Apple Watch

How to stop Apple Watch from automatically downloading Fitness+ workouts

Here’s how to stop Shawn Mendes’ face from downloading to your Apple Watch.

by
Joe Rice-Jones
January 26, 2021

Image: KnowTechie

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It seems that Apple didn’t learn from its misstep when it automatically put a U2 album onto iPhones without asking, as its new Fitness+ app is automatically downloading new content without consent. The Time to Walk, podcast-esque workout routine downloads new episodes every Monday until April, whether you asked for them or not.

Thankfully, it’s easier to remove the offending episodes than the U2 album was, so we’ll show you how.

How to stop Apple Watch from automatically downloading Fitness+ workouts

Unlock your Apple Watch

Open the Workout app

Remove it as a tile by Swiping left, then tap on the X icon

That’s it, no more auto-downloading Shawn Mendes’ to scare you when you look at your Apple Watch. Unless you like that, then let it download, we don’t judge

You can now download the episodes individually, when you want to

Downloading individual episodes manually is done from the Fitness app on your iPhone. Find the Time to Walk section, tap on Show All, and tap on Add next to the episode you want

Deleting episodes can be done on your Watch or on your iPhone

Watch: Open the Workout app, tap on the episode, then tap on Remove
iPhone: Open the Fitness app, tap Show All, then Remove next to the Watch icon

When WatchOS 7.3 releases, you’ll be able to turn off automatic downloads from the Watch app on your iPhone, saving you a few steps. Look for Add Newest Workouts to Watch and set it to off.

Now you know how to keep automatically downloaded Time to Walk episodes off your Apple Watch, giving you more storage space for important things like podcasts and the latest chart hits.

Have any thoughts on this? Plan on turning this feature off? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.