8 Best Smartwatches (2026): Apple, Google, and Hybrid Watches
AI News Desk
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Wired
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23 min read
A great timepiece doesn’t just display the time of day.
A great timepiece doesn’t just display the time of day. It can also elevate your outfit and make you feel good. The best smartwatches can do even more, from tracking your workouts and heart rate to serving as a notification hub and accessing voice assistants. While wearing a connected watch , you can leave your phone in your pocket and use your wrist for simple tasks.
Like many consumer gadgets today, smartwatches have gotten pricier, driven by several factors , including rising component costs and supply chain pressures. That said, the Apple Watch Series 11 remains my favorite for iPhone owners, but Google’s Pixel Watch 4 is the best smartwatch for Android users. I also like several other options—in various styles and with different levels of smarts.
Below is a roundup of the best smartwatches I’ve tested. Looking for a fitness tracker or smart ring instead? There's plenty more in our Best Fitness Trackers , Best Smart Rings , and Best Cheap Watches guides.
Updated July 2026: We've refined our recommendations and removed discontinued products; added an FAQ section and smartwatch comparison table; and updated product information, prices, and links.
The Series 11 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is the top smartwatch for iPhone owners, mixing a nice blend of features for a reasonable price. That includes arguably the most important upgrade: all-day battery life. No, really, Apple has finally upgraded the 18-hour runtime to a full 24 hours, and that's a game-changer. Now you can wear your watch to bed and track your sleep knowing it won't die in the middle of the night.
The second most notable addition is hypertension notifications. The CDC says nearly half the US adult population has high blood pressure, which increases the risk of a stroke or heart disease. You shouldn't use the Series 11 to diagnose hypertension, but you can double-check your results with your physician if there are trouble signs. It's FDA-cleared, and you'll need to wear the watch for 14 days before it starts delivering alerts. Apple has also added a Sleep Score that rates your sleep, and blood oxygen is officially back .
It's worth noting that the older Series 10 can also take advantage of some of these new features via a software update, including hypertension notifications and Sleep Score, so if you can find it on sale, it might be worth snagging it instead of the latest and greatest. However, a full 24 hours of battery life might trump everything else. Read our Best Apple Watch guide for more.
The Pixel Watch 4 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the first repairable smartwatch from Google, and that alone makes it easy to recommend. You can swap the battery and display when the time comes, and parts will be available at iFixit . It also helps that this is one of the prettiest smartwatches on the market, aided by a new domed display that sits under the domed glass; it's gorgeous.
Performance is pretty slick with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear W5 Gen 2 chipset powering the experience, and Google's Material 3 Expressive redesign really gives life to the interface and makes the smartwatch fun to use. The screen gets bright, the health and fitness features are impeccably accurate—especially the revamped sleep tracking—and there's even support for satellite messaging during emergencies (you need the cellular version of the watch for this). The battery life will get you through a day and a half, at least, on the 45-mm version. Charging with the new dock-style charger is also ridiculously fast; you can easily get more than 50 percent after just 15 minutes. Sadly, yes, this is the third time Google has changed the charger in four generations, so older Pixel Watch cables are incompatible.
The best new feature is Raise to Talk with Gemini. Just lift your wrist, and you can say anything to the voice assistant. That includes asking the weather or asking a question in the middle of a conversation with a friend, having the assistant start a workout, or even turning on the lights in your living room if you have a smart-home setup. The gesture is a bit flaky, but it beats having to say a hot word or pushing a button. Google also recently added more gestures via a software update, including a double-pinch to answer calls or snooze alarms.
While there are a few features exclusive to Pixel phones (controlling the phone's camera, AI-powered smart replies, and call screening), none of them are core functions of the watch, making it one of the best options for anyone with an Android phone.
If you have an iPhone and don't think you need all the bells and whistles on the health front, but most importantly, you don't want to drop $400 on a smartwatch, you'll be happy with the new Apple Watch SE 3. It's a nice upgrade if you're coming from an older model, and also makes a great watch for your parents or kids . It has the same S10 chip as the Series 11 and Watch Ultra 3, but Apple has limited the features to lower the price. The bezels around the screen are chunkier, and battery life is also restricted to the usual 18 hours.
