When it comes to working out using your Apple Watch, one of the best parts is the achievements (badges.) These come whenever you ‘fill your rings’ over the course of the day or during a workout.
However, there are sometimes that the Apple Watch achievements don’t automatically update. This can leave you frustrated and your health information inaccurate.
It pays to be patient. Apple can take up to 9 days from you completing an Activity Challenge to earn and see the award.
One thing to note is that some challenges are only available in certain regions. To see your current region set for your Apple Watch, open the Watch app > General > Language & Region.
Today, we’re looking at a few different steps you can take to fix Apple Watch achievements. Doing so makes you feel better overall, and all of your information is properly collected.
Related reading
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- Apple Watch activity rings empty, blank, or not recording exercise minutes?
- Apple Watch not capturing or tracking workout routes in Maps? Let’s fix it
Contents
Make sure you look in the right place 
Okay, most of you can skip this but just in case you don’t know where to look to see all your badges, so let’s review.
- Open the Activity app on your Apple Watch
- Swipe left two times to view the Awards screen
- Scroll using the Digital Crown or your finger to see all your badges
- Tap on an award and learn more about it!
To see your badges on your iPhone, open the Fitness app > Summary and scroll down to the Awards section. Tap Show More to see all your badges!
Kill the activity app
From time to time, the Activity app itself can act up and be why achievements aren’t updating. Well, there are a few steps you can take to “kill” the app.
- Close the Activity app
- Change date to the previous month
- Open the Activity app and see that you have the previous month’s challenge
- Close the Activity app again
- Change your date back to the current date
- Open Activity app again
Provided that everything has been done properly, your Apple Watch achievements are updated.
Enter Wheelchair information
Whenever you set up either the Health or Apple Watch for the first time, the “Wheelchair” option is not set. You need to do this yourself, as it has been known to cause issues with achievements.
- Open the Watch app
- Select the My Watch tab
- Scroll down and tap Health
- Tap Edit in the top right-hand corner
- Select Wheelchair
- Tap either Yes or No
Double-check Wrist Detection 
Wrist Detection is another feature that is automatically enabled on your Apple Watch. This feature automatically locks your Watch and hides any of your information.
With the release of WatchOS 4, Apple adjusted the way to toggle Wrist Detection. Here are the steps you need to follow:
- Open the Watch app
- Select the My Watch tab
- Scroll down and select Passcode
- Enable Wrist Detection
Update the software
Whenever your various devices stop working, one of the biggest culprits is the software. Apple is known for releasing various updates throughout the year, and you may have missed one.
This sentiment rings true for both the iPhone and Apple Watch. So if you are experiencing issues, you want to check for a software update.
iPhone
Here are the steps you need to follow to check for a software update on your iPhone.
- Open Settings
- Select General
- Tap Software Update
- Tap Install Now
Apple Watch
As expected, everything surrounding the Apple Watch’s software is handled by the Watch app. Here are the steps you need to take to check for an update on your Apple Watch:
- Open the Watch app
- Tap the My Watch tab
- Select General
- Tap Software Update
- Tap Install Now
Properly restart your iPhone and Apple Watch
Perhaps the easiest way to knock out the cobwebs on your devices is by simply restarting them. Below, we have the steps listed for how you can reset your iPhone and Apple Watch.
It’s important to note that you should restart your iPhone BEFORE restarting your Apple Watch.
iPhone X 
- Press and hold the Side button and volume down button until the slider appears
- Drag the slider to turn your iPhone off
- After the iPhone is off, press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears
iPhone 8 or earlier
- Press and hold the Side button until the slider appears
- Drag the slider to turn your device off
- After the device is off, press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears
Apple Watch
- Press and hold the Side button until the Power Off slider appears
- Drag the slider to turn off your Watch
- After the Watch is off, press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears
Unpair and re-pair your Apple Watch 
If nothing worked at this point, try unpairing your watch and restore it from that recent backup and see if your achievements then show up.
To unpair, follow these steps: Unpair Apple Watch with or without your iPhone or Watch.
Some people found that they needed to unpair and re-pair and choose set up as new.
Did it work?
These are many of the most ‘tried and true methods that we could find. We are hoping that these have fixed your Apple Watch achievements.
Let us know in the comments below whether you have any more questions. If there is a method that we missed, please tell us, and we’ll update this page!
