2020 hasn't been a great year for most people, which means there's plenty of pressure on 2021 to be a whole lot better. To help get things started on the right foot, Apple has announced its next Apple Watch Activity Challenge, titled Ring In the New Year.
First reported by 9to5Mac, the new activity challenge asks Apple Watch users to close all three of their activity rings for seven days in a row. It runs from January 7 through to January 31.
How to Complete the Ring In the New Year Challenge
The three activity rings on Apple Watch show how many active calories you’ve burned (the red ring), the minutes of brisk activity you’ve carried out (the green ring), and the number of times you've stood up and moved around for at least one minute out of every hour (the blue ring).
Closing all three rings each day shows that you are hitting baseline activity targets to help live a healthier life. It’s a neat bit of user interface design on Apple’s part that makes it easier to keep on top of your daily fitness targets.
To complete the Ring In the New Year activity challenge by closing the rings, you’ll have to stand for at least one minute on 12 different hours of the day, exercise for 30 minutes, and burn up to your personal active calorie goal.
Doing so will earn you exclusive badges in the Activity app, along with stickers that can be used in both Messages and on FaceTime. Of course, the real reward is knowing that you’ve gotten your fitness regiment off to a strong start in the new year. That---more than stickers or badges---is the real reward on offer here.
2021 will be the third time Apple has offered a Ring In the New Year challenge for Apple Watch users. It launched in 2017 and has been a recurring challenge every year since with the exception (for some reason) of 2019.
Apple frequently offers an assortment of activity challenges throughout the year, some of which are localized to celebrate different holidays around the world.
Apple Ramped Up Its Fitness Efforts in 2020
This year, Apple has ramped up its focus on personal fitness even more. In December 2020, Apple launched Fitness+, a subscription service which offers Apple Watch users a new way to complete their fitness goals with the aid of personalized workouts and videos.
Between the launch of that service and a slew of new activity challenges, 2021 could be the year in which Apple customers everywhere get themselves into the kind of shape they aspire to be in. So enjoy those December hours slumped on the sofa watching Home Alone and Elf while you can.
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