past: manual workout logging.
It used to be that workouts could only be saved to the Fitness app after first running on Apple Watch. But not every iPhone user owns an Apple Watch. And those who do—like me—sometimes forget to log workouts on their Watch.
Whether you own an Apple Watch or not, the new support for manual workout logging in Fitness is a great change.
Open the Fitness app’s dedicated Workout tab, and you can hit the pencil icon in the top-right to log a new workout.
Choose your workout type, then log details like duration, effort, active calories, and more. Your Activity rings will be impacted by the data you input.
#3: Live Activities for workouts
Fitness now uses Live Activities so that every time you’re running a workout, you’ll see details about the duration, type, and an option to pause or stop it right from the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island.
Live Activities for Fitness debuted alongside AirPods Pro 3 adding heart rate sensing. Apple launched them as part of its shift away from workouts being entirely Apple Watch-centric.
Whether you work out with AirPods Pro 3 or not, you can still get the benefit of Live Activities to track your progress for all workouts you initiate from either your iPhone or Apple Watch.
Live Activities are one of my favorite iPhone features of the last few years, so I’ve loved having them expand to the Fitness app alongside several other Apple platforms this year.
Do you use Apple’s Fitness app on iPhone, or do you plan to start soon? Let us know in the comments.
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