The Best Smartwatches (2024)

Who it’s for: An Apple Watch is ideal for iPhone owners who want to leave their phone in their pocket while keeping up with messages and notifications, controlling smart devices, getting directions, viewing insights into heart health, and tracking their fitness.

Why we like it: Apple Watches are the best smartwatches overall because they make it easier than any other wearable device to interact with the messages and notifications relayed from your iPhone. For most people, the Apple Watch Series 9 is the best version to get. It’s available in 41 mm and 45 mm body sizes, and it comes in aluminum or stainless steel. It has a brighter display than the Series 8, and unlike the cheaper Apple Watch SE, its screen is always on, which makes it better for telling time. It’s also water resistant up to 50 meters, and it’s a solid swim tracker, though divers and people who swim competitively may want to look at the Apple Watch Ultra 2 instead.

The Apple Watch Series 9 includes two temperature sensors for more-advanced period tracking, a blood-oxygen sensor, and electrocardiogram hardware, all of which are lacking in the less expensive second-gen Apple Watch SE. It also offers car-crash detection, which means it can automatically contact emergency responders if it detects an impact typical of a car crash. A new Double Tap feature that lets you respond to notifications by tapping your thumb and index finger together twice is expected to roll out in October, and in our early testing, we found the feature to be useful. (It will also be available on the Ultra 2.) Although not every major iPhone app has an Apple Watch partner app, many do, and most respond quickly and are optimized for the watch’s screen, unlike many of the apps available for Android watches. Also, the Apple Watch does a good job of independently tracking most kinds of workouts, and it encourages non-workout fitness such as standing and moving every hour. We also like that the Apple Watch lets you easily make contactless payments using Apple Pay, and if you own a Mac, you can unlock the computer just by getting close to it with your Apple Watch.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Apple Watch requires an iPhone, so Android users are out of luck. The Series 9 offers all-day battery life, but if you want a watch that will last a few days on a charge, you have to splurge on the $800 Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Available sizes: 41 mm and 45 mm

Colors: silver, midnight, starlight, pink, and red aluminum; gold, silver, and graphite stainless steel

Who it’s for: This Samsung watch is an excellent choice for Android phone owners who want to reply to notifications, use apps for home control or directions, and pull out their phone less. It’s also good for tracking workouts.

Why we like it: Samsung’s Galaxy Watch6, available in 40 mm and 44 mm sizes, is the best smartwatch for Android users because it has Google’s latest Wear OS software, while most other Android watches don’t. It uses Samsung’s One UI interface but integrates Google features such as Google Assistant, offline downloads in YouTube Music, and turn-by-turn in Maps. You can easily download watch apps from the Google Play Store. It offers solid health tracking with accurate, automatic workout detection, blood-oxygen monitoring, an ECG feature for detecting irregular heart rhythm, sleep tracking, and skin-temperature sensors. The resolution of its round OLED touchscreen is crisp and bright enough to make it completely readable outdoors, too.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The 40 mm version doesn’t have the best battery life, but the larger, 44 mm size doesn’t hug smaller wrists quite as well, so it can easily snag on clothing during the day or on blankets if you’re wearing it at night for sleep tracking. Samsung makes its voice assistant Bixby the default on Galaxy Watch models, but Bixby isn’t useful, and turning to Google Assistant instead is difficult.

Available sizes: 40 mm and 44 mm

Colors: gold, graphite, silver