Apple Watch Activity awards: Toughest and limited edition badges revealed

Whether you call them Apple Watch awards, achievements, badges, or something else entirely, the Activity app's shiny little digital kudos are a great way to keep you motivated. 

You can earn them simply by using your smartwatch during workouts or perhaps performing a specific type of activity on a particular day. And though they don't particularly have any bearing on your overall fitness, there's no doubt that you can quickly get addicted to collecting them. 

That's why we've created this guide. If you're interested in seeing exactly which limited-time badges will likely be available in 2023, or how you can view your past achievements, venture below. 

• Tips and tricks: Get started with your Apple Watch
• Reviews: Apple Watch Ultra | Apple Watch 8 | Apple Watch SE 2

How to view your Apple Watch Awards

You'll likely have unwittingly earned a bunch of badges already –  so go check your progress via either the iPhone or Apple Watch Activity app. 

From Apple Watch, head to the Activity app and swipe left twice. You'll then be greeted with a full library of badges, which are categorized under 'Close Your Rings', 'Limited Edition', 'Workouts' and 'Competitions'. 

• Apple Watch Activity app explained

Both earned and unearned badges will be shown in the list - and that goes for the iPhone version, too. 

It'll take pretty much an identical form in the Activity app here, and all you need to do to access it is scroll down to the 'Awards' section from the main 'Summary' tab, as shown above.

List of standard Apple Watch Awards

Most Apple Watch badges can be earned all year round, with some taking the form of streaks, others being single-activity records and the odd few being a celebration of your cumulative effort.

Below, we'll list all the common achievements you can aim for - and they live under the 'Close Your Rings', 'Workouts' and 'Competitions' tabs.

'Close Your Rings' Apple Watch Awards

• Move Goal 200% - double your daily Move goal
• Move Goal 300% - triple your daily Move goal
• Move Goal 400% - quadruple your daily Move goal
• New Move Goal - set a new Move goal and break it once
• New Move Record - set a new personal best of most calories burned in a day
• New Exercise Record - set a new personal best of exercise minutes in a day
• Longest Move Streak - go on a streak of reaching your Move goal
• Perfect Week (Move) - reach your Move goal each day of the week
• Perfect Week (Stand) - reach your Stand goal each day of the week
• Perfect Week (Exercise) - reach your Exercise goal each day of the week
• Perfect Week (All Activity) - reach all three goals every day for a full week
• 100 Move Goals
• 365 Move Goals
• 500 Move Goals
• 1,000 Move Goals
• 1,250 Move Goals
• 1,500 Move Goals
• 1,750 Move Goals
• 2,000 Move Goals
• 2,250 Move Goals
• 2,500 Move Goals
• 2,750 Move Goals
• 3,000 Move Goals

'Workouts' Apple Watch Awards

This section is reserved for all the badges specifically related to each of the 18 total workout modes - and none, as far as week know, for workouts you tag as 'Other'.

These typically include a 'First [exercise type] workout' and '[Exercise type record]', though for running, for example, these also include things like 'Fastest 5K' and Longest Running Workout'.

The most common 'Workout' award you're likely to come across is the '7-Workout Week', which you earn by, you guessed it, performing seven total workouts over a Monday-Sunday period.

Unlike with the 'Close Your Rings' awards above, you won't see these greyed out if you haven't earned them yet.

'Competitions' Apple Watch Awards

Obviously, these awards are contingent on you sharing your Apple Watch Activity Rings info with another user - and you both taking part in a Competition.

Once you've done so, you'll have the ability to receive a badge every time you beat an individual user (or friend, as they're sometimes known), as well as a token badge - 'Competition Complete' - even if you lose. 

Limited-time Apple Watch Awards in 2023

Each year, Apple will dole out a specific number of limited-time awards that you can earn. Once they're gone, they're gone. 

These can take the form of 'Monthly Challenges' - a rotating, semi-personalized challenge that may ask you to, for example, burn a certain amount of calories or rack up a certain number of exercise minutes - or they're given out on specific days of the year, such as the 'International Women's Day Challenge'.

We'll update this list as more are announced by Apple, but here's the current list of all the Apple Watch Awards announced for 2023:

• Ring in the New Year Challenge: Close all three rings for seven days in a row in January 2023
• Lunar New Year Challenge 2023: Complete a 20-minute workout between 22 January - 5 February
• Heart Month Challenge 2023: Complete a 30-minute workout on 14 February
• Unity Challenge, Black History Month: Close your Move ring for seven days in a row in February