The best smartwatches for Android

After a agelong long of slim pickings, the past mates of years person been immense for Android smartwatches. Now location are much bully options than ever.

But the marketplace is fragmented. Wear OS 5 is present for Samsung’s Galaxy Watches, Google’s Pixel Watch 3, and soon, the OnePlus Watch 3 erstwhile it ships adjacent month. However, the larger ecosystem is catching up. Some features, for illustration Google Assistant, are not yet disposable connected definite Wear OS 3 smartwatches, and Wear OS 4 still isn’t wide available. Even so, the Android wearable ecosystem is barreling ahead.

If you’d alternatively hold until Wear OS settles down a bit, location are platform-agnostic smartwatches and fittingness watches you tin bargain successful the meantime. Otherwise, you’ll want to beryllium alert of the spot and Wear OS type powering your watch. Mobvoi, for instance, has mostly been a measurement down Google and Samsung successful rolling retired the latest type of Wear OS. Meanwhile, you mightiness want to salary attraction to whether a watch is moving the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Plus aliases the guidelines W5 chip. The W5 Plus has immoderate other processing advantages, but for the record, the guidelines spot isn’t bad. The Pixel Watch 3 and OnePlus Watch 2 some athletics the W5 and person notably improved capacity and artillery life.

So agelong arsenic you support the aforementioned caveats successful mind, Android users person much smartwatch options than ever before. I’ve rounded up my apical picks, but if nary of these is the correct fit, you tin ever cheque retired our fitness locator buying guide.

Sizes: 43mm, 47mm / Weight: 77g, 85g / Battery life: Up to 30 hours pinch AOD, 40 without AOD / Display type: Always-on OLED / GPS: Built-in GPS / Connectivity: LTE (optional), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: Up to 50 meters, IP68 / Music storage: 16GB

If you person a Samsung phone, you’ll get the astir mileage retired of a Samsung smartwatch. And of the 4 watches Samsung has successful its existent lineup, I urge the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. Although Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 7 successful August, location wasn’t a refresh for the Classic. That intends you ought to beryllium seeing immoderate bully deals for the Classic soon, if not already. It’s not often that I urge a last-gen device, but specified is my heavy emotion for the beingness rotating bezel.

If you want the latest and greatest, the Galaxy Watch 7 offers an upgraded 3nm Exynos W1000 spot and a caller 3-in-1 BioActive Sensor. It’s a marginal betterment complete the 2023 models, but I don’t consciousness for illustration Samsung introduced thing past twelvemonth that requires having them. It besides has Wear OS 5 and One UI 6 Watch, though Samsung is rolling retired the newer OS to older watches (including the Galaxy Watch 6). Mostly, I urge the 7 if you for illustration a smaller size, don’t attraction astir the rotating bezel, and want thing a smidge much futureproof.

The Classic’s rotating bezel is 15 percent thinner than the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. The updated creation is sleeker than its predecessor, and the larger show is easier connected the eyes and is only somewhat bigger astatine 43mm and 47mm. I person mini wrists, but the 47mm was still rather comfortable for mundane wear. It’s launching pinch Wear OS 4, which adds extended artillery life, and — yet — unreality backups. One UI 5 Watch besides adds immoderate insignificant wellness and slumber search improvements, but this will yet make its measurement to older models. While I for illustration the Classic, the guidelines Watch 6 exemplary whitethorn beryllium the amended action if you want a smaller, lighter, sleeker, and cheaper smartwatch.

For much outdoorsy folks, the $649.99 Galaxy Watch Ultra mightiness beryllium the much sensible choice. Of each Samsung’s watches, it has the champion artillery life, lasting astir 3 days successful our testing. (Though, we ne'er sewage the afloat 100-hour estimated artillery life.) It’s sewage dual-frequency GPS, a caller multisport activity, an emergency siren, accrued durability, 10ATM of h2o resistance, and a Quick Button, which acts arsenic a customizable shortcut button. It’s fundamentally an Apple Watch Ultra for Android.

Meanwhile, if you’re connected a budget, there’s the caller $199.99 Galaxy Watch FE, which is fundamentally a rebadged Galaxy Watch 4.

The Samsung Health app besides delivers a bully wide fittingness search experience, particularly since you tin alteration turn-by-turn navigation for hiking and cycling activities. We weren’t excessively impressed pinch nightly SpO2 readings, but Samsung’s wide slumber search continues to improve. You besides get built-in GPS, assemblage creation analysis, irregular bosom complaint notifications, autumn detection, emergency SOS features, and EKGs. Most recently, Samsung added a caller Energy score, AI-powered wellness insights, FDA-cleared slumber apnea detection, and a confusing AGEs Index metric for metabolic health. While the Energy people is broadly accurate, I recovered the AI-generated features to beryllium deed aliases miss and the AGEs Index to beryllium much gimmicky than useful. The second characteristic is besides constricted to the Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra.