It's not particularly exciting, but at $249, you're still getting a smartwatch that offers many of the new features in watchOS 26 , including Workout Buddy, Sleep Score, and the wrist flick gesture to dismiss calls, notifications, and timers.
Anyone with a Samsung phone will be best served with Samsung's Galaxy Watch8 series (6/10, WIRED Review) . I'm not a fan of the new squircle design (or the new proprietary straps), but it runs the latest Wear OS 6, and there are several nice improvements to the interface that make everything more glanceable. (There's access to the Gemini assistant, too!)
Within the Galaxy Watch8 series, there are three watches: a 40-mm and 44-mm model, and the Watch8 Classic, which is 46 mm and sports Samsung's iconic mechanical rotating bezel—you can physically rotate the bezel to scroll through the interface. My colleague Adrienne So tested the tiniest Watch8 and saw disappointing battery life, but things fared much better for me on the Classic; I hit close to two full days on a single charge. I recommend going for the 44-mm or the Classic.
Samsung's health- and fitness-tracking features are spot-on here, with reliable heart rate measurements, solid sleep tracking, and dual-frequency GPS for accurate mapping. The automatic workout detection is also among the best. However, newer health features are of dubious helpfulness. The AGEs index, introduced by Samsung in 2024, still doesn't offer much information, and the Bedtime Guidance is hidden away in a settings menu. New is the Antioxidant Index, which measures carotenoids in your blood to ensure you're eating healthy, but Adrienne, who has a diet filled with antioxidant-rich berries and fruits, found it completely inaccurate.
Vascular Load is new in the Watch8 series, and it measures the load on your vascular system (your blood vessels carrying blood throughout your body). It takes time to set up—you need to wear it three out of the last 14 days to get a result—and your watch needs to maintain proper skin contact during sleep. When it does work, it's a nice metric to be able to see (at least, it's nice to know that my vascular load is “steady”). Outside of that, it's hard to gauge what helpful information the watch will provide if it isn't steady. Right now, it just says to get plenty of sleep and physical activity, which, duh.
There's a lot to like with the Galaxy Watch8 series, but take some of these health features with a grain of salt. You should also remember that some features are limited to Samsung phones only, like the electrocardiogram and sleep apnea tracking.
Like the Apple Watch Series 11, the Watch Ultra 3 now has longer battery life—up to 42 hours on full power. My colleague, Adrienne So, tested it and says she was able to wear it for a full weekend of navigation, activity tracking, and satellite messaging. That last feature is brand-new and exclusive to the Watch Ultra 3: you can send texts to friends and family in areas without reception, provided you're in a clear area with line of sight to a satellite, and call emergency services
Otherwise, this is the same Ultra smartwatch as before, one that is more rugged and durable than the standard Apple Watch. It now has the biggest display available on the Apple Watch, making it better for viewing offline maps. It also has the same three-mic array and dual speakers as previous Watch Ultras, as well as the diving capability . The larger, thicker case size is overkill for some, but if you're in the great outdoors often and want the best battery life on an Apple Watch, this is it.
Most smartwatches last a day, maybe a day and a half, before needing a recharge. The OnePlus Watch 3 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) has a fantastic five-day battery life. It's not a small watch, but it's not terribly thick. It employs a new silicon-carbon battery technology that can fit a denser 631-mAh cell without requiring a thicker body. This, paired with OnePlus' dual-engine architecture that debuted on last year's OnePlus Watch 2 , allows the smartwatch to sip the battery—I lost only 25 percent per day for five days wearing the Watch 3, which was amazing.
This is a Wear OS smartwatch, so you get all the bells and whistles, including taking calls, talking to Google Assistant, and responding to notifications from all your apps. OnePlus has ramped up its health and fitness offerings this go-around, improving the heart rate monitor's accuracy thanks to better sensor placement and build materials, plus a bevy of new features, including fall detection, irregular heart rate notifications, and wrist skin temperature sensing. There's also an electrocardiogram, but it's unavailable in the US and Canada. Still, the company has made strides here. It might not be my first choice if I wanted a health- and fitness-focused watch, but it delivers reliable results without needing to be charged every day, and that's more helpful than a dead smartwatch.
