Apple Watch Interval Timer: How to Set One Up

Yes, Apple Watch has an interval timer. It's built into the Workout app as a Custom Workout, where you set work and recovery intervals by time or distance and the watch cues you at every switch.

Here's how to set it up, and where it stops being enough for sprint intervals.

How to set up intervals on Apple Watch

1. Open the Workout app on your Apple Watch.
2. Scroll to the workout type you want, such as Outdoor Run, and tap the More button (the three dots) next to it.
3. Choose Custom (listed as Create Workout on some watchOS versions) and tap Add.
4. Add a Warmup if you want one. Pick Time, Distance, or Open. Open means the segment lasts until you tap to move on.
5. Tap Add, choose Work, and set it by Time or Distance. For sprints, 15 to 20 seconds is a common starting point.
6. Tap Add again, choose Recovery, and set it. Use 60 to 90 seconds of walking while you build fitness.
7. To repeat the pair, add more work and recovery steps. You need at least one work or recovery interval before the Create Workout button activates.
8. Add a Cooldown, name the workout, and tap Create Workout.

The saved workout shows up under its workout type. You can edit or delete it later with the More button next to it. Custom Workouts work with every workout type except Multisport and Open Water Swim. Menu wording shifts a little between watchOS versions, so if a label looks different on your watch, follow Apple's guide linked in the sources below.

Where this interval timer works well

For fixed structures it does the job. Once a workout is saved you can start it in two taps, the watch taps your wrist and plays an alert at each switch, and the finished session lands in Fitness and Health with heart rate and distance. If your plan is "8 minutes easy, then 6 rounds of work and recovery, then cool down," you don't need anything else.

Where it stops for sprint intervals

Sprint training puts different demands on a timer than steady intervals do. These are the gaps you'll hit:

The structure is fixed once you start. Recovery runs on a clock. If your heart rate hasn't settled after 60 seconds, the watch moves you to the next sprint anyway. If you've recovered at 40 seconds, you wait.

There is no history per sprint. The session is logged as one workout. Your individual sprint times are not laid out as a performance history you can compare from week to week.

There are no personal records for sprint distances. The Workout app doesn't keep a list of your fastest 500m or 1km efforts across sessions. You'd have to write them down yourself.

The warm-up is a segment, not guidance. You can set one up, but nothing tells you what to do inside it.

It's a clock, not a coach. You get the cue to go. You don't get a record of whether the third sprint was faster than the first, or whether this week beat last week.

None of this makes the native timer bad. It makes it a general interval timer, and sprint progress is the part it doesn't cover.

When a dedicated sprint app makes sense

If you run intervals occasionally, the Custom Workout above is free and enough. If you're doing sprint sessions every week and want to see whether you're getting faster, the missing piece is the record.

That's the gap Sprint Game is built for. It runs on the watch without your phone, guides you through the warm-up, times the sprints and recoveries with haptic cues, and updates your top three times for 500m and 1km after every session. You can compare how the app and the built-in timer handle this in Best Apple Watch Apps for Runners (2026).

A starting structure to build today

Use this in the Custom Workout builder:

• Warmup: 8 minutes, Open
• Work: 15 to 20 seconds, hard but controlled
• Recovery: 60 to 90 seconds of walking
• Repeats: 6 to 8 pairs
• Cooldown: 5 minutes, Open

Start with two sessions a week and at least a full rest day between them. If you're new to high-intensity exercise, returning after a break, injured, pregnant, or managing a health condition, ask a qualified clinician or coach what's appropriate before you start. For the full setup, including what to watch in the Health app, see Apple Watch Interval Training: A Complete Guide. To log each session properly, see How to Track and Record Sprint Workouts on Apple Watch.

Sources

• Apple Support: Create a Custom Workout on Apple Watch

Want sprint times and personal bests tracked for you? Get early access →