Apple expanded the Activity app in watchOS 3 with a new feature that allows you to share the progress of your activity rings with up to 25 of your friends, family, co-workers, and other workout buddies. It’s relatively straightforward to set up — just go to the Activity app on your iPhone, select the Sharing button at the bottom, and follow the instructions — once you’ve added friends and they’ve accepted your sharing requests, you’ll both be able to see each other’s activity and you’ll start getting notifications on your Apple Watch whenever one of them closes their rings or completes an achievement or workout.
However, if you find that being constantly reminded of how far your friends are progressing ahead of you is more of a de-motivator, or simply want to be able to see your friends’ activity without being bothered by notifications during the day, you can mute the notifications from any of the users with whom you’re sharing your activity without having to “unfriend” them. To do this, go to the Sharing tab in the Activity app on your iPhone, select the user whose notifications you’d like to mute, and tap the “Mute Notifications” button. Your friend won’t know that you’ve muted their notifications, and you’ll still be able to see how they’re doing toward their goals if you care to go in and check, but you’ll no longer get notifications as they progress throughout the day.