Apple Watch Keeps Pausing During Workout? – Here’s How to Fix!

Does your Apple Watch keeps pausing during workout? This is a fairly common issue, and you’ll be able to fix it in no time with the help of this troubleshooting guide!

It’s annoying when you experience your Apple Watch pausing in the middle of your workouts.

If you’re tracking your stats, you will be missing a big chunk, which can disrupt your fitness regimen and goals.

To stop your Apple Watch from pausing during workouts, you want to ensure that the wristband is not too tight or loose. Enabling the lock screen also helps from accidental touches that can stop your watch from recording your workouts. Finally, you want to disable your watch’s auto-pause feature.

Now that you have an understanding of this issue, we can now look at the causes before we can attempt to fix them.

Why Does My Apple Watch Keep Pausing During Workouts

If your Apple Watch continues to pause while you workout, you know there’s something wrong.

It can be that the sensor is not picking up your heart rate or certain settings are not configured properly.

Let’s explore what could have happened to your Apple Watch that can cause this error:

1. Band Is Too Loose Or Tight

The sensor on your Apple Watch is located on the underside of the watch face.

If the band is too tight or loose, it can disrupt how the sensor can detect your heart rate and not record your workouts.

2. Sensor On A Tattoo Or Clothing

If the sensor sits directly on top of a tattoo or a sleeve, it can mess up the readings and cause your workout recording to pause.

3. Wrong Configuration

You can change certain settings to ensure that your watch does not pause your workouts.

4. Sensor Malfunction

The sensor is the heart and soul of your Apple Watch. If it stops working properly, you can be sure that the other functions will be affected.

These are the problems you will face whenever your Apple Watch keeps on pausing in the middle of your workout.

We can now proceed to the complete fix guide so you can record your activities without worry!

How to Fix Apple Watch Keeps Pausing During Workout

Since the pauses during your workouts are likely caused by the sensor on your Apple Watch, we recommend rebooting it.

This will refresh your watch, including its software and sensors, and can resolve this problem.

In cases where a restart does not do the job, don’t worry. There are a lot more fixes you try out:

Solution #1: Tighten the Watch on Your Wrist

To ensure that your sensor is in contact with your skin, you want to make sure that your watch’s wristband is tight.

Not too tight or too loose so the sensor can accurately pick up your heart rate for a more precise recording of your workouts.

Here’s how to ensure that your watch’s band is tight around your wrist:

1. Make sure that the watch is in contact with your skin.
2. Tighten the bands before working out.
3. Make sure the watch stays in place when you’re moving.
4. Apple Watch should be snug on your wrist.

Note: You can always loosen the watch after working out if it feels too tight for you.

Solution #2: Don’t Dismiss the Finished Your Workout Notification

It will show a notification whenever your Apple Watch has detected that you have finished your workout.

This is the part where your watch will record your activity. It does come with a learning feature that dismissing it often means your current activity is not considered a workout.

Here’s what to do if the workout notification pops up:

1. If you’re not done with your workout, select Pause.
2. Swipe right from the pause screen and tap Resume.
3. Manually pause and resume whenever you stop.

Tip: Don’t swipe up and select Dismiss unless you are not working out. 

This will help your watch determine which actions constitute a workout or not.

Solution #3: Turn On Wrist Detection

One of the more important features most users disable is your Apple Watch’s wrist detection.

Turning it off interferes with a lot of the watch’s functions, and it’s recommended that you keep this enabled at all times.

Here’s how to switch on wrist detection:

1. Go to your watch’s Settings.
2. Select Passcode.
3. Toggle the Wrist Detection switch on.

Note: You can also turn set wrist detection on your paired iPhone by opening the Watch app and navigating to Passcode settings.

Solution #4: Enable Screen Lock

Whenever you’re moving quickly during a workout, the one thing you need to look out for with your Apple Watch is accidental touches.

It happens, and it can ruin the data collection features of your watch. To prevent this from happening, you want to enable the lock screen.

Here’s how to enable the lock screen on your Apple Watch:

1. Go to the Workout app, then swipe right.
2. Select Lock to enable the lock screen.
3. After working out, twist the crown.
4. Slide it to the right until you reach the end.
5. Tap End to disable the lock screen.

Note: This is on the manual side, but it greatly helps you from preventing unnecessary pauses that can ruin your data collection.

Solution #5: Turn On Location Services

If you’re an outdoor person and love running or doing sports, you can improve your Apple Watch’s tracking features by turning on location services.

Doing this also prevents unnecessary pauses while you’re working out. You want to enable this feature if you’re tracking distances in your workouts.

Here’s how to turn on your Apple Watch’s location services:

1. Open the Settings app on your watch.
2. Select Privacy, then navigate to Location Services.
3. Toggle the switch to the ON position.
4. Look for Apple Watch Workout and set it to Allow Location Access.
5. Enable Precise Location for better accuracy.

Note: Of course, this feature is not for everyone as it does keep track of your location. 

If you’re concerned about your privacy, this is something you want to keep disabled.

Solution #6: Disable the Auto-Pause Feature

Your Apple Watch does come with an auto-pause feature in the workout app.

This is fine as it will automatically pause tracking whenever it detects inactivity on your end. It will resume tracking once it detects any activity from you.

Now, this is certainly a handy feature for some types of workouts. However, if you’re doing simple ones like running, walking, or hiking, you want to keep this disabled, so it does not mess up your activity data.

Here’s how to disable auto-pause on your Apple Watch:

1. Open the Settings app on your watch.
2. Go to Settings, then Workouts.
3. Scroll down and select Auto-Pause.
4. Move the toggle to the OFF position.

Tip: You can also turn this off on your iPhone by going to the Watch app and tapping on the workout menu.

If none of these steps help you resolve your issue, you can choose to reset your Apple Watch to factory settings.

You can also contact Apple customer support to help you figure out if your watch has a sensor malfunction.

Read Next: How to Fix Apple Watch Not Tracking Standing?

Bottom Line

Now that you know how to fix your Apple Watch keeps pausing during workout, you can follow these solutions for a more accurate health and fitness tracking experience.

You can now stop worrying about it, focus on your exercises, and enjoy your gains.