For folks who may find the 47-mm size comically huge on their wrist, OnePlus offers a smaller 43-mm OnePlus Watch 3. I wore it for several weeks, even to bed, and found it immensely comfy. The lugs slope down nicely, and the silicone 18-mm strap is soft on the skin. It's slim, yet the 1.32-inch screen doesn't feel small. I tracked my health after a week of traveling in London, and my sleep and activity data were spot on. It’s too bad battery life isn’t as notable, though still excellent for a smartwatch of its size. I routinely got close to two days out of this smaller watch with multiple tracked activities. If you're not tracking a ton of workouts, it'll probably last two-and-a-half days on a single charge.
Fitness watches are typically not as sleek or simple to operate as more robust smartwatches, but the Garmin Vivoactive 6 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) bucks that trend. WIRED editor Adrienne So enjoyed the bevy of proprietary Garmin metrics on this fitness watch, from Body Battery to Training Readiness. There's a built-in GPS, a heart-rate monitor, blood oxygen measurements, a sleep tracker, incident detection for personal safety, and 80 activity profiles to track workouts. Oh, and the watch lasted around a week on a single charge.
On the smartwatch end, you can pair it with iOS or Android to see your notifications, but only Android users can respond to texts with the on-screen keyboard. You won't be able to access third-party apps, though. There's also Garmin Pay, so you can leave the wallet and phone at home and still check out at Starbucks on your way back from a run. Read our Best Fitness Trackers guide for more recommendations.
Nothing is known for the affordability and retro charm of its headphones and phones , so it was unsurprising to discover that the CMF Watch 3 Pro is both fun to use and very affordable. ( CMF is a sub-brand of Nothing.) It syncs with the Nothing app on both iOS and Android; stay far, far away from the old CMF Watch app! It’s very light, you only have to recharge it once every other week or so, the screens are bright with fun watch faces, and it has a new optical heart rate sensor that’s incredibly accurate. I tallied the live readings on the Watch 3 Pro with my Oura Ring 4, and they always matched exactly.
This is a fully featured smartwatch, with wrist-based gesture controls, onboard mics for voice calling, a voice assistant, and a flashlight. The suite of health features is extensive as well; along with the new optical heart rate monitor, it also has dual-band GPS tracking for greater accuracy in your outdoor stats, workout summaries, and neat little animations when you are measuring your heart rate or doing breathing exercises.
Everything is just a little bit more, er, utilitarian-looking than a much more expensive watch. The case is metal, but it looks (and feels) like plastic. (At least it’s IP68-rated .) The app is a little wonky (why are there two separate places to click Settings to change the measurements from metric to imperial?). The running coach is less flexible and harder to use, and the watch occasionally measures me as having slept as much as an hour more than other sleep trackers . But the price is in the double-digits, and if you like the aesthetic of Nothing’s other products, you will find this watch irresistible. —Adrienne So
There are a lot of poor-quality kids’ smartwatches with potentially dangerous vulnerabilities . That's why we’re more comfortable recommending the Fitbit Ace LTE (8/10, WIRED Recommends) . Google-owned Fitbit promises not to store children's health data for research, and it will delete location history after 24 hours and all health data after 30 days. This watch requires a subscription to Fitbit Ace ($10 per month), but that includes cellular connectivity, so you don't need to add it to your carrier's cellular plan. You can set contacts, and your kids can make phone calls and texts through the watch to the Fitbit Ace app, and they can share their location via Google Maps.
Fitbit is bringing the gamified fitness tracking experience that adults are used to for kids with Fitbit Arcade, and there's even a Tamagotchi-like virtual character (Eejie) your kids can take care of. These games are time-based, so your kids can hit their activity goals by completing them. Parental controls let you set limits, like School Time, which locks down many of the watch's features. It's a great way for your kid to go out and be independent, while also giving you the peace of mind of knowing how to reach and find them, without the problems that come with giving them a smartphone at such a young age.
