The standalone “Motion & Fitness” toggle that used to live in iPhone Settings has been moved and reorganized across several iOS updates. If you’re running iOS 17 or later, you won’t find it under that old name. The fitness tracking controls are now split between Privacy & Security settings and the Fitness app itself, depending on what you’re trying to do.
Where the Setting Moved in Recent iOS Versions
In older versions of iOS, you could go to Settings > Privacy > Motion & Fitness and find a simple on/off switch for “Fitness Tracking” along with toggles for which apps could access your motion data. Apple reorganized this starting with iOS 17.
Now, the path to control which apps can access your motion and fitness data is: Settings > Privacy & Security > Motion & Fitness. On some iOS versions, this section may appear simply as “Motion & Fitness” under Privacy & Security, while on others the fitness tracking toggle has been folded into the Health app’s permissions. If you don’t see “Motion & Fitness” listed under Privacy & Security, look for it under Settings > Privacy & Security > Health, where individual app permissions for step counts and activity data are managed.
For the core fitness tracking features on your iPhone (steps, distance, flights climbed, and estimated calories), those are controlled through the Fitness app directly. Open the Fitness app, tap “Summary,” then tap your profile picture or initials in the top right corner. From there you can adjust notifications, health details, units of measure, and workout preferences.
What This Setting Actually Controls
Your iPhone has a built-in motion coprocessor, a low-power chip dedicated to reading data from the accelerometer and other motion sensors. When fitness tracking is enabled, this chip passively counts your steps, estimates distance walked, and tracks flights of stairs climbed throughout the day. That data feeds into the Health app and any third-party fitness apps you’ve granted permission to.
Turning this off stops your iPhone from collecting that background motion data entirely. Your step counter will show zero, the Fitness app won’t track daily activity, and third-party apps like pedometers or calorie trackers will lose access to motion sensor data. This is a privacy control: it determines whether your phone is passively monitoring your physical movement at all times.
Location and Calibration Settings
A related setting that often gets overlooked is the motion calibration toggle. This one lives at Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services, where you’ll find “Motion Calibration & Distance.” Keeping this turned on allows your phone to use GPS data to improve the accuracy of step counting and distance measurements. If your step counts seem wildly off, this is worth checking first.
If you wear an Apple Watch and want to improve tracking accuracy, you can calibrate it by walking or running outdoors at your normal pace for about 20 minutes in an area with good GPS reception. The watch uses that session to learn your stride length. You can reset this calibration data anytime through the Watch app on your iPhone: tap My Watch, then Privacy, then Reset Fitness Calibration Data.
If the Setting Is Greyed Out or Missing
The most common reason you can’t find or change the fitness tracking toggle is Screen Time restrictions. If you or someone else set up Screen Time on your device, it can lock down access to health and fitness settings. To check, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Enter your Screen Time passcode if prompted, tap “Allowed Apps,” and make sure Health and Fitness are both enabled. Once those are toggled on, the Motion & Fitness options should become accessible again.
On very old iPhones (before the iPhone 5s), the motion coprocessor doesn’t exist, so the setting won’t appear at all. Every iPhone from the 5s onward includes this chip. If you’re on a supported device and the setting still seems missing after checking Screen Time, restarting your phone usually resolves the issue.
Apple Watch Fitness Tracking Controls
If you’re specifically looking to manage fitness tracking on an Apple Watch, those controls live in a different spot. On the watch itself, open Settings > Workout to find options for auto-pause, workout reminders, end workout confirmation, and low power mode during workouts. You can also reach most of these through the Watch app on your iPhone by tapping My Watch, then Workout.
To update the health details that affect how your watch calculates calories burned, open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch, then Health, then Health Details. From there you can edit your height and weight, which directly influence the accuracy of calorie and distance estimates.
Battery Impact of Motion Tracking
Leaving fitness tracking enabled has minimal impact on battery life for most people. Apple’s motion coprocessor is specifically designed to handle sensor data using very little power, separate from the main processor. The chip runs continuously in the background but draws a fraction of the energy that the screen or cellular radio uses. Third-party fitness apps that layer additional tracking on top of the built-in sensors can drain battery faster, particularly if they rely on GPS or constant background processing rather than the coprocessor. But the built-in step and activity tracking on its own is not a meaningful battery concern on any recent iPhone model.