How to create custom Apple Fitness+ plans with iOS 17

August 22, 2023

3 min read

Getting specific and putting commitments on a calendar are two great ways to build consistency in working toward fitness goals. With iOS 17 and watchOS 10, Apple is leveraging both of those tactics to help you get healthier with the ability to make custom Apple Fitness+ plans that can be mapped out for as long as two months.

Last year with watchOS 9, we got the ability to create custom workouts in the Workout app. Now Apple is taking that further with a custom Apple Fitness+ plan tool in iOS 17 and watchOS 10 that lets users get proactive with scheduling weekly and monthly fitness routines.

The new feature lets you select your days of the week, length of time (per day and how many weeks), activity types, instructors, music, body focus, and more.

While it’s great that watchOS 10 supports the new feature, keep in mind Apple opened Fitness+ to work without Apple Watch in the fall of 2022 (just iPad, iPhone, or Apple TV needed).

How to create custom Apple Fitness+ plans

iOS 17 is currently in beta. Read more on how to install the software if you’d like to test out features like this and more. Keep in mind features can change during the beta period.

Running iOS 17, open the Apple Fitness app on your iPhone (or iPad) and tap the Fitness+ tab
Near the top, look for the new Custom Plans tile, tap Build Your Plan
Pick your weekly schedule, total time per day, and how many weeks you want your fitness plan to run
Now choose which activity types you want to include, then tap Review Plan
In the final step, you can add workouts to each day as well as select your preferred trainers and genres of music
You can also tap the existing workout activities to change equipment and body focus
When you’re all set, tap Create Plan

Here’s how it looks to create custom Apple Fitness+ plans:

Tap the + icon to add workouts to a day or tap one of your scheduled workouts to edit it:

After creating a plan, it will live on the main Fitness+ tab of the Fitness app just below the This Week feature at the top.

There’s a nice big, green “Let’s Go” button just below your workout for each day.

There doesn’t appear to be a way to automatically add the workouts to the native Calendar app at this point in the beta, but that could be coming 😁.

For now, there only appears to be support for one custom plan at a time. When one ends or you cancel one, you can also find Custom Plans (create new and see your past ones) at the bottom of the Fitness+ tab: