How to enable/disable Motion and Fitness Tracking on your iPhone

BY Osas Obaizamomwan

Published 12 Apr 2015

Apple’s Health application in addition to its motion tracking sensors makes it very easy to monitor your physical activity. The motion tracker takes note of the amount of steps you, total distance traveled, and even the altitude of activity. But for folks concerned with battery life or that don’t use fitness trackers, you may want to turn off Motion and Fitness tracking for your device.

How to enable/disable and use Motion & Fitness Tracking with iPhone

Fitness and Motion is enabled by default and runs in the background, a fact which many users were unaware about. Running in the background allows your iPhone to keep track of all your motion without you needing to have a particular application open. All applications that you allow motion tacking for can be found in the Motion and Fitness section. Some people argue that since the tracking sensors are constantly running in the background it could drain your battery. While it’s a possibility, it’s most likely a minimal factor in battery loss. For whatever reason you have, you can disable Motion and Fitness Tracking.

  1. Go to the Settings app and find Privacy.
  2. In Privacy scroll down and select Motion & Fitness.
  3. Toggle the switch for Fitness Tracking.

When you disable Fitness Tracking, all apps that used the system, including the Health App, third-party apps, and most sleep monitors will no longer retain motion feedback. This means that even if you take 10,000 steps, your phone won’t record that information for you. So, if you are an avid user of the Health app or other motion tracking apps, I would suggest leaving Fitness Tracking ON. If you wish to re-enable Fitness Tracking, simply slide to toggle back to the ON position.