Earn rewards & boost your health with Apple Watch on April 24
Apple Watch users can earn a limited-edition digital award by completing their Activity rings on April 24 as part of Global Close Your Rings Day.
The one-day challenge is open to anyone using Apple Watch with watchOS 5 or later. Participants who meet their Move, Exercise, and Stand goals will unlock exclusive rewards in the Fitness app, including animated stickers for Messages and a commemorative badge.
Select Apple Store locations will also offer limited-edition pins while supplies last.
Apple Watch celebrates 10 years of Activity rings
Launched a decade ago, the Activity rings have become a hallmark of the Apple Watch experience. Users close the rings by burning active calories, completing minutes of brisk movement, and standing once an hour across 12 hours of the day.
Apple allows customization of these goals and lets users pause their rings when needed.
Apple Watch users who close all three Activity rings will earn a limited-edition award. Image credit: Apple
To participate in Global Close Your Rings Day, users do not need to update or install anything beyond a compatible version of watchOS. Apple is encouraging users to share their achievements online using the hashtag #CloseYourRings.
Study finds health benefits tied to daily movement goals
Apple also released new findings from the Apple Heart and Movement Study, conducted in partnership with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the American Heart Association. The study analyzed data from more than 140,000 participants and found meaningful correlations between Activity ring completion and health outcomes.
Compared to those who rarely closed their rings, frequent ring-closers were:
- 48 percent less likely to experience poor sleep quality.
- 73 percent less likely to have elevated resting heart rates.
- 57 percent less likely to report high stress levels, based on the Perceived Stress Scale-4 questionnaire.
These findings were consistent across age groups and genders, suggesting broad benefits tied to daily activity. The study includes more than 200,000 U.S. participants who voluntarily contributed data through the Apple Research app.
Fitness tracking, privacy, and actionable insights
Apple Watch includes a variety of tools to support wellness beyond Activity rings. The Workout app tracks exercise with validated heart rate and calorie estimates, offering advanced metrics for activities like running, cycling, swimming, and hiking.
The Activity app on Apple Watch encourages users to close their three Activity rings. Image credit: Apple
Users can also monitor their training load — defined as a rolling average of exertion over time to track intensity and avoid overtraining.
Health-related features include sleep tracking, menstrual cycle tracking, medication reminders, noise alerts, and heart rate notifications. Apple emphasizes that these features are grounded in scientific research and tested across diverse populations.
A recent validation summary outlines the technologies used to ensure accuracy in metrics like heart rate and calorie burn.
Privacy remains a focus for Apple. Fitness and health data are encrypted on-device and in iCloud, and Apple states it can’t access this data if users enable two-factor authentication and use a device passcode.
A small action with real impact
Global Close Your Rings Day serves as both a celebration and a push toward healthier daily habits. For long-time Apple Watch users, it’s a chance to earn something new. For newcomers, it offers a clear incentive to start building movement into everyday life.
Apple’s research suggests even modest consistency with activity goals can lead to better sleep, improved heart health, and lower stress. Turning those benefits into a tangible reward helps the company blend motivation with data-backed fitness.
