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Smartwatches do more than just track your steps and deliver phone alerts to your wrist. The best smartwatches go even further, giving you the ability to pay for a cup of coffee, take calls and connect to apps like Spotify all without whipping out your smartphone.
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you already know all of the benefits of a smartwatch. You’re ready to invest, or upgrade from an aging accessory, but we wouldn’t blame you if you if you didn’t know where to start. There are dozens of smartwatches available now, including GPS running watches, fitness trackers that look like smartwatches and multi-purpose devices. Plus, you’ll want to consider factors like durability, battery life and operating system before you spend a lot of money on a new wearable. We’ve tested and reviewed most major smartwatches available today and these are our top picks.
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Best smartwatches of 2025
Apple Best smartwatch overall Apple Watch Series 10 Tracks: Sleep, activity, calories, stress | Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Cellular (optional) | GPS: Yes, built in | Water resistant: Yes | Assistant support: Siri | Display: Always-on, wide-angle OLED touchscreen | Weight: 36.4 grams | Battery life: 18 hours Read our full Apple Watch Series 10 review While the Series 10 is yet another iterative update to the Apple Watch, this wearable remains at the top of our list because Apple knows how to add small but useful features over time without fixing what isn’t broken. The Series 10 is slightly thinner and lighter than its predecessor, and it has a marginally larger screen that uses a wide-angle OLED panel for better viewing angles. Both of those things, indeed, make it easier to see and interact with text and graphics on the screen from all different positions. Apple also increased the efficiency of the Watch’s battery with this latest model, so most users should see a slight increase in battery life. The Watch is still technically rated for 18 hours of battery life, but you’ll likely get more juice out of it even with a GPS-tracked run thrown in during the day. While we still wish the Apple Watch had a multi-day battery life like competitors from Garmin and Fitbit do, any battery gains are a plus — especially for those who want to take advantage of the new sleep apnea tracking feature that the Series 10 has in watchOS 11. This new feature allows the Watch to track breathing during sleep and note any disturbances in a 30-day period. Considering the Watch has had relatively basic sleep tracking features until now, this is a welcomed addition. Otherwise, the Series 10 does everything right that the Series 9 did. It remains an excellent fitness tracking watch and a great way to receive all of the most crucial alerts from your iPhone in a more discreet way. Anyone with a Series 9 or 8 might be disappointed by the Series 10 because it’s not reinventing the wheel, and therefore may not feel like a huge upgrade. But those coming from an older Apple Watch model, or an entirely different wearable, will notice a big difference in performance, features and charging speed. $329 at Amazon Explore More Buying Options $400 at Target$391 at Best Buy
Google / Engadget Best smartwatch for Android users Google Pixel Watch 3 Tracks: Sleep, activity, calories, stress | Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Cellular (optional) | GPS: Yes, built in | Water resistant: Yes | Assistant support: Google Assistant | Display: Always-on Actua touchscreen | Weight: 31 grams | Battery life: 24 hours Read our full Google Pixel Watch 3 review It only took three iterations, but Google finally got it right with the Pixel Watch 3. It’s the most fully realized Pixel Watch yet, and one that any Android fan would get a lot of use out of. The latest model, which now comes in 41mm and 45mm sizes, has a slightly larger circular display that’s brighter than ever and can reach up to a 60Hz refresh rate. It can also drop down to just 1 nit of brightness when you're wearing it to sleep, which not only makes for a better experience overall, but also contributes to its longer battery life. You’ll get up to 24 hours out of the Pixel Watch 3, which is a big improvement over the previous generation and more in line with competing devices from Apple and Samsung. The Pixel Watch 3 is also a great activity tracking device, with features like auto workout detection and custom running plans, plus the ability to track metrics like Cardio Load. There’s Fitbit smarts in here, just like in previous Pixel Watches, so you’re covered when it comes to daily workouts, steps, sleep and more. The only downside to this is that if you're interested in more in-depth coaching, those features are hidden behind the Fitbit Premium paywall. While Wear OS 5 could use a bit more polish, the integration with the Google Assistant on the Pixel Watch 3 is handy so you can use voice commands to check on things like weather forecasts, calendar alerts, map directions and more. We also appreciate the addition of faster charging on the Pixel Watch 3, so you can go from 0 to 100 in a bit less time than before. That’ll come in handy if you’re really keen on using the watch as a sleep tracker. Overall, the improvements Google made in this edition of the Pixel Watch helped push it over the edge as a worthy competitor to the Apple Watch and a top pick for Android users looking for their next wearable. $270 at Amazon Explore More Buying Options $280 at Target$350 at Google Store
Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget Best smartwatch for running Garmin Forerunner 165 Tracks: Sleep, activity, calories, stress, dozens of workouts | Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ANT+ | GPS: Yes, built in | Water resistant: Yes | Assistant support: None | Display: 1.2-inch AMOLED with optional always-on mode | Weight: 39 grams | Battery life: 11 days in smartwatch mode, 19 hours in GPS mode Garmin is known for its prowess in the world of fitness watches and the Garmin Forerunner 165 is the watch I tested that I wanted to wear the most when I went out for a run. The expertise of the Forerunner line is in the name, and Garmin truly excels at making comprehensive yet friendly GPS running watches in flavors that will suit all kinds of athletes, from beginner to expert. The Forerunner 165 stands out with its lightweight design, bright AMOLED touchscreen, straightforward button controls, accurate built-in GPS and its ability to track workout stats just as well as all-day activity data. Starting a run with the Forerunner 165 is as easy as pressing a single button — the top-right button on the case literally has “run” embossed onto it, and it takes you to the workout profile menu where you can choose the exercise you want to track. Run is the first option, but you have more than 25 profiles to choose from including track run, treadmill, walk, strength, swim and more. When running outside, the GPS took an average of 15-20 seconds to lock onto my location, but you don’t have to wait for it to do so — press the run button again to begin and the GPS will catch up on its own. The Forerunner experience has benefited greatly from the continuous improvement of the Garmin Connect mobile app. The previously clunky, confusing app has been well refined so that you can customize its homepage the workout and activity stats you care about the most, including things like Body Battery, Sleep Score, menstrual cycle information and more. It’s easy to dive into your most recently tracked activity and get in the weeds with pace, cadence, training effect (aerobic or anaerobic), power and stamina stats. Garmin puts the battery life of the Forerunner 165 at 11 days in smartwatch mode, and I found that to be mostly accurate even with a handful of GPS-tracked runs thrown in. The company claims you’ll get up to 19 hours of battery life with continuous GPS use, which should be enough for most runners and athletes competing in long-haul races. You can also get the 165 with music storage built in or not, with the former allowing you to store music locally on the watch so you can listen with a pair of Bluetooth headphones. The Garmin Forerunner 165 will set you back $250 without music storage, or $300 for the model with music storage built in. That’s on the lower end of the price spectrum for GPS running watches; you could easily spend $500 or more if you’re unsure about what you need and what’s just extra fluff. While Garmin does have a few cheaper devices, the Forerunner 165 strikes the right balance of feature set and price that will appeal to seasoned runners and those who are just diving into a more regimented running routine. $250 at Garmin Explore More Buying Options $250 at Amazon
Amy Skorheim for Engadget 90 100 Expert Score Honorable mention Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Tracks: Sleep, activity, calories, dozens of workouts, antioxidant levels, vascular load | Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE (optional) | GPS: Yes, built in | Water resistant: Yes, 5 ATM + IP68 | Display: Always-on, 3000 nits peak brightness | Battery life: 30+ hours Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 review Samsung completely redesigned its wearable for 2025. The Galaxy Watch 8 looks cleaner and more sophisticated — but more importantly, it’s far more comfortable. Another hardware improvement bumps up the battery size, fixing one of the Galaxy Watch 7’s biggest flaws. With that watch, the always-on display tanked the battery, but now you can get a full day and then some while wearing it. With Wear OS 6, the watch gains a new tiles-based interface that makes navigating quick and easy. It also adds the assistance of Gemini, which can help you control functions and complete tasks on your watch just by saying, “Hey Google” (just note that you’ll need a Gemini-compatible phone nearby). Health and fitness additions include an antioxidant levels metric and vascular load, which may help some people keep better tabs on their health. An AI-fueled running guidance “coach” takes an assessment of your jogging abilities and tailors a program to help you run further and faster. We think this will probably benefit beginner runners the most — those accustomed to coaching may not find it as useful. Of course, this is only a good choice for Samsung phone users. And another drawback is the raised glass screen, which seems destined for damage. But we will note that you can avoid that risk (and score some serious heritage-watch style points) by going with the Classic variant of the watch. — Amy Skorheim, Senior Reporter Pros Remarkably comfortable fit
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