The best fitness trackers and watches we’ve tested

Jun 30, 2025 - 17:36
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The best fitness trackers and watches we’ve tested

Fitness trackers have come a long way from the simple bands that tracked steps and little else. Modern trackers can monitor everything from your heart health to how well you’ve recovered from a hard bout of training. Even flagship smartwatches, which used to be lackluster trackers, have become pretty adept workout companions. Whatever your fitness goals are, there’s probably a fitness tracker that can help you achieve them.

Compared to some other gadgets, wearables are incredibly personal, which means there are a few extra considerations you’ll have to take into account before reaching for your wallet. It makes it hard to say that any one fitness tracker is the best for everyone. Thankfully, the best thing about fitness trackers in 2025 is that there’s enough variety to fit into every kind of lifestyle. 

Featured in this article


Best budget option: Amazfit Active 2

The spiffy Amazfit Active 2 delivers outsized value for its budget-friendly price. It offers a wide array of health tracking features, built-in GPS, and up to 10 days of battery life.
Close up view of the Amazfit Active 2’s screen which shows a retro-styled watch face with a bright blue background behind the product.

Where to Buy:

Best for serious athletes: Garmin Fenix 7S Pro

The Fenix 7S Pro remains a great intro to Garmin’s platform. It features an updated optical heart rate sensor, excellent battery life, solar charging, and built-in multiband GPS.
The Fenix 7S Pro on top of a green backpack

Where to Buy:


Best fitness tracker overall

Amazfit Active 2

The Amazfit Active 2 delivers outsized value for the price. It looks spiffy and has a wide array of health tracking features, plus built-in GPS and AI chatbots to provide extra context to your data.
Angled view of the Amazfit Active 2 showing a stylish retro watch face against a bright blue background

Score: 7

ProsCons
  • Stacked feature set for the price
  • Looks spiffy
  • Good battery life
  • Touchscreen and voice commands are finicky
  • Can’t edit workouts
  • AI chatbots are meh

Where to Buy:

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

Hear us out: the Amazfit Active 2 is the new all-rounder on the block. Smartwatches are definitely getting more high-tech, but the Active 2 keeps the spirit of a humble fitness tracker — a good price, all the basic health features with a holistic tracking approach, and a comfy yet stylish design. At $99.99 for the standard version, and $129.99 for the premium version with a leather band, you get an incredible amount of bang for your buck.

The hardware and design are surprisingly chic for the price. The standard version has a stainless steel case and tempered glass screen, while the premium version bumps you up to sapphire crystal and gets you an extra leather strap. The screen itself is nice and bright at 2,000 nits and you get an estimated 10 days of regular use on a single charge. (In testing, I got closer to eight to nine days as a power-user.) European users also get NFC payments.

As far as health features go, you get all the basics like continuous heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen rate, heart rate variability, stress tracking, alerts for abnormally high and low heart rate, and skin temperature tracking. It’s also got a daily readiness score and detailed sleep tracking if you’re into recovery metrics. (There’s also a Zepp Aura AI chatbot if you ever want to get more in-depth insights into your recovery metrics; It costs an extra $77 yearly but it’s also totally optional.) For workouts, it supports 160 different sport types, including HYROX and a new strength training mode that automatically counts reps. The Active 2 also adds offline maps, turn-by-turn directions, the ability to connect to third-party peripherals, and Zepp Coach — an AI-powered coach that can generate custom training plans for you. Built-in GPS with five satellite systems is also included.

I don’t have a lot to complain about. My biggest gripes are the touch screen is hard to use with sweaty fingers and the onboard AI assistant for voice commands sometimes requires you to enunciate. You do lack advanced health features, like EKGs or sleep apnea detection, but that’s not really the point of something like the Active 2. This is meant to be a classic, basic fitness tracker that happens to look like a watch — and it does that with aplomb.

Read my full Amazfit Active 2 review.

Best fitness watch for casual users

Garmin Venu Sq 2

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 is a great replacement for a Fitbit smartwatch. Not only do they look similar, but the Venu Sq 2 has way more fitness features, long battery life, and no subscription.
Close up of the Venu Sq 2’s display

Score: 8

ProsCons
  • Bright display
  • Long battery life
  • Tons of training and health features
  • No subscriptions
  • Cluttered app
  • Proprietary USB-A charger

Where to Buy:

Sizes: 40mm w/ 20mm straps / Weight: 38g / Battery life: Up to 11 days / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: All-systems GNSS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 4GB (for Music Edition)

The $250 Garmin Venu Sq 2 is the watch I recommend for anyone looking to replace their aging Fitbit Versa 2, 3, or 4. It’s got a similar look and vibe, with a much nicer OLED display and longer battery life.

Garmin is known for its comprehensive fitness tracking, and that’s not an exception here. Of course, you get the basics, like steps and calories burned, but you get a whole lot more, too. There’s built-in GPS for tracking walks, runs, and bike rides, as well as plenty of other sports profiles like yoga and strength training. For smart features, you get push notifications, timers, contactless payments, and a bunch of safety features like Garmin’s Incident Detection, which is its take on fall detection. (You will need to carry your phone with you, however, as this doesn’t have LTE.) Garmin Venu Sq 2 showing bright clock face on woman’s wrist

If you want the option of onboard music, you can shell out $50 extra for the Music Edition, which comes with enough storage for about 500 songs. I wouldn’t recommend it, however, as you’ll most likely have your phone on you since this isn’t a true standalone watch.

What I like most about this watch, however, is that it’s one that you can grow with. On top of recovery metrics and sleep tracking, it also has Garmin Coach — a built-in, free training program for beginner and intermediate-level runners hoping to tackle a 5K, 10K, or half marathon. For health tracking, you can monitor heart rate, blood oxygen, intensity minutes (how many minutes of moderate exercise you get per week), stress, hydration, respiratory rate, and menstrual cycles. None of these existing data features are locked behind a paywall; however, Garmin recently introduced a premium tier that provides personalized AI-powered insights and additional features for $6.99 a month (or $69.99 a year).

One note: there is a Venu 3, which adds a newer heart rate sensor and nap detection. I liked it quite a bit, and it ticks off a lot of the right boxes — except for price. It’s $450, which puts it outside what I’d consider ideal for casual users. The other option is Garmin’s Forerunner 165 — it’s a $249 budget training watch that’s quite similar to the Venu Sq 2 feature-wise, albeit with a sportier vibe. Basically, go with what you find on sale. I firmly believe older models are still a good choice if all you want is the fitness-tracking basics. This is especially true since newer software updates often make their way to older Garmins. Garmin users also tend to hang onto their devices for a good while. Strava’s 2023 year-end survey found that the most popular smartwatch among its users was an eight-year-old Garmin!

Read my full review Garmin Venu Sq 2 review.

Best for serious outdoor athletes

Garmin Fenix 7S Pro

Like the Garmin Epix Pro, the Fenix 7 Pro line has an updated optical heart rate sensor for improved accuracy. It also has excellent battery life, a slightly brighter MIP display, solar charging, and the option of upgrading to sapphire crystal.
Person wearing a floral jacket and bright green backpack with a Garmin Fenix 7S Pro on their wrist

Score: 8

ProsCons
  • Hands-free flashlight
  • Long battery life
  • Multiband GPS
  • Upgraded heart rate monitor
  • The improved MIP display is still not the easiest to read in dim lighting
  • Too similar to the standard Fenix 7

Where to Buy:

Sizes: 7S Pro: 42mm w/ 20mm straps; 7: 47mm w/ 22mm straps; 7X: 51mm w/ 26mm straps / Weight: 7S Pro: 63g (Solar), 58g or 65g (Sapphire Solar, titanium or stainless steel); 7: 79g (Solar), 73g (Sapphire Solar); 7X: 96g (Solar), 89g (Sapphire Solar) / Battery life: 7S: up to 11 days, 14 w/ Solar; 7: up to 18 days, 22 days w/ solar; 7X: up to 28 days, 37 w/ solar / Display type: MIP touchscreen / GPS: All-systems GNSS and dual-frequency GPS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 10ATM / Music storage: Up to 32GB

Garmin’s flagship Fenix 7 series is no joke, and the Fenix 7 Pro lineup takes it up a notch. It’s got built-in multiband GPS, solar charging on all models, the option of touchscreen or button navigation, topographical maps, and oodles upon oodles of data. Plus, every Fenix 7 Pro model has a hands-free LED flashlight, an upgraded heart rate sensor, and an improved memory-in-pixel display that’s slightly easier to read in low lighting.

Garmin wearables are also known for providing extensive in-depth metrics, and the Fenix 7 Pro lineup is no exception. You get excellent recovery metrics as well as helpful training guides and coaching programs. The best part is that Garmin doesn’t charge extra for those features. That’s good news, as these are expensive watches.

I appreciate how quickly these Fenix 7 watches can pick up a GPS signal. That’s a must if you’re training in the dead of winter. These watches can also take a beating. All models are built to military-grade standards and feature up to 10ATM of water resistance. That means they’re more than capable of a dunk in the ocean. A straight-on look at the Fenix 7S Pro’s flashlight at maximum brightness

Although the screen is brighter, MIP displays still aren’t my absolute favorite — the OLED on the Garmin Epix 2 and the Epix Pro are much easier on the eyes. It’s admittedly tough to pick between the Fenix 7, Fenix 7 Pro, Epix 2, and Epix Pro lineups — especially now that the Epix Pro also has great battery life, the LED flashlight, and now comes in multiple sizes. What it boils down to is whether you prioritize a brighter display, longer battery life, or price.

Personally, I prefer the Epix Pro for better readability, but the Fenix 7 Pro is the better choice if this is your first introduction to Garmin’s platform. You’ll get better battery life, the same LED flashlight, all the same training features, and a lower starting price. (You can also check out our Garmin buying guide if you’d like even more alternatives.)

Technically, there’s a new Fenix 8 series on the block. That said, I still think the standard Fenix 7 or 7 Pro lineup is the better overall value. The Fenix 8 adds diving features and voice assistant capabilities, but it also ups the standard Fenix 7’s starting price of $650 by an additional $350. That’s tough to swallow, especially since retailers may offer discounts on older models to get rid of existing inventory.

Read my full Garmin Fenix 7S Pro review.

Best non-wrist tracker

Oura Ring 4

Score: 9

ProsCons
  • More sizes
  • Slimmer design
  • Expanded auto workout detection
  • Redesigned app
  • Better battery life
  • Subscription required to get all features
  • I still wish this had a charging case

Where to Buy:

Sizes: 12 proprietary sizes, 4–15, sizing kit needed / Weight: 4–6g (depends on size) / Battery life: Up to seven days / Display type: None / GPS: None / Connectivity: Bluetooth / Water resistance: Up to 328 feet / Music storage: None

The vast majority of fitness trackers are worn on the wrist, but the $349 Oura Ring isn’t. The smart ring is a good option for people who are looking for something a little more discreet. It’s also less distracting than some other wrist-based options, as it lacks a screen and doesn’t mirror push notifications from your phone. 

The new Oura Ring 4 isn’t functionally that much different from the previous Gen 3. It’s slimmer, features a new all-titanium design, has improved battery life, and has a new sensor algorithm that Oura says is more accurate. None of the new software features are gatekept to the Ring 4, so Gen 3 owners shouldn’t feel the need to upgrade unless their ring no longer lasts more than two days on a single charge. That said, the fourth-gen ring has an expanded size range spanning from 4 to 15. If you felt your Gen 3 was a bit snug or couldn’t find a size that fit right, you may have a better option now. Close up of Oura Ring 4

While smaller than your average wearable, the Oura Ring still tracks a ton of metrics, including heart rate variability, body temperature, blood oxygen, all-day heart rate monitoring, and cycle tracking. Since launching, the Oura Ring has also added activity tracking, blood oxygen levels, chronotypes to help visualize your circadian rhythms, a social feature called Circles, improved stress tracking, and cardiovascular age and capacity metrics. More recently, it’s added an AI chatbot, meal logging, and glucose tracking, though you’ll have to purchase a $99 Dexcom Stelo CGM to take advantage of the latter. It’s rolled out a more accurate sleep stages algorithm as well, and the app has been entirely revamped to better organize the new features and metrics.

The Oura Ring tracks typical metrics — such as steps and calories burned —  but its main focus is sleep and recovery. Each day, you’re given three sets of scores for your readiness, sleep, and activity. It’s a simple, holistic look at your overall wellness and an ideal pick if you want a more hands-off experience with your data.

If you’ve got a Samsung Galaxy Watch, you may want to consider the $399.99 Galaxy Ring. It’s a bit more expensive than the base Oura Ring, but it doesn’t come with a subscription, and you get much better battery life when used with the Galaxy Watch. The hardware is also excellent, especially the charging case. That said, this is only an option for Android users, and even then, you don’t unlock its full potential unless you’ve got other Samsung gear. I also recommend the Ultrahuman Ring Air for folks who don’t like the idea of Oura’s monthly subscription.

You can read my experiences with a bunch of other smart rings, but right now, the Oura Ring is the most polished with the best overall experience.

Read my full Oura Ring 4 review.

Best fitness band

Amazfit Band 7

The Amazfit Band 7 offers a lot of features for the price, including an OLED display, long battery life, and features like abnormal heart rate notifications.

Score: 7

ProsCons
  • Super affordable
  • Good feature set for the price
  • OLED display looks nice
  • Comfortable and lightweight
  • Long battery life
  • Hard to put on one-handed
  • Some app quirks
  • GPS can be wonky

Where to Buy:

Size: 42mm x 24mm x 12.2mm with 16mm straps / Weight: 28g / Battery life: Up to 18 days / Display type: OLED / GPS: Tethered / Connectivity: Bluetooth / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: None

It’s truly hard to beat the Amazfit Band 7’s $49.99 price — doubly so since you can often find it on sale for even less. Wearing the Band 7 feels like a throwback to 2014, which is great if all you’re looking for is a simple and casual tracker that won’t break the bank.

No one is going to compliment you on the Band 7’s design, but it’s got a handful of cute watch faces that make good use of its OLED touchscreen. And despite having an OLED display, you’ll still get roughly 14 days of battery life on a single charge. It’s also incredibly lightweight, making it a good option for sleep tracking as well. Amazfit Band 7 with colorful clock face worn on woman’s wrist.

You also get an absurd number of features for the price. That includes Amazon Alexa, continuous heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, stress tracking, advanced sleep tracking, training metrics like VO2 max and load, abnormal heart rate alerts, menstrual tracking, push notifications, find my phone, a camera remote, and even a Pomodoro timer. You’re sacrificing contactless payments and will have to settle for tethered GPS, but this is a fair tradeoff considering everything else you’re getting. It’s not the best option for hardcore fitness tracking, but this is a great option if all you’re looking to do is casually track activity and your steps.

Amazfit’s been making surprisingly good budget trackers for a while. That said, if you’re a little wary of a lesser-known brand, the $159.95 Fitbit Charge 6 is a decent alternative. It’s pricier, but you get a lot of what Amazfit is missing. That includes Google services like YouTube Music, Google Wallet, and Google Maps. Plus, it has built-in GPS and the ability to broadcast your heart rate with some Bluetooth-compatible gym equipment.

Read my full Amazfit Band 7 review.

Most stylish fitness watch

Withings ScanWatch Light

The Withings Scanwatch Light is a hybrid analog smartwatch that tracks the basics like steps and activities, while delivering up to 30 days of battery life.
Close up of Withings ScanWatch light

Score: 7

ProsCons
  • Long battery life
  • Also gets you lots of compliments
  • Comfortable to wear
  • Great price
  • Adds period tracking
  • Has fewer sensors than the ScanWatch 2
  • Again, the OLED display is tiny

Where to Buy:

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

The $249.95 Withings ScanWatch Light is a fetching hybrid analog smartwatch. Think of it as a dressier fitness band with some Swatch-like design sensibilities. It’s got all your basics like simple push notifications, timers, and alarms. Plus, you can track steps, sleep, menstrual cycles, and GPS activities straight from the wrist. It looks spiffy on the wrist, and if you like a pop of color, Withings offers minty green and pale blue color options. It’s also got excellent battery life, with an estimated 30 days on a single charge. I got a little less in testing at around 25 days, but that’s still much better than the vast majority of flagship smartwatches. This also looks way more stylish than beefier multisport watches with similar battery life.

As its name suggests, the Light is a pared-down version of the $349.95 ScanWatch 2. The main things you’re missing are an EKG sensor for atrial fibrillation detection, a temperature sensor, blood oxygen tracking, and an altimeter for tracking elevation. For basic fitness tracking, you don’t really need those sensors. That’s why I think the extra $100 in savings is worth it for the Light, especially since both are lacking in safety features, contactless payments, and some other bells and whistles you can get from other watches in the $350 price range. That said, if you want extras, the ScanWatch 2 also gets you a slightly more elegant look thanks to the second step-counter dial. Close up of Withings ScanWatch 2

Another option I like is the $179.99 Garmin Vivomove Sport, which actually dominated this category in the past few years. It’s hard to beat the price, especially since it gets you access to Garmin’s platform. However, Garmin’s “hidden” OLED display can get washed out in bright lighting, and battery life was significantly shorter than other hybrid analog watches at around five days. Still, if you’d prefer a platform with a focus on fitness rather than wellness, the Vivomove Sport may be the better move over a Withings watch.

Read my full reviews of the Withings ScanWatch 2 and Light.

Best fitness tracker for iPhone users

Apple Watch Series 10

The Apple Watch Series 10 has a larger, wide-angle OLED display with up to 30 percent more screen area. It’s thinner and lighter than its predecessors, yet it charges faster and features the same fitness and wellness features.

Score: 8

ProsCons
  • Bigger display but not bulky
  • Wide-angle OLED is neat
  • Much faster charging
  • Sleep apnea detection has potential
  • Lack of blood oxygen (in US) may impact your upgrade plans
  • Another year of minor updates

Where to Buy:

Sizes: 42mm, 46mm / Weight: 29.3g (42mm), 35.3g (46mm) / Battery life: Up to 18 hours / Display type: Always-on LTPO OLED / GPS: Built-in GPS, plus GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, Beidou / Connectivity: LTE (optional), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: Up to 50 meters / Music storage: 32GB

If you’re looking for a smartwatch that does fitness well, then iPhone owners need to look no further than the $399 Apple Watch Series 10. (The LTE version costs $50 more.) This is another iterative update, but the Series 10 is a much more comfortable watch than previous models. It’s thinner and lighter, plus there’s a larger display. If you’ve got a Series 5 or older, now is a good time to upgrade.

With watchOS 11, there’s a new suite of training features. There’s Training Load, which gives you greater insight into how intensely you’ve been working out the past week compared to the last 28 days. There’s also a new Vitals app that flags when key metrics, like sleep duration or heart rate, may be out of whack. Plus, you can finally pause your rings for rest days. The software update also brings some savvy updates to the Smart Stack. For example, if you’re in a noisy cafe wondering what song’s playing, the Smart Stack can now surface the Shazaam widget. It also now supports Live Activities, turning your wrist into a mini Dynamic Island. Health-wise, we also now have FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection.

Apple announced new fitness features that will be available in watchOS 26 (out this fall), which the Series 10 and other recent models will support. To name some highlights coming, the Workout app has been redesigned with corner buttons that serve as shortcuts. There’s also a new Apple Intelligence feature called “Workout Buddy,” which generates a persona to give you pep talks, insights, and advice based on your fitness data. Workout Buddy will only be available if you have an iPhone that’s compatible with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or newer) nearby and if you’re wearing Bluetooth headphones.

Of course, we also have to address the Apple Watch ban. As of January 18th, 2024, new Apple Watches sold in the US have the blood oxygen feature disabled due to an ongoing patent battle with medical device maker Masimo. This isn’t a huge deal for most people, as this feature isn’t that useful for most people yet, and the new sleep apnea feature exclusively uses the accelerometer rather than the blood oxygen sensor. You might want to consider a refurbished Series 7 or 8 if blood oxygen sensing is important to you, however.

If you’re a first-time buyer, you may want to opt for the second-gen Apple Watch SE. It’s slightly cheaper at $249, and while you don’t get as many features, it’s a good introduction to the ecosystem. Otherwise, if you’re the type of athlete who covets a Garmin, you may also want to consider splurging on the Apple Watch Ultra 2. It’s more expensive at $799, but it has the brightest screen of any Apple Watch, comes with dual-frequency GPS, has diving and hiking safety features, and is made of more durable materials. There’s also a fetching new black color.

Read my full Apple Watch Series 10 review.

Best fitness smartwatch for Samsung phones

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is targeted at more outdoorsy folks with dual-frequency GPS, a new multisport activity, an emergency siren, and increased durability.

Score: 7

ProsCons
  • Longer battery life than the regular Galaxy Watch
  • Double pinch is useful
  • Adds dual-frequency GPS and sleep apnea detection
  • Cheaper than the Apple Watch Ultra
  • Where is Samsung in this? 
  • The squircle chonk doesn’t fit small wrists
  • Sleep apnea feature is limited to Galaxy phones
  • AGEs metric is baffling

Where to Buy:

Sizes: 47mm / Weight: 60.5g / Battery life: Up to 100 hours / Display type: Always-on OLED / GPS: Built-in GPS / Connectivity: LTE (optional), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 10ATM, IP68 / Music storage: 32GB

Truthfully, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra left me a bit disappointed after reviewing it — not because it’s a bad piece of hardware, but because it copies a bit too much from Apple. Even so, this is the most full-featured fitness smartwatch a Samsung phone owner can buy.

While I prefer the Galaxy Watch 7 myself, I can’t say it’s the best for fitness tracking. There was too much of a gap between it and the Ultra in my testing as far as accuracy, especially for GPS tracking. But what really sealed the deal for me was the difference in battery life. It’s simply night and day, and the Galaxy Watch 7 really struggled in this arena. (The gaps are much less egregious between the base Apple Watch and Ultra 2.)

The caveat is, if all you want is casual fitness tracking, the Galaxy Watch 7 is the better choice for wearability. It’s just more comfortable for sleep tracking and lighter overall. Just keep in mind it lacks the Ultra’s emergency siren and shortcut button, and the screen doesn’t get quite as bright. Close-up of Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra on shoes

With both watches, you get a faster processor, a new 3-in-1 BioActive Sensor, some AI health features, and FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection. The newer hardware makes for a more futureproof purchase, but I found the AI health features to be hit-or-miss in practice. As always, some features, like EKGs and sleep apnea detection, are limited to Samsung owners. That makes this hard to wholeheartedly recommend this to non-Samsung Android users.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra will be among several watches to get WearOS 6, which will be released later in 2025. The update will include Material 3 Expressive, a redesign optimized for circular watches, which replaces the Google Assistant with Gemini. Google says watches running WearOS 6 will see an increase in battery life of “up to 10 percent.” Live updates, which let you track things like delivery, rideshare, and information from navigation apps, will also be coming in 2026.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 

The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 comes in two sizes: 40mm and 44mm. It comes with new features like FDA-cleared sleep detection features as well as irregular heart rate notifications.
Close up of the Galaxy Watch 7

Score: 8

ProsCons
  • Upgraded chip and sensor
  • After the Ultra, I appreciate the design more
  • Battery life is still middling
  • The new AI health updates are meh

Where to Buy:

But if the Ultra doesn’t float your boat, now is a good time to find the Galaxy Watch 6 series, particularly the base models, on sale. The base Galaxy Watch 7 may have newer hardware, but as far as actual use goes, it’s not a massive update over the Watch 6. And if you’re into a physical rotating bezel, just go ahead and snag a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic.

Read my full Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review.

Samsung’s next Unpacked keynote is happening on July 9th at 10AM ET. While we don’t know what will be announced, the company sometimes uses the occasion to launch new Galaxy Watch models, or software updates for existing watches. So, stay tuned.

Best fitness smartwatch for Android

Pixel Watch 3 (41mm, Bluetooth)

The Pixel Watch 3 adds a host of new fitness features, brighter screens, and nifty Google integrations.

Score: 8

ProsCons
  • We finally get a bigger size!
  • Moderate battery improvements
  • Lots of neat Google integrations
  • Good running updates
  • Readiness and Cardio Load scores not locked behind paywall
  • It’s best with a Pixel phone

Where to Buy:

Sizes: 41mm, 45mm / Weight: 31g / Battery life: Up to 24 hours / Display type: Always-on OLED / GPS: Built-in GPS / Connectivity: LTE (optional), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 32GB

With the Pixel Watch 3, Google is finally done playing catch-up.

There are truly too many updates to call each one out individually, but overall, they fall into two buckets: refinement and expansion. The hardware is mostly the same as the Pixel Watch 2 in terms of design. However, we now have a brighter screen, smaller bezels, and a new 45mm size. The larger size is quite nice, especially if you prefer larger screens without sacrificing wearability.

Battery life is also better. There’s a new battery-saver mode that kicks in when you hit 15 percent, and the new displays are also more power efficient. Plus, bedtime mode is automatic now, so that helps the watch last longer overnight for sleep tracking. It’s only a modest improvement over the Pixel Watch 2, but it’s dramatic compared to the original. Person tying shoes while wearing both sizes of the Pixel Watch 3

Software is where the Pixel Watch 3 makes the most updates. There are a ton of new fitness and health features, including a new running dashboard, custom running workouts, and AI-generated workout suggestions. There’s also a revamped Daily Readiness Score and a new Cardio Load metric, which gauges how intensely you’ve been exercising. If you’re located in the US or Europe, you can also take advantage Google’s new Loss of Pulse feature, which calls emergency services on your behalf if it detects you no longer have a pulse.

The Pixel Watch 3 also better integrates with Google services and the Pixel ecosystem. You can now view your Nest Doorbell or Camera feed straight from the wrist — and it’s quite handy if you get a lot of packages or guests. If you have Google TV, you can use the watch as a remote. Now that the watch has an ultra wideband chip, it can also now unlock your Pixel phone. You can also use the Recorder app to capture audio and send it straight to your Pixel phone.

That said, some of these features now mean the Pixel Watch works best with a Pixel phone. If you’re looking for alternatives to Google and Samsung, the $329.99 OnePlus Watch 3 is coming out on July 8th. We’ve gone hands-on with the smartwatch and are pleased that it finally has a rotating crown, larger brighter display, better battery life, and faster charging. It also introduces new health features, including a wrist temperature sensor and OnePlus’ 60S Health Check-In, which gives you a quick scan of your heart rate, blood oxygen levels, mental wellness, wrist temperature, sleep quality, and vascular age when you touch a side button.

Read my full Google Pixel Watch 3 review.

What’s coming next

  • We’re currently testing the Whoop 5.0 MG (Medical Grade), the $359 successor one of our previous recommendations that’s no longer available to purchase. The new fitness strap has a longer-lasting batter, a faster processor, and a panoply of new health features, including an FDA-cleared EKG. The Whoop 5.0 MG can detect atrial fibrillation and notify you of irregular heart rhythms, and has sensors to provide blood pressure insights, and hormonal insights for women. A feature called Whoop Advanced Labs allows you to submit a blood sample to a clinic and view your results in the Whoop app. The Whoop 5.0 MG comes with a one-year subscription to the company’s service, which normally costs $359 per year and is required to use many of its features. Whoop also released the Whoop One and Whoop Peak fitness bands, which have fewer health and fitness features, but cost $199 and $239, respectively.
  • A recent leak suggests the Pixel Watch 4 may be coming sooner than later. The report provides some details about its size and features, but there hasn’t been an official announcement yet, and it was absent at this year’s Google I/O.
  • Lastly, we’re also testing the $299 RingConn Gen 2. We weren’t super impressed with the original, but the second-gen model does have a few things going for it over the Oura Ring 4. It provides access to all your standard health-tracking features without a subscription, for one thing, and it features both an IP68 dust and water resistance rating and sleep apnea detection. The company also says it offers longer battery life, which is impressive given its predecessor lasted us up to nine days on a single charge.

Update, June 30th: Adjusted pricing / availability and removed the Whoop 4.0, which is no longer available. We added new details about the Whoop 5.0, which is currently being tested, features launching with WatchOS 26 and WearOS 6 later this year, and the latest rumors about the Pixel Watch 4.

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