We don’t needfully urge the Galaxy Watches if you don’t person a Samsung phone. EKGs and slumber apnea discovery require the Samsung Health Monitor app, which is constricted to Samsung phones. You tin activity astir it, but each Samsung watches activity best pinch different Samsung devices.

Sizes: 41mm, 45mm / Weight: 31g for 41mm, 37g for 45mm / Battery life: Roughly 24 hours pinch AOD enabled / Display type: Always-on OLED / GPS: Built-in GPS / Connectivity: LTE (optional), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Safety Signal pinch Fitbit Premium / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 32GB

The $349.99 Google Pixel Watch 3 is done playing catch-up. It’s an annoying truth that if you person a Samsung phone, a Samsung smartwatch is astir apt the champion prime for you. However, for everyone else, I highly urge the Pixel Watch 3.

There are respective updates to the Pixel Watch 3, but the gist is that it’s a much refined watch that besides expands into caller territory. One awesome update is that location are now 2 sizes: 41mm and 45mm. You get other surface existent property connected the larger watch, but the bezels are besides smaller connected the 41mm model. (If you’re trying to prime betwixt sizes, I for illustration the 45mm.) The displays are brighter arsenic well, ranging from a minimum of 1 nit to a maximum of 2,000 nits.

Health and fittingness besides get respective updates, particularly for runners. There’s a caller Cardio Load metric that gauges the cardiovascular strength of the exercises you’ve been doing complete a group play of time. It’s akin to Garmin’s Training Load metric. You’re besides fixed a Cardio Load target based connected your fittingness goals, readiness, and existent activity. Runners besides get a caller dashboard afloat of shape study metrics arsenic good arsenic the expertise to programme civilization workouts. In addition, you tin get AI-generated suggested workouts. And if you’re successful Europe, the Pixel Watch 3 tin now observe if you nary longer person a beat and telephone emergency services.

The Pixel Watch 3 besides adds a bunch of nifty Google integrations. It’s fantabulous if you person a Google-powered smart location because you tin now straight position and interact pinch your Nest Doorbell aliases camera feeds. You tin besides usage the watch arsenic a distant for your Google TV, and location are caller Google Home Tile / complications that make controlling your location from your wrist a breeze. Also caller are offline Google Maps, the expertise to unlock Pixel phones, and a Call Assist characteristic that lets a caller cognize you request an other infinitesimal to prime up your phone.

That said, while the Pixel Watch was initially framed arsenic a watch for immoderate Android phone, respective updates this clip astir mean you’ll get the champion acquisition pinch a Pixel phone. But compared to Samsung, location isn’t rather arsenic overmuch lock-in. Health features, for example, are disposable to everyone truthful agelong arsenic you person a Fitbit account. Extra bully news: Google removed definite metrics, for illustration the Daily Readiness Score, from the Fitbit Premium paywall. Mostly, the features locked to Pixel phones are the Recorder app and things for illustration the expertise to unlock your telephone pinch the watch.

One point to beryllium mindful of is durability. While the domed show is beautiful, we cracked the surface connected the original Pixel Watch and sewage heavy scratches connected the Pixel Watch 2. (Thankfully, we haven’t messed up the Pixel Watch 3.) Google doesn’t connection immoderate repair options, but you tin get the Preferred Care extended warranty if you want to beryllium prepared should thing happen. It’s not perfect since it’s constricted to the US and Canada, but it’s a measurement successful the correct direction.

Sizes: 47mm pinch 22mm straps / Weight: 49g case, 80g pinch strap / Battery life: Up to 100 hours successful smart mode, 48 pinch AOD on, and 12 days successful power-saving mode / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: Dual-frequency GPS, Beidou, GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, QZSS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 32GB

The $299.99 OnePlus Watch 2 is what a glow-up looks like. While the original OnePlus Watch was horrible, this watch helps capable the void that Fossil near erstwhile it said it was pulling retired of Android smartwatches — namely, a viable replacement to Google and Samsung.

The 47mm lawsuit is large for petite wrists, and unfortunately, it only comes successful 1 size, but it’s made of durable stainless alloy and sapphire crystal. Plus, it houses a 500mAh battery. That, positive a dual-chip architecture and novel dual OS system, results successful ace agelong artillery life. How agelong a smartwatch lasts will, of course, dangle connected your individual usage, but I sewage astir 4 days pinch normal use. That’s unthinkable for a flagship.

It besides has Wear OS 4, making it the only third-party Wear OS watch moving the latest software. It has Google Assistant from the get-go — a large accomplishment since that’s been a problem pinch different third-party Android watches. Plus, you get entree to the Google Play Store for a robust app ecosystem. On the fittingness broadside of things, OnePlus added dual-frequency GPS. That’s a positive if you’re outdoorsy and predominant challenging GPS environments for illustration dense forests aliases crowded cities.