I thoroughly enjoyed wearing this Casio watch—designed for the outdoors—in decidedly non-outdoor conditions for several months. From the green case to the plant-derived Castlon green strap, it looks smart and works with various outfits, even for city slickers. I largely relied on it for timekeeping (in several time zones) and the stopwatch during workouts, but you can also monitor barometric pressure, altitude, and temperature, plus check the compass to get your bearings. The LCD is easy to read, and I like the auto LED function that lights up the screen when you tilt the watch. Best of all, this is a Tough Solar watch, so you won't have to bother with a charging cable.
It might not do heart rate and notifications, but the small feature set makes this Casio useful and slightly smarter than your average timepiece .
It's a calculator … on a watch. How much smarter can you get? Seriously, the buttons might be tiny, but you can calculate how much your tip will be when grabbing the bill at the restaurant, and everyone will marvel at your brilliance. This cheapo watch from Casio is a classic—it's comfy and lightweight—and you can cycle through a few modes, including a stopwatch, an alarm, and a second time zone. There's a five-year battery life, and the fully automatic calendar goes through the year 2099 (that's 15 battery changes).
If you're interested in non-smart watches, check out our Best Cheap Watches Under $1,000 guide .
The number of smartwatches on the market is staggering. Here are a few other options we like.
Casio Pro Trek PRG-340B for $220 : I enjoyed wearing this Casio watch—designed for the outdoors—in decidedly non-outdoor conditions for several months. From the green case to the plant-derived Castlon green strap, it looks smart and works with various outfits, even for city slickers. I largely relied on the timekeeping (in several time zones) and the stopwatch during workouts, but you can also monitor barometric pressure, altitude, and temperature, plus check the compass to get your bearings. The LCD is easy to read, and I like the auto LED function that lights up the screen when you tilt the watch. Best of all, this is a Tough Solar watch, so you won't have to bother with a charging cable. It doesn't do heart rate and notifications, but the small feature set makes this Casio useful and slightly smarter than your average timepiece . — Julian Chokkattu
Casio CA53W-1CR Calculator Watch for $40 : It's a calculator on a watch. The buttons might be tiny, but you can calculate how much your tip will be when grabbing the bill at the restaurant, and everyone will marvel at your brilliance. This cheapo watch from Casio is a classic—it's comfy and lightweight—and you can cycle through a few modes, including a stopwatch, an alarm, and a second time zone. There's a five-year battery life, and the fully automatic calendar goes through the year 2099 (that's 15 battery changes). If you're interested in non-smartwatches, check out our Best Cheap Watches Under $1,000 guide . — Julian Chokkattu
Casio G-Shock Master of G Rangeman GPR-H1000 for $520 : It's not for every event, but the Master of G-Land Rangeman ( GPRH1000RY1A ) looks great on my wrist, and I love that I only need to charge it about once a week. This is a G-Shock first and foremost. It has a durable, thick case and a comfortable strap. It's a big watch. It also has six sensors and a built-in GPS. Connect the watch to your smartphone via Casio's app, and you can get simple notification alerts, heart-rate tracking, activity tracking, and sleep tracking. That's without mentioning other features like blood oxygen monitoring, compass, world time, altimeter, and barometer. I've compared the results to an Apple Watch Series 10, and for the most part, core metrics like heart rate, step tracking, and sleep stages are similar. I have had some data not show up in the Casio app for a few days, and many of these functions are slow to load on the watch. This would not be my first choice if I wanted a fitness-focused wearable— get a Garmin instead —but I like the ability to look at and track some of these metrics whenever I want. — Julian Chokkattu
Withings ScanWatch 2 for $370 : The ScanWatch 2 has been on the market for several years now —one of the few analog smartwatches that discreetly offers a robust suite of health-tracking features. While Withings has introduced new versions of it in fresh styles (like the Nova), the hardware is largely the same. In the fall of 2025, Withings released a new operating system called HealthSense 4, and you don't need to buy a new ScanWatch 2 to receive it. The health-tracking algorithms are more accurate, there are more predictive features, and you even get longer battery life (35 days). I retested the ScanWatch 2, and overall, I enjoyed my time with it; the data is laid out nicely in the Withings app. The tiny display is still a problem, but I can get the gist of incoming-message notifications, and it's easy to scroll with the crown to quickly glance at heart rate, steps, sleep data, and even start a workout. What is frustrating is that any semblance of insight into your data is paywalled behind the Withings+ subscription ($8 per month or $99 a year). My sleep data was more accurate on the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch 4, though the other metrics are on point. If you want a nice-looking analog watch to track basic health data, the ScanWatch 2 is solid, but I think it's time for fresh hardware. — Julian Chokkattu
Apple Watch Series 10 for $360 : Thanks to watchOS 27 , the 2024 Series 10 has many of the same features as the new Series 11, like hypertension notifications and Sleep Score. It has a thinner and lighter design with a larger screen than prior models, and it even got blood oxygen sensing back via a software update in August 2025 . It's too bad this one still has the 18-hour battery life. Avoid paying anywhere close to MSRP for this watch. If you can find it for under $300, snag it. — Boutayna Chokrane
Apple Watch Ultra 2 for $730 : The Watch Ultra 2 is still worth considering, just don't pay anywhere near MSRP; otherwise, you may as well buy the new Watch Ultra 3. It can last several days of use, and has many of the same great features as the latest model, including better mics to pick up your voice, an 86-decibel siren to alert your position to anyone nearby, and precise GPS to better track your hikes (plus help you find your way back with the Backtrack feature). The screen can display topographic maps, but you cannot view offline maps without an iPhone. — Boutayna Chokrane
Google Pixel Watch 3 for $300 : The Pixel Watch 3 is seeing some steep discounts now that the Pixel Watch 4 is here. It's a great smartwatch, with the caveat that it's not repairable. (The newer model addresses that.) It features loss-of-pulse detection —cleared by the FDA for use in the US—which can be critical in saving someone’s life. Google also focused its fitness updates on running , enabling users to create custom runs and follow AI-powered run recommendations while getting feedback on cardio load—how hard your heart is working and whether it's appropriate for your body. I strongly recommend you go with the 45-mm model, which doesn't even feel that big. It simply delivers better battery life—just about 24 hours with the always-on display or a little more if you have it turned off. — Julian Chokkattu
Samsung's Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025 for $650 : The 47-mm Galaxy Watch Ultra is the company's Apple Watch Ultra and Garmin competitor, and it's a solid first entry into the world of pricey, feature-rich, and powerful smartwatches designed for professional athletes. This is technically the 2025 model, which is identical to the 2024 version but comes with 64 GB of storage and in a new blue color . It lasts a little over two days on a charge because it's a big 47-mm watch and can pack a beefy battery. There's a titanium case and sapphire glass face, plus it's rated to 10 ATM and IP68, so you can submerge it underwater to 100 meters. The heart rate tracker is remarkably consistent with the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and the dual-band GPS delivers accurate mapping. The software isn't as intuitive, and a few features are lacking when compared to other performance smartwatches, but this is a good start if you're in the world of Android. If you don't care for the blue or the extra storage, you could save some money with the 2024 model . — Julian Chokkattu
Samsung Galaxy Watch7 44 mm for $280 : Samsung's Galaxy Watch7 from 2024 is a little plain. This model debuted Samsung's Energy Score and added updated sleep tracking capabilities. You also get FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection, though this isn't a feature you'll turn on all the time—it takes two nights to track, and afterward, you'll get a note saying whether or not you show symptoms. This feature, along with the electrocardiogram and irregular heart rhythm notifications, is only available when paired with a Samsung phone . Otherwise, this watch functions well with any other Android . You can choose from two sizes, plus Bluetooth-only or LTE. I tested both sizes and found battery life frustrating compared to its predecessors. With the always-on display, I struggled to hit 24 hours with two tracked activities and sleep tracking overnight. With it turned off, things fared a little better, but I was still barely hitting a full day. You'll have to baby the battery and utilize the power-saving modes. If you don't care for the latest and greatest, you can save a lot of dough with the Watch7. — Julian Chokkattu
Samsung Galaxy Watch FE for $172 : The Galaxy Watch FE is a fine budget Wear OS smartwatch. The 40-mm Galaxy Watch FE has a smaller screen that doesn't get as bright and sports a slower processor and a smaller battery compared to the Watch7 series. The health sensors are almost the same, and I got accurate results with heart rate and sleep tracking. The battery lasts just about a day, if not a little less. — Julian Chokkattu
TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5 for $1,950 : I've spent close to a month with TAG Heuer's new luxury smartwatch . It's a nice alternative for anyone tired of Google's Wear OS or the Apple Watch, but design and brand are the top reasons to buy this smartwatch. You're not getting the rich smartwatch experience with third-party apps and the ability to reply to messages; heck, it still doesn't even have sleep tracking. (That's supposedly coming in a software update.) But you can track heart rate, steps, calories, and a handful of workouts. My data was generally aligned with the Pixel Watch 4, though the Calibre E5’s heart rate data during intensive workouts is slightly off. I do appreciate that Tag offers a battery replacement service for the smartwatch, but again, this is for someone with multiple Tag watches in their collection. Most people will be better served by one of our picks above. (Note: This product is currently sold out, but we anticipate a restock in the near future.) — Julian Chokkattu
How Are Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers Different?
Smartwatches typically replicate many of the functions found in your smartphone via apps—you can control smart home functions, start conversations via WhatsApp, respond to Slack messages, and call up smart assistants like Siri or Gemini to ask almost anything. This is in conjunction with the standard health and fitness tracking features, plus a more familiar touchscreen interface. However, the downside is the battery life typically lasts a day or two, if not a little more.
Fitness trackers , on the other hand, aren't as feature-rich. You typically won't be able to access many other apps. There's the basic ability to read emails and texts, control music playback, or even access tap-to-pay features, but you're generally more restricted. They deliver the same if not better health- and fitness-tracking capabilities (depending on the model) than smartwatches. Battery life is where fitness trackers win out, typically lasting days if not a week. If battery life and fitness and health are top of mind, get a fitness tracker. (Read our Best Fitness Trackers guide for options.) But if you want rich notifications, the ability to respond to them, and the option to access apps without having to pull out your phone, a smartwatch is the better pick.
Smart rings are the least functional of the lot but they trade versatility for battery life. Devices like the Oura Ring and Ultrahuman Ring Air can last close to a week while still tracking your heart rate and sleep, though few are successful at automatic workout tracking. You might not wear a fitness tracker and a smartwatch, but you totally can and might want to wear a smartwatch and a smart ring. The two complement each other well, and some devices, like Samsung's Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch8, can work with each other to extend battery life, passing off duties from ring to watch and vice versa. Read our Best Smart Rings guide for recommendations.
You don't need to stick with the strap you get in the box! Every smartwatch has straps that can easily be swapped out. Apple Watches , Google's Pixel Watch , and Samsung's latest Galaxy Watches have a proprietary strap system, but analog watch straps will work for others, making your options nearly endless. All you need to do is figure out the strap size of your smartwatch and whether or not they're proprietary. You can usually find this on the back of the strap (you'll see “20 mm” or just “22”), or you can check the manual or the website you purchased the watch from. It's an easy way to further match your timepiece to your look.
A study published in December of 2024 found that many smartwatches and fitness trackers that come with “fluoroelastomer” straps—synthetic rubber—had “high concentrations” of perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHx4), a type of polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), which is considered a “ forever chemical ” that can cause immune, thyroid, kidney, and reproductive health problems. The study notes that there's limited knowledge about the absorption of these chemicals into the skin.
The researchers tested bands from various brands, including Apple, Casetify, Fitbit, Google, and Samsung. If you're worried, steer clear of bands made from fluoroelastomer (often listed in the product description, but not always). That includes Apple's Sport Bands and Google's Active Band , to name a few. Opt for other materials instead, like silicone, metal, or leather.
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