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The infamous calculator watch(Opens in a new window) has been around since the 1970s, but watches have finally reached the point that they’re, well, smart. With everything from app support to smartphone notification mirroring to heart rate monitoring, the latest smartwatches do a lot more than just tell time. But which one should you buy?
We’ve rounded up our favorites to help you decide. It’s also important to know what to look for, so make sure to check out our buying guide at the end.
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Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Apple Watch Series 8
Best Overall
Why We Picked It
The Apple Watch Series 8 offers a broad suite of built-in lifestyle, fitness, health, and safety tools, plus the best selection of third-party apps for any smartwatch. This version builds upon its already outstanding predecessor with the ability to track your body temperature deviations, estimate the date of your last ovulation if you have a menstrual cycle, and detect severe car crashes. With these upgrades, plus an unrivaled user experience that’s further enhanced by watchOS 9, the Series 8 remains the best iPhone-compatible smartwatch for most buyers.
Who It’s For
If you’re in search of a feature-rich smartwatch to stay connected, keep tabs on your health, and track your fitness, the Series 8 is our Editors’ Choice winner. It’s worth the premium over the Watch SE for its larger screen, always-on display option, and advanced health-tracking capabilities.
With the Series 8, you can choose from a 41mm (small) or 45mm (large) case in aluminum or stainless steel with Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi support, or add cellular connectivity to the mix. Stainless steel and cellular models cost extra.
All three Apple smartwatches on this list require an iPhone 8 or later running at least iOS 16, so if you use Android, look elsewhere. Additionally, if long battery life is a primary concern, there are better options on this list.
PROS
- Overnight temperature sensing
- Car crash detection
- Improved battery life
- More accurate period predictions
CONS
- Same design as previous model
- Limited usefulness for retrospective ovulation estimates
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Samsung Galaxy Watch 5
Best Android Smartwatch
Why We Picked It
Samsung didn’t reinvent the wheel with its latest flagship smartwatch, but it didn’t have to. Upgrades for this generation include a sapphire crystal glass display for improved durability, a bigger battery, and an infrared sensor capable of measuring your body temperature.
The Watch 5 series runs Wear OS, which gives you access to all the standard Google apps like Assistant, Maps, Messages, and the Play Store. On the wellness front, the Watch 5 offers a few features that are not available on the Apple Watch, including overnight snore tracking (when paired with a compatible smartphone) and body composition measurements.
Aesthetically, the Galaxy Watch 5 looks just like its predecessor, with the same minimalist aluminum case design, gorgeous display, and functional digital bezel for fast navigation. Fans of Samsung’s smartwatches might not like that both the Watch 5 and the more rugged Watch 5 Pro lack a physical rotating bezel for quick scrolling, a feature available on many older Samsung smartwatches, including the Watch 4 Classic.
Who It’s For
The Galaxy Watch 5 is the best Apple Watch alternative for most Android users. It comes in small (40mm) and large (44mm) sizes, four different aluminum case colors (black, silver, blue, or pink), and two connectivity options (with or without LTE), thus accommodating a wide range of buyers. Outdoor adventurers might prefer the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which offers a more durable titanium case, an even stronger sapphire crystal glass display, longer battery life, and a few outdoor-specific navigation features. The older Watch 4 Classic also remains on sale for those who want the rotating bezel.
Similar to how the Apple Watch works only with iPhones, the Galaxy Watch 5 series is exclusive to Android phones. Samsung’s latest smartwatches require a device running Android 8.0 (or newer) with more than 1.5GB RAM. Although you can pair the Watch 5 with non-Samsung Android phones, some features, including electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements, work only with handsets of the same brand.
PROS
- Competitive price
- Sleek design
- Bright, durable display
- Good app selection
- Slight battery life improvement over previous generation
- Digital bezel for quick scrolling
CONS
- Temperature data unavailable at launch
- Lacks outdoor-specific features of Pro model
- Questionable SpO2 measurements
- No heart rate variability or respiration data
Learn More
Garmin Venu Sq 2
Best Battery Life
Why We Picked It
In the crowded fitness smartwatch market, Garmin’s Venu Sq 2 stands out for its practicality. It features a large AMOLED color touch screen with a squarish design that offers better text legibility compared with round models. Battery life is also a strong suit: In testing, the Venu Sq 2 ran for up to nine days between charges with light use. As with the higher-end round Venu 2 series, the second-generation Sq model is a fitness-first wearable with a robust suite of workout- and health-tracking tools, but it also offers some useful lifestyle features, including calendar and weather apps, vibrating alarms, smartphone notifications, and Garmin Pay mobile payment support.
Who It’s For
If you’re looking for a reasonably affordable smartwatch with a focus on fitness, the Garmin Venu Sq 2 is an Editors’ Choice winner. It pairs with smartphones running at least iOS 15 or Android 7.0 via the Garmin Connect app, so compatibility shouldn’t be an issue. In addition to the base model, Garmin sells a Music Edition for $50 extra that offers onboard storage for up to 500 songs.
PROS
- Large AMOLED touch screen
- Weeklong battery life
- Lightweight design
- Plenty of health metrics
- Contactless payments
- Integrated GPS
CONS
- Does not track floors climbed
- Preloaded workouts are not animated
- Limited lifestyle features
Learn More
Apple Watch SE (2022)
Best Affordable Apple Watch
Why We Picked It
The Watch SE is the least expensive and smallest smartwatch in Apple’s lineup. The second-generation model isn’t a massive update to the original, but Apple lowered the price by $30, upgraded the processor, added a new motion sensor for Crash Detection, and changed to a more environmentally friendly back cover. You miss out on an always-on display and a few health sensors (ECG, SpO2, and temperature), but it otherwise offers almost all the other connectivity, safety, and fitness features of the Series 8 for $150 less.
Safety features include Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, and irregular heart rate and rhythm notifications. Cellular SE models also now support international emergency calling, so you can reach emergency services in more than 120 countries and regions without your phone while traveling. On the health front, we especially like the automatic 20-second handwashing timer, which keeps you honest when you suds up.
Who It’s For
The Apple Watch SE is a solid option for its target audience of first-time smartwatch buyers, children/teens, and older adults. It even supports Apple’s Family Setup feature, which enables you to manage the watch for a family member who doesn’t have an iPhone. The Apple Watch SE is an excellent budget-friendly pick, but the Series 8 retains our Editors’ Choice winner for its more robust health-tracking capabilities and always-on display option.
PROS
- Upgraded processor from previous model
- New motion sensor with support for Crash Detection
- Improved real-world battery life
- Lightweight
- Excellent app selection and safety features
- Lower price than first-generation model
CONS
- No always-on display
- Lacks sensors for ECG, SpO2, or body temperature
- No rating for dust resistance
Learn More
Apple Watch Ultra
Best for Outdoor Adventurers
Why We Picked It
The $799 Apple Watch Ultra offers a more rugged build and longer battery life than its siblings, plus exclusive outdoor adventuring features that can help you stay safe when you veer off the beaten path. It represents the most significant design departure for the Apple Watch yet, with a bright orange customizable Action button, a more tactile Digital Crown you can operate with gloved hands, and a completely flat (vs. domed) front crystal for increased durability.
The Ultra comes with cellular connectivity by default and offers noticeably improved call quality thanks to a dual-speaker system and three-microphone array. Other upgrades include a brighter display, improved water resistance, a dual-frequency GPS for greater accuracy in cities and the woods, and a built-in 86dB emergency siren that is audible from up to 600 feet away. For underwater treks, the watch has an EN13319 certification and a depth gauge with a water temperature sensor.
Who It’s For
The Apple Watch Ultra is best for endurance athletes, ocean enthusiasts, and anyone else who spends a lot of time in the great outdoors. With a WR100 water-resistance rating, the Ultra is the only Apple Watch suitable for high-speed water sports and recreational diving. It works for recreational dives at depths of up to 40 meters and can function as a dive computer with the Oceanic+ app. It’s pricey, though, and people with smaller wrists might not like its bulky design.
PROS
- Highly rugged and water resistant
- Much better battery life than other Apple watches
- Customizable Action button
- Emergency siren
- Cellular connectivity comes standard
- Louder speaker than Series 8
- Tactile buttons work with gloved hands
- Dual-frequency GPS
- Fantastic Depth app
CONS
- Large
- Expensive
- Digital Crown may irritate skin
Learn More
Fitbit Sense 2
Best High-End Fitbit
Why We Picked It
The Sense 2 is Fitbit’s most advanced wearable. The original model was the first smartwatch with an electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor, which measures small electrical changes in your skin’s sweat level to track your body’s response to stress. The main upgrade in the second-generation Sense is a continuous EDA (cEDA) sensor for all-day stress tracking with notifications. Fitbit also lowered the price this generation and removed several lifestyle apps, steering the Sense 2 more toward wellness in a bid to differentiate it from parent Google’s Pixel Watch. Overall, it’s an excellent health-focused smartwatch with better battery life than lifestyle-oriented competitors.
Who It’s For
If you’re looking for a smartwatch with support for cellular calling and third-party apps, this isn’t it. The Sense 2 offers a few lifestyle-related add-ons, including Fitbit Pay and Amazon Alexa, but the focus is clearly on health and fitness. The Versa line is the better choice for most people, but if you want all the wellness-focused bells and whistles, including an ECG sensor for heart rhythm assessments and a cEDA sensor for a more robust stress management experience, the Sense 2 is an excellent choice. In terms of compatibility, the Sense 2 runs Fitbit OS and pairs with smartphones running at least Android 8.0 or Apple iOS 14. Note that after 2025, you’ll need a Google account to continue using your Fitbit devices.
PROS
- Slim, lightweight, comfortable design
- Improved touch-screen responsiveness
- 5-day battery life
- Large, bright display
- Excellent stress management features
- Accurate body temperature data
CONS
- Aesthetic downgrade from original model
- No third-party app support
- Some lifestyle apps from last generation removed
- Band release latch can be accidentally triggered
Learn More
Garmin Lily
Best for Small Wrists
Why We Picked It
The Lily is Garmin’s smallest smartwatch and its first designed specifically for women. It features an attractive, patterned face and a 14mm band that’s much slimmer than most smartwatch straps, so you can wear it alongside other jewelry. More than just beautiful, the Lily can track health stats such as your blood oxygen saturation, calories burned, energy level, heart rate, respiration, sleep, steps, stress, and workouts. It also offers key lifestyle features such as phone notifications, music playback controls, and calendar and weather widgets.
Who It’s For
The Lily is an excellent choice for those in search of a fitness-focused smartwatch that doesn’t look like one. Its attractive, female-focused design is its biggest selling point, but it also offers an impressive set of health-related features and decent battery life for its small size. The Lily works with both iOS and Android smartphones via the Garmin Connect app.
PROS
- Stylish classic watch design
- Measures breathing, energy level, and stress
- SpO2 sensor
- Lots of useful widgets
- Excellent companion app
CONS
- No built-in GPS
- Lacks a color display
Learn More
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5
Best Pixel Watch Alternative
Why We Picked It
The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 stands out among its Wear OS peers because of its excellent 80-hour runtime per charge, a figure that rivals that of the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. The watch’s ultra-low-power screen certainly plays a part; it lets you scroll through data like compass bearings, your SpO2 level, and heart rate readings without activating the battery-draining AMOLED display. Additional highlights include an attractively classic (albeit slightly bulky) design and a speedy internal chip. There’s no cellular option and Google Assistant support isn’t available as of this writing, but it otherwise offers many lifestyle features, a wide selection of downloadable apps via the Google Play Store, and robust fitness- and health-tracking capabilities.
Who It’s For
If you want a WearOS smartwatch with long battery life, the Android-only TicWatch Pro 5 is worth a look. It offers a similar feature set as the Google Pixel Watch in a more durable build with about three times the battery life.
PROS
- Three-day battery life
- Bright AMOLED display
- Attractive design
- Good app selection
CONS
- No Google Assistant at launch
- Only comes in one size
- No cellular option
- Some low heart rate readings in testing
Learn More
Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic
Best for a Rotating Bezel
Why We Picked It
Released in 2021, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic remains on the market (and this list) because of its rotating bezel, a feature not available on the brand’s latest models. More than just a design touch, the rotating bezel is a pleasure to use and makes it easy to scroll through menus and metrics on the watch. The Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro instead feature a functional digital bezel that responds to gestures along the side of the screen. The Watch 4 Classic runs on Wear OS, which means you get access to Google Maps, the Play Store, and a better selection of third-party apps than any of Samsung’s previous Tizen watches.
Who It’s For
The Samsung Watch 4 Classic remains an excellent option if you want a lifestyle-focused Android-compatible smartwatch. Choose this over the Watch 5 series if you want the rugged look and improved functionality of its rotating bezel.
The Watch 4 Classic is compatible with smartphones running Android 6.0 or later with 1.5GB of RAM, but iPhone users are out of luck. It comes in 42mm and 46mm sizes in black or silver, with a premium stainless steel case. Base models support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, or you can add LTE connectivity for $50 more.
PROS
- Attractive classic watch design
- Rotating physical bezel for easy navigation
- Bright, sharp display
- Fast processor
- Body fat and composition measurements
- Tracks snoring
- More third-party apps than previous Samsung watches
CONS
- Short battery life
- Third-party app selection still trails Apple’s watchOS
Learn More
Buying Guide: The Best Smartwatches for 2023
Pick a Watch That Works With Your Phone
Naturally, the first thing you should consider before you buy a smartwatch is compatibility. We include these details in our reviews of each product.
All Apple Watch models run watchOS, Apple’s smartwatch operating system, and work only with iOS devices. Apple’s latest wearables—the Series 8, the Ultra, and the Watch SE (2022)—require an iPhone 8 or newer that has iOS 16 or later.
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 smartwatches use One UI Watch 4.5, a version of Google’s Wear OS 3.5. They require devices that have at least Android 8.0 and more than 1.5GB of RAM. Note that although you can pair the Watch 5 with non-Samsung Android phones, some features, including ECG measurements, work only with Samsung handsets.
Google’s Pixel Watch runs Wear OS 3.5 and works with smartphones on Android 8.0 or later. It’s not exclusive to Pixel phones and should pair just fine with devices from any other Android phone maker, including Samsung.
Be aware that Wear OS 4 is on the horizon, so some of these requirements might change in the future.
Most of the other smartwatches on this list are compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones.
Which Platform Offers the Best Smartwatch Apps?
What separates a smartwatch from a dumb watch? Lots of things, but as smartphones have taught us, apps might be the most important.
Most of the watches we like feature full-fledged app stores that bring everything from Spotify, Yelp, and—yes, a calculator—to your wrist. Much like smartphones, app availability is a good way to determine which product to get, so make sure to check out the app selection for each watch before you make a final decision.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)
If you’re looking for apps, Apple is your best bet. The Apple Watch has the largest number of high-quality apps and big-name developers, by far. But Google’s Wear OS platform is catching up.
Samsung’s latest smartwatches feature popular Google apps like Assistant, Maps, and the Play Store, alongside Samsung’s Bixby, Buds Controller, Pay, and more. The Pixel Watch features all the Google standbys, including Assistant, Gmail, Home, Maps, the Play Store, and Wallet.
Other popular apps available for download via the Google Play Store on Wear OS smartwatches include Adidas Running, Amazon Alexa, Calm, KakaoTalk, Line, Samsung SmartThings, Spotify, Strava, Todoist, and YouTube Music. Still, some popular apps available on the Apple Watch are missing from Wear OS, including Pandora and Telegram.
How Are Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers Different?
Unless you want a gadget on both of your wrists (not the best look), you should pick a smartwatch that also works as a fitness tracker. Most smartwatches are capable of tracking basic activity, like steps, but you need to pay close attention to additional features.
Most of the smartwatches on our list feature GPS connectivity, which means they can record your runs without the help of a companion device (the Garmin Lily is an exception). Most modern smartwatches also have an optical heart rate sensor that can take continuous and on-demand heart rate measurements.
Fitbit Versa devices are fairly affordable and track plenty of fitness and sleep metrics, but have less in the way of third-party apps, so there are some trade-offs. Look closely and choose a watch that tracks the activities and health metrics you want to monitor. Some smartwatches offer advanced health-tracking features, including the ability to take an ECG and measure your SpO2 level.
Which Smartwatches Have Cellular and Are They Worth the Money?
A cellular connection allows you to make calls, send texts, stream music, download apps, and do anything else that requires an internet connection—all without your phone. The cellular Apple Watch Series 8 carries a $100 premium over the base model (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi only), and then you also have to pay for a separate data plan—most carriers charge an additional $10 per month per smartwatch. The Galaxy Watch 5 series and Google Pixel Watch are also available with cellular connectivity.
Whether this convenience is worth it for you depends on how you plan to use your watch. If you want to stream music while you exercise and leave your phone at home or in the locker room, a cellular connection can certainly come in handy. If you always have your phone on you, however, you can probably save money and skip it.
How Long Do Smartwatches Last?
You don’t want a smartwatch with good battery life, right? Good, because you’re not going to get it. Features like an always-on display and GPS tracking are nice, but they drain battery life quickly. Watches with full-color, smartphone-like displays, like the Apple Watch and Wear OS watches, generally only last about a day on a charge.
There are a few exceptions, including the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5, Apple Watch Ultra, and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which all offer multi-day battery life.
Recommended by Our Editors
In general, you get much better battery life with a Fitbit or Garmin watch. They typically last around six days on a single charge.
How Much Should You Spend on a Smartwatch?
Smartwatches can be very expensive, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money to get a good one. Yes, the $1,000+ Apple Watch Hermès is sure to draw a lot of attention, but for that price, you could buy five Fitbits.
If you’re a first-time smartwatch buyer, consider the less-expensive route first in case you wind up not wearing it all that much. The Wyze Watch (which starts at $29.99) is an affordable option, but be sure to read our review so you’re aware of its limitations.
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 (Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)
What’s the Best Android Watch?
As mentioned, all of the models on this list work with Android phones except for the Apple Watch.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is our current favorite for its streamlined design, excellent health and safety features, and useful calling and texting capabilities. Outdoor adventurers might prefer the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which offers a more durable titanium case, an even stronger sapphire crystal glass display, longer battery life, and a few outdoor-specific navigation features.
What’s the Best-Looking Smartwatch?
Let’s not forget: You’re also going to wear this thing. And unlike your Timex, it’s probably not going to remain in style for years. Smartwatch design is rapidly changing, so hold out until you find something you actually want to wear. And keep in mind that smartwatches are still gadgets. The coming year is sure to bring new iterations of pretty much every watch on this list, not to mention completely new ones.
The battle for wrist real estate is quickly heating up. That’s good news for consumers because this pace of innovation is likely to result in more capable—and more stylish—devices. I wouldn’t be surprised if this list reads completely differently the next time you see it. But if you’re looking for the best smartwatch available today, the options here are the finest we’ve tested.
For more, check out our roundups of the best Android watches and the best Samsung watches.
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