The main things you’re giving up are LTE connectivity and immoderate features for illustration EKGs, atrial fibrillation detection, autochthonal play tracking, and autumn detection. The deficiency of cellular is simply a bummer, arsenic it intends you really should support your telephone connected you erstwhile you’re retired and about. Still, the $300 value tag is simply a competitory 1 and whitethorn beryllium worthy the trade-off fixed artillery life.

That said, OnePlus besides precocious announced the OnePlus Watch 3, which will person Wear OS 5, a rotating crown that really scrolls, amended artillery life, an improved GPS antenna, and a bunch of caller wellness features. I’m still successful the process of testing it, truthful enactment tuned for that review. (In the meantime, here’s my hands-on.) You mightiness want to support successful mind, however, that the Watch 3 is $30 much expensive. On the agleam side, this besides intends we’ll astir apt spot discounts connected the remaining OnePlus Watch 2 inventory successful the coming weeks.

Sizes: 50mm pinch 24mm straps / Weight: 44.3g / Battery life: Up to 80 hours / Display type: OLED touchscreen and secondary ultra-low powerfulness show / GPS: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, Beidou / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 32GB

Mobvoi’s TicWatch lineup has its devoted fans for a reason: ace agelong artillery life. The $249.99 TicWatch Pro 5 is nary exception. It’s sewage an estimated 80 hours of artillery life pinch modular use, a secondary ultra-low powerfulness display, and a monolithic (for a smartwatch you deterioration connected your wrist, astatine least) 628mAh battery. I didn’t rather get 80 hours successful my testing, but I did get a coagulated 48-60 hours pinch dense GPS use. That outclasses astir of the watches successful this class (except the OnePluS Watch 2) and is useful for backpackers and endurance athletes. It mightiness not clasp a candle to a top-of-the-line Garmin, but it’s besides a smarter watch for a fraction of the price.

Battery life aside, the Pro 5 is simply a bully action for fitness-focused group who aren’t keen connected giving up smart capabilities for a Garmin aliases Polar. It’s besides much durable. This clip around, Mobvoi has besides added a integer crown truthful you don’t person to interest astir scrolling done menus pinch sweaty fingers. The flatter broadside fastener besides reduces the consequence of accidental presses.

The Pro 5 besides has an ingenious method of displaying bosom rate. When you assistance up your arm, the backlight changes colour depending connected which bosom complaint area you’re in. That intends you tin instantly gauge whether to up the strength aliases slow your roll. The Pro 5 besides adds caller training metrics, for illustration VO2 Max and betterment time.

The TicWatch supports accent tracking, all-day humor oxygen monitoring, fatigue assessments, arsenic good arsenic atrial fibrillation and irregular heartbeat detection. For outdoorsy types, it besides has entree to aggregate GNSS systems, and there’s a caller barometer and compass app, arsenic good arsenic a one-tap measurement app that gives you a speedy look astatine 5 metrics (heart rate, humor oxygen, stress, respiratory rate, and wide bosom health).

It’s besides beautiful tin connected the productivity front. You get contactless payments, entree to the Play Store, notifications, and the expertise to return calls. It’s besides the only Android smartwatch disposable successful the US pinch the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Plus chip, which is simply a positive successful position of futureproofing. The only awesome concerns are the 50mm lawsuit that whitethorn not suit smaller wrists and the deficiency of a integer assistant.

And bully news! Mobvoi announced the rollout of Wear OS 4 successful September, meaning each Pro 5 devices should beryllium moving the newer operating strategy astatine this point.

Sizes: 37mm pinch 18mm straps / Weight: 45g / Battery life: Up to 39 days / Display type: OLED show / GPS: Tethered GPS / Connectivity: Bluetooth / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: N/A

Hybrid smartwatches are an fantabulous measurement to support things elemental and subtle. The $249.95 Withings ScanWatch Light gets you the basics for illustration push notifications, timers, and alarms. On the wellness front, you tin way steps, sleep, menstrual cycles, and GPS workouts. (That said, GPS is tethered from your phone, not built in.) The creation reminds maine of a classier Swatch, peculiarly if you get the much colorful options successful a minty greenish aliases ray blue. But the large logic the Light has dethroned our erstwhile pick, the Garmin Vivomove Sport, is its extra-long artillery life. Withings estimates it lasts up to 30 days connected a azygous charge, and I sewage beautiful adjacent to that successful testing pinch 25 days. Despite the Vivomove’s much appealing $180 value tag, it only lasts astir 5 days.

If you want a spot much retired of a hybrid, you tin besides opt for the ScanWatch 2. It’s an other $100, but you get EKGs and atrial fibrillation detection, somesthesia sensors, SpO2 readings, and an altimeter for measuring elevation. It besides looks a spot much elegant connected the wrist, partially because of a secondary dial that tracks your regular measurement progress.

If neither matches your style, the Vivomove Sport is still a bully action that gets you entree to Garmin’s in-depth platform. Its Vivomove Trend is simply a somewhat much upscale action that besides supports Qi charging.

Sizes: 41mm pinch 18mm straps; 45mm pinch 22mm straps / Weight: 40g for the 3S; 47g for the 3 / Battery life: Up to 10 days for 3S; 14 days for 3 / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 8GB

Garmin is champion known for making rugged GPS watches that person fantabulous fittingness features but aren’t truthful smart otherwise. But the $449.99 Venu 3 caters to group who want top-notch fittingness search without sacrificing productivity features.

It’s sewage a colorful and vibrant always-on OLED show and comes successful 2 sizes: 41mm and 45mm. Like its predecessor, the Venu 2 Plus, it besides has a microphone and speaker truthful you tin return and make calls straight from the wrist. It besides has a clever workaround for integer assistants — it uses Bluetooth to activity pinch immoderate adjunct is already connected your phone. You’d deliberation much fittingness trackers would do this, but they don’t. It worked good successful testing, though integer assistants aren’t ever the smartest astatine knowing commands.

The Venu 3 doesn’t person the champion third-party app ecosystem, but it has Spotify, Deezer, and Amazon Music for offline playback. Android users tin besides nonstop speedy responses for texts, and the watch useful pinch either iOS aliases Android for folks who want to support their options open. It besides has autumn detection, unrecorded tracking, and contactless payments.

As for wellness features, it has Garmin’s latest bosom complaint sensor, which enables its FDA-cleared EKG app to observe atrial fibrillation. Otherwise, you get built-in GPS, continuous bosom complaint monitoring, each of the precocious coaching features successful the Garmin Connect app, and Garmin’s celebrated in-depth wellness data. The Venu 3 besides improves slumber search pinch nap discovery and adds audio-guided meditation sessions. There’s besides a caller wheelchair mode.

This isn’t the astir hardcore Garmin that money tin buy, but it’s decidedly the smartest. The value is simply a spot precocious compared to astir smartwatches, but by Garmin standards, it’s middle-of-the-pack.

Size: 43mm w/ 20mm straps / Weight: 29.5g for standard, 31.7g for premium / Battery life: Up to 10 days / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: Five GNSS systems / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: N/A

Amazfit’s made a sanction for itself making fund wearables that punch acold supra their weight. The $99.99 Amazfit Active 2 is nary exception.

The Active 2 is simply a amazingly spiffy watch considering its price. The modular type has a stainless alloy lawsuit pinch tempered glass, and if you ammunition retired $30 extra, you tin get the premium exemplary pinch sapphire crystal and an other leather strap. Normally I don’t get compliments while wearing fund smartwatches, but I sewage several while wearing this one.

While it doesn’t tally Wear OS, its proprietary Zepp OS makes for a platform-agnostic smartwatch. Feature-wise, you get each the basics and past some. That includes things for illustration continuous bosom complaint monitoring, humor oxygen rate, bosom complaint variability, accent tracking, alerts for abnormally precocious and debased bosom rate, and tegument somesthesia tracking. You besides get offline maps pinch turn-by-turn navigation, 160 different athletics activity profiles, and a caller spot training activity that automatically tracks reps. The Active 2 doesn’t person dual-frequency GPS, but it has the adjacent champion thing: entree to each 5 of the awesome GNSS outer systems. As acold arsenic wellness search goes, it besides emphasizes trendy metrics for illustration a readiness people and has a revamped slumber search algorithm. Battery life is estimated astatine astir 10 days, though arsenic a dense user, I sewage astir 8 to 9 successful my testing.

Something that sets the Active 2 isolated astatine this value scope is entree to an AI adjunct connected wrist and AI chatbots wrong the Zepp app. The Zepp Flow adjunct (on wrist) is simply a small finicky, but you tin usage it to power your watch’s on-device settings and basal queries for illustration asking for the weather. The Zepp Aura AI bot costs an other $77 yearly, and you tin inquire it to present insights into your readiness and slumber scores. I recovered it deed aliases miss, but astatine slightest it’s well-integrated into the app, snappy, and astir importantly, optional. More useful is the Zepp Coach, which you tin usage to make civilization training plans.

All successful all, I don’t person overmuch to gripe astir this watch, which is chaotic fixed really affordable it is. It surely delivers an outsized bang for your buck. Just make judge you swipe disconnected immoderate sweaty fingers, since its touchscreen doesn’t grip them well.

Update, March 4th: Adjusted pricing/availability and added pros/cons to respective watches.