How to turn off automatic Time to Walk downloads on your Apple Watch

If you have an Apple Fitness+ subscription, you might’ve been startled to see singer Shawn Mendes’ face appear in the Workout app on your Apple Watch today. (It’s okay, I felt the same way whenever Camila Cabello would randomly emerge from a corner of the room throughout the entire Shawn Mendes: In Wonder documentary.)

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why this happened and how you can turn it off. 

It’s all part of a new podcast-like feature Apple just added to Fitness+ called Time to Walk. The first batch of episodes treats users to a specific celebrity anecdote, related images (which appear on your Watch), and curated music playlists for about 25 to 40 minutes — all while simultaneously tracking your metrics throughout your walk. 

But here’s the thing: It automatically downloads each episode to your Apple Watch if you’re subscribed to Fitness+. If that sounds oddly familiar, it’s because Apple has pulled this trick before — specifically, seven years ago when it infamously downloaded the U2 album, “Songs of Innocence,” onto everyone’s iPhones (taking up 72MB of space, mind you).

Sure, I can’t be as offended by new workouts being added to my Apple Watch as I was by U2’s album being added to my iPhone, but one would think Apple had learned its lesson from that incident.

I do, however, understand offering the option to download the episodes as it allows users to leave the iPhone at home and just take the Apple Watch out on walks.

How to turn off automatic downloads

Thankfully, it’s very easy to turn off the automatic download setting. Here’s all you have to do: 

On your Apple Watch, open the Workout app and remove it as a tile by swiping left and tapping on the “X” icon. 

Eventually, when WatchOS 7.3 comes out, you’ll also be able to turn automatic downloads off using your iPhone. To do that when the update hits, simply go to the Watch app, tap “Add Newest Workouts to Watch” (towards the bottom), and toggle the feature off.

How to download episodes individually

If you do want to download a specific Time to Walk episode, open the Fitness app on your iPhone, tap on “Show All” under the Time to Walk section, and then tap “Add.” It’ll start to download the episode on the app before syncing to your watch. 

How to delete specific episodes 

Deleting episodes off the Apple Watch is a simple process, too. 

You have two options:

1. On your Apple Watch, head to the Workout app and tap on a specific episode, scroll down, and then tap “Remove” to throw that thing right in the trash. 

2. On your iPhone, open the Fitness app, tap “Show All,” and then “Remove” next to the Watch icon.

That way, you can save room for more important audio on your Apple Watch. You know, like full length podcasts and stuff.