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Love custom watchOS workouts? Apple has brought a small change to your Apple Watch that could make a big difference

AnyFans 2025-09-12

By Alex Blake

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Love custom watchOS workouts? Apple has brought a small change to your Apple Watch that could make a big difference

Alex Blake

12 September 2025

Small but significant

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(Image credit: Future)

You can now create custom Apple Watch workouts from your iPhone
That makes the process much easier and more convenient
The change comes with the iOS 26 and watchOS 26 updates

Sick of trying to create custom fitness workouts on your Apple Watch screen? We’ve got some good news, as Apple has brought a welcome change to watchOS 26 and iOS 26 that could help you create your own workouts without having to fiddle around with a tiny wrist-worn display.

That’s because iOS 26 allows you to draw up custom workouts on your iPhone rather than having to persist in doing it directly on your Apple Watch. That puts everything in a much more comfortable user interface, particularly for more detailed plans and sessions.
To get started, you’ll need to open Apple’s Fitness app on your iPhone. Tap the Workout tab at the bottom, then tap the timer icon underneath a workout type (such as Outdoor Walk or Traditional Strength Training). You should now see three tabs reading All, Goals, and Custom. Tap Custom, then tap the + button and start adding details and intervals to your workout.

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Quick and easy

(Image credit: Matt Evans)
This change will be a positive one for anyone who’s tried to add a multi-step workout directly on their Apple Watch. Instead of having to tap through multiple options and layers on a small screen, you can now add a custom workout in just a few taps in a much more approachable interface.

Adding a repeating step is now incredibly quick and easy to implement, for instance, and there’s very little back and forth between different screens and options.
Once you’ve saved your custom workout, it’s synced to your Apple Watch, so you can start it on your wrist whenever you’re ready. If you decide to start a custom workout from your iPhone, you’ll see your progress in each interval, however you’re choosing to measure it. And if you want to edit it, you can do that on both your iPhone and your Apple Watch.
The watchOS 26 update brings a range of other fitness-oriented features, including a new Workout app layout, an artificial intelligence-powered Workout Buddy voice assistant, better integration with music and podcasts, and more.

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While those additions have grabbed more of the headlines, the tweak to custom workouts could be a sleeper hit for a lot of Apple Watch users.
You might also like…

Does your Apple Watch support watchOS 26? Here’s the full list of compatible Apple Watches (and which ones will miss out)
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Freelance Contributor

Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he’s learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That’s all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.

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