How to Invite a Friend to an Apple Watch Competition

To invite a friend to an Apple Watch competition, you first need to share Activity with them. Once Activity Sharing is active, open the Fitness app on iPhone or the Activity app on Apple Watch, tap the friend’s name, then choose Compete and send the invite. Apple’s current Apple Watch user guide still shows competitions as a friend-to-friend feature, not a public or group challenge.

If you are looking for the fastest version, this is it:

1. Open the Fitness app on iPhone and tap Sharing.
2. If you are not already sharing Activity with that person, send an Activity Sharing invite first.
3. Tap the friend’s name.
4. Tap Compete.
5. Tap Invite [name] and wait for them to accept.

What has to be set up before the invite works

Most invite problems happen before the competition step.

You usually need all of the following in place first:

• both people have an Apple Watch
• both people are signed in to their Apple Account
• both people can use Activity Sharing
• the two people are already connected through Activity Sharing

That last point is the one people miss most often. Competition invites do not replace Activity Sharing. They sit on top of it.

If you need the scoring basics before you send the invite, read Apple Watch competition rules or the shorter points explainer.

How to send the invite from iPhone

For most people, iPhone is the easiest path because the screens are easier to read.

1. Open the Fitness app.
2. Tap Sharing.
3. Tap the friend you want to compete with.
4. Tap Compete.
5. Tap Invite [name].

If you do not see that friend yet, send an Activity Sharing invite first from the same tab.

How to send the invite from Apple Watch

Apple also lets you do this on the watch itself.

1. Open the Activity app on Apple Watch.
2. Tap the Sharing button.
3. Tap your friend’s name.
4. Scroll down and tap Compete.
5. Tap Invite [name].

This works best when Activity Sharing is already set up and both devices are syncing normally.

What the other person has to do

The other person does not join automatically. They need to accept the competition invite.

Once they accept:

• the competition runs for 7 days
• both people start earning points from ring progress
• the score updates during the week as Move, Exercise, and Stand progress changes

Apple’s current documentation still describes the competition as a seven-day challenge with up to 600 points per day and 4,200 points total for the week.

What to check if the invite does not appear

If the invite does not show up, check the obvious setup issues first:

• confirm you are already sharing Activity with that person
• make sure both iPhones can reach the internet
• make sure both people are signed in to their Apple Account
• make sure both people still have Apple Watch activity syncing correctly

Apple’s current support article on sharing problems also says to sign out of your Apple Account on iPhone and sign back in if you see an error while adding a friend or sending an invitation. It also notes that you can share Activity with up to 40 friends. Source: If you can’t share your Activity rings, published March 13, 2026.

If the issue is clearly no longer about setup and has turned into a broken invite flow, the next step is troubleshooting rather than repeating the same invite steps.

For that case, use Apple Watch competition invite not working? Try these fixes.

A quick way to decide whether Apple’s flow is enough

Apple’s built-in competition flow is fine if:

• exactly two people want to compete
• you are both already using Activity Sharing
• you only need a one-week head-to-head challenge

If you are trying to run the challenge for a whole group instead, start with can you do a group competition on Apple Watch?.