Solved: Apple Watch keeps freezing during exercise

The Apple Watch is a great tool for tracking your activity, but it can be frustrating when it automatically stops during activity or doesn’t stop when you want it to.

Your Apple Watch may accidentally stop your workout for a number of reasons, and there are a few checks to do if the feature isn’t working properly.

This guide explains how to turn off the Apple Watch’s auto-off feature and provides a troubleshooting checklist. Let’s get started.

Top tip: Apple’s Auto-Pause feature is different from reminders to resume or end your workout when the watch detects you’re inactive. However, you can also enable or disable these options in the same settings menus mentioned below.

Turn off Auto Pause on iPhone

The ‘Auto-Pause’ feature causes the Apple Watch to pause automatically during a workout. If you prefer manual control over your workouts, you can disable this feature by following these steps:

1. Go to the Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Go to ‘My View’ in the app and scroll down to ‘Workouts’.
3. Under ‘Pause’, toggle the switch to off.

Turn off Auto-Pause on Apple Watch

You can also manage automatic pause settings directly from the smartwatch. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the ‘Settings’ app.
2. Scroll right to the bottom and select ‘Exercise’.
3. Find ‘Pause’ and press.
4. Disable the ‘Pause’ switch—or, alternatively, toggle individual workout types.

Eight ways to fix Auto-Pause on Apple Watch

Automatic pausing usually works well, but sometimes it can have problems. For those who are experiencing problems and want to keep Auto Pause enabled, see the list below for eight ways to make sure it’s working properly.

1. Check the suitability of your Apple watch

This is the most common reason for accidentally stopping exercise—or exercising without stopping when you should.

If the Apple Watch is too loose, it may not track your heart rate properly, which could cause your workout to slow down.

2. Check your wrist detection settings

If wrist detection is enabled, your Apple Watch will stop your workout if it detects that you’ve taken it off your wrist. You can turn off wrist detection in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

3. Make sure your Apple Watch is up to date

Apple regularly releases software updates that can improve the performance of your Apple Watch. Check for updates to the Watch app on your iPhone—and learn how to update your Apple Watch with this guide.

4. Restart your Apple Watch

Sometimes restarting your Apple Watch can solve problems.

To restart your Apple Watch, press and hold the side button until the power off slider appears, then drag the slider to turn off your Apple Watch. After a few seconds, press and hold the side button again until the Apple logo appears.

You can also try resetting the Apple Watch if this doesn’t work.

5. Check for connection problems between your watch and iPhone

If your watch is not properly connected to your iPhone or if there is interference with the Bluetooth signal, it may cause the workout to pause.

6. Your watch has a low battery

If your Apple Watch’s battery is low, it can cause workouts to pause. Make sure your watch is sufficiently charged before starting a workout.

Check out these tips to extend Apple Watch battery life, if you experience this issue frequently.

7. Check that clothing doesn’t accidentally stop you from exercising

It’s easy to get overlooked when you’re wearing jackets or long sleeves when you’re exercising. Make sure nothing is covering the Apple Watch display during exercise to prevent pausing.

This can happen if your arms are moving in a way that accidentally presses the pause button. To prevent this, try to adjust the position of your watch or tighten the strap.

8. Contact Apple Support

If the sensors aren’t detecting motion correctly, your Apple Watch may have a defect. Reaching out to Apple Support can help you determine if the problem is with your Apple Watch.

Whether or not the wrist increases the activity is a good way to check if the accelerometer is faulty. Otherwise, automatic pause will also not work.