Apple’s 2023 “Ring in the New Year” Activity Challenge ran during January 2023. To earn its limited-edition digital award, Apple Watch users had to close the Move, Exercise and Stand rings on seven consecutive days. The event has ended, so it cannot be earned now.
What was the 2023 Apple Watch challenge?
The challenge was called “Ring in the New Year.” 9to5Mac reported it on December 13, 2022, describing it as the fourth consecutive New Year challenge with that name: 9to5Mac’s report. Coverage updated by BGR on December 30, 2022, said the qualifying period was January 2023: BGR’s explainer.
This was a fixed, limited-edition event challenge—not a new Apple Watch model and not the personalized monthly challenge that can vary from one user to another.
What did participants have to do?
Apple’s in-device description, quoted by 9to5Mac, said: “Start 2023 off right. Earn this award by closing all three rings for seven days in a row in January.” In practical terms, the requirement was:
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- A FULL-FEATURED HEALTH TRACKER—Apple Watch Series 11 gives you invaluable insights about your body, right from your wrist. Take an ECG anytime* and get alerts for a high and low heart rate or an irregular rhythm*—so you can stay closer to your heart. You can also view your overnight health tracking metrics with the Vitals app* and be notified of possible sleep apnea.*
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- GET HYPERTENSION NOTIFICATIONS—Did you know that Series 11 can spot signs of chronic high blood pressure? By analyzing how your blood vessels respond to beats of the heart, it can notify you of possible hypertension.*
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- A POWERFUL FITNESS TRACKER—With advanced metrics and motivating features like Pacer, Heart Rate Zones, training load, and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone*—Series 11 is made to help everyone stay active, from runners and hikers to strength-training enthusiasts.
- Close the Move ring.
- Close the Exercise ring.
- Close the Stand ring.
- Do all three every day for seven consecutive days during January 2023.
Seven total days scattered across the month did not meet the stated requirement. Missing one ring broke the reported streak, even if the user had completed six earlier days.
What “close all three rings” meant
- Move: Reach the daily active-calorie goal shown for that user.
- Exercise: Record enough qualifying activity to meet the personalized daily Exercise goal.
- Stand: Stand and move for at least one minute during enough separate hours to close the Stand ring.
Apple Watch goals are personalized or configured by the user, so the challenge did not impose one universal calorie, exercise-minute or stand-hour number.
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![Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 42mm] Smartwatch with Rose Gold Aluminum Case with Light Blush Sport Band - S/M. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31caPPnRysL._SL160_.jpg)
- A FULL-FEATURED HEALTH TRACKER—Apple Watch Series 11 gives you invaluable insights about your body, right from your wrist. Take an ECG anytime* and get alerts for a high and low heart rate or an irregular rhythm*—so you can stay closer to your heart. You can also view your overnight health tracking metrics with the Vitals app* and be notified of possible sleep apnea.*
- KNOW YOUR SLEEP SCORE—With advanced sleep tracking, Series 11 gives you a daily sleep score. It’s an easy way to help measure and understand the quality of your sleep, so you can make it more restorative.
- GET HYPERTENSION NOTIFICATIONS—Did you know that Series 11 can spot signs of chronic high blood pressure? By analyzing how your blood vessels respond to beats of the heart, it can notify you of possible hypertension.*
- SAFETY FEATURES—A smartwatch that puts your safety first. Series 11 can detect a hard fall or severe car crash, automatically help connect you with emergency services, and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
- A POWERFUL FITNESS TRACKER—With advanced metrics and motivating features like Pacer, Heart Rate Zones, training load, and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone*—Series 11 is made to help everyone stay active, from runners and hikers to strength-training enthusiasts.
Where did users find it?
Contemporary coverage directed users to the Fitness app on iPhone for challenge details, with the completed award appearing in the Activity/Fitness awards area. Apple has renamed and reorganized parts of these interfaces in later iOS and watchOS releases, and the historical challenge entry may no longer appear.
What was the reward?
Successful participants received a limited-edition digital Activity award or badge and exclusive animated stickers for Messages/iMessage, according to 9to5Mac. There was no reported physical prize, cash payment, Apple Store credit or discount.
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- GET SMARTER HEALTH INSIGHTS—Apple Watch SE 3 is an advanced health tracker that helps you better understand your body. The smartwatch sends alerts for an irregular heart rhythm, or an unusually high or low heart rate.* You can view your overnight health tracking metrics with the Vitals app,* track your sleep score, and get sleep apnea notifications.*
- A GREAT FITNESS TRACKER—SE 3 can track your workouts in a healthy number of ways—from running and strength training to simply achieving your 10K steps a day. With real-time metrics and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone,* you’ll hit your goals like never before.
- KEEP HELP CLOSE AT HAND—SE 3 is a smartwatch that can detect a hard fall or severe car crash and automatically help connect you to emergency services and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
- WOMEN’S HEALTH INSIGHTS—SE 3 has advanced sensors that track your wrist temperature while you sleep. With this smartwatch, you can log your periods and symptoms, get period predictions, and get notified of cycle deviations.*
- GREAT BATTERY LIFE AND FASTER CHARGING—Enjoy a smartwatch with all-day, 18-hour battery life* from sunup to sundown. Then charge up to twice as fast as SE 2* and get up to 8 hours of battery in just 15 minutes.*
How was it different from a monthly challenge?
A normal monthly challenge is generally generated from an individual’s activity history and can differ between users. “Ring in the New Year” gave participants the same event rule: a seven-day, all-three-rings streak inside a fixed January window.
That also made it more demanding than many one-off event challenges, which may ask for a single workout, a 5K, a specified workout duration or ring completion on one date.
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![Apple Watch SE 3 [GPS 40mm] Smartwatch with Midnight Aluminum Case with Midnight Sport Band - S/M. Fitness and Sleep Trackers, Heart Rate Monitor, Always-On Display, Water Resistant](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31Gq8SToFJL._SL160_.jpg)
- GET SMARTER HEALTH INSIGHTS—Apple Watch SE 3 is an advanced health tracker that helps you better understand your body. The smartwatch sends alerts for an irregular heart rhythm, or an unusually high or low heart rate.* You can view your overnight health tracking metrics with the Vitals app,* track your sleep score, and get sleep apnea notifications.*
- A GREAT FITNESS TRACKER—SE 3 can track your workouts in a healthy number of ways—from running and strength training to simply achieving your 10K steps a day. With real-time metrics and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone,* you’ll hit your goals like never before.
- KEEP HELP CLOSE AT HAND—SE 3 is a smartwatch that can detect a hard fall or severe car crash and automatically help connect you to emergency services and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
- WOMEN’S HEALTH INSIGHTS—SE 3 has advanced sensors that track your wrist temperature while you sleep. With this smartwatch, you can log your periods and symptoms, get period predictions, and get notified of cycle deviations.*
- GREAT BATTERY LIFE AND FASTER CHARGING—Enjoy a smartwatch with all-day, 18-hour battery life* from sunup to sundown. Then charge up to twice as fast as SE 2* and get up to 8 hours of battery in just 15 minutes.*
Was Apple Fitness+ required?
No. The challenge was based on Apple Watch Activity rings, not on completing an Apple Fitness+ class. Fitness+ could provide optional guided workouts to help accumulate Exercise minutes, but BGR did not identify a subscription as a condition for earning the award. Fitness+ can also be used with an iPhone without an Apple Watch, but that separate capability did not make a person eligible for this Apple Watch award; see BGR’s Fitness+ coverage.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why might the award not have appeared?
For someone checking a historical record, several practical explanations are possible:
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![Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 42mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - S/M. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41s72HIk5TL._SL160_.jpg)
- A FULL-FEATURED HEALTH TRACKER—Apple Watch Series 11 gives you invaluable insights about your body, right from your wrist. Take an ECG anytime* and get alerts for a high and low heart rate or an irregular rhythm*—so you can stay closer to your heart. You can also view your overnight health tracking metrics with the Vitals app* and be notified of possible sleep apnea.*
- KNOW YOUR SLEEP SCORE—With advanced sleep tracking, Series 11 gives you a daily sleep score. It’s an easy way to help measure and understand the quality of your sleep, so you can make it more restorative.
- GET HYPERTENSION NOTIFICATIONS—Did you know that Series 11 can spot signs of chronic high blood pressure? By analyzing how your blood vessels respond to beats of the heart, it can notify you of possible hypertension.*
- SAFETY FEATURES—A smartwatch that puts your safety first. Series 11 can detect a hard fall or severe car crash, automatically help connect you with emergency services, and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
- A POWERFUL FITNESS TRACKER—With advanced metrics and motivating features like Pacer, Heart Rate Zones, training load, and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone*—Series 11 is made to help everyone stay active, from runners and hikers to strength-training enthusiasts.
- One of the three rings was not actually closed on a day in the streak.
- The Watch or iPhone had not finished synchronizing activity data.
- The Watch was removed, uncharged or unable to record activity.
- Activity data did not sync correctly between devices.
- The limited-edition challenge was checked after its January deadline and was no longer displayed.
There is no verified basis for promising that changing the device date, restarting repeatedly or manually editing Health data would unlock the award. Those actions could also make records inaccurate. Third-party workout apps may contribute data to Apple Health, but whether a particular app satisfied every ring requirement was not established by the contemporaneous reports.
Is the challenge still available?
No. The qualifying period was January 2023, so the event expired at the end of that month. A current Apple Watch purchase cannot unlock the historical “Ring in the New Year” award.
Should you buy an Apple Watch or Fitness+ for similar goals?
Readers who want ongoing Apple Activity-ring tracking can review Apple’s current Watch lineup at apple.com/watch. That is a decision about present-day health tracking and Apple-device integration, not a way to obtain the 2023 badge. Fitness+ is an optional workout-content service at apple.com/apple-fitness-plus; its current price should be checked on Apple’s site because older reported prices are not current.
Choose activity levels appropriate to your health and fitness. Stop if you experience pain, dizziness, chest discomfort or other concerning symptoms; a digital streak is not a reason to overexert yourself